In my free time, I ride my motorcycle around the Northwest.

I also work on my vintage Volvo P1800 sports car, and my wife and I have a 20-acre horse farm we enjoy.

Here’s a story from work that I’ll never forget.

Not long after I started repairing surveying instruments, we had a client bring in a Wild Heerbrugg T-16 Theodolite who needed it collimated, as it was being used on a new job site. The instrument was run through our collimation process and calibrated well within the manufacturer’s specifications.

Weeks went by, and one day the client returned with the instrument, mad as can be! Seems they were using it on one of the Lloyd Center buildings here in Portland, Oregon, and the top floors had to be resurveyed around the elevator shaft because nothing lined up correctly. We rechecked the instrument, and sure enough the telescope axis was off considerably. Thinking we had missed this adjustment or left something loose, we were trying to find an explanation.

We then noticed that the carry can (also known as a bullet can) had a fresh-looking dent! When we looked more closely at the instrument, we saw a corresponding impact point on the instrument frame.

When these dents were pointed out to the owner, it then came out that—the day the instrument was returned—the operator let it roll off the tailgate of the truck onto the ground and didn’t tell anyone!

xyHt features our “Doers” in about every other print issue.  Here’s one on our website: Jeff Deboer.

To read the rest of the articles in this print issue, click on the issue cover, below.