Laser Grading System Wins Big on the Courts
Colin (left) and Basil Rissolo
In his nearly four decades of building tennis courts, Basil Rissolo has never had equipment that saves as much time and labor as his multipurpose Bobcat® 873 skid-steer loader and laser-guided grader attachment.
“It’s the best equipment I ever bought,” he says. “It replaced a motorgrader and a tractor-loaderbackhoe.”
Basil Rissolo Co., Inc., which includes Basil’s sons, Colin and Alex, is based in Stratford, Conn. The company builds and repairs tennis courts with asphalt, cushioned asphalt, a clay-material of crushed and blended stone, and synthetic grass surfaces. Most customers are homeowners in Connecticut and neighboring areas of New York.
Their work requires a high degree of precision to ensure that the 60-ft.-wide, 120-ft.-long playing surface of a tennis court is perfectly smooth with just the right amount of pitch for proper drainage. For a clay surface, the court must pitch a total of 3 in. from one side to the other within plus or minus 1⁄8-in. of the desired grade. The difference in elevation between the two sides of an asphalt court is 6 in.
Big labor savings
In the past, when the company used a motorgrader, the 8-ft. blade had to be manually controlled to follow stakes and string lines to achieve the desired base and finished grade. “It was very laborious,” Basil recalls. “It would take about a day just to set the stakes and strings and grade the site.” The tractor-loader-backhoe was used for placing base materials and drilling postholes.
Six years ago he purchased a Bobcat skid-steer loader and laserequipped grader attachment from Bobcat of Connecticut. This system includes a transmitter, which sends out a rotating laser beam to indicate the grade, and two receivers, located on masts mounted on either side of the blade, which automatically adjust the blade so the cut matches the desired grade.
“Before we had this system, it would take eight man-days to grade a tennis court,” Basil says. “Now we can do it in two man-days.”
This is only one of the benefits of using the Bobcat equipment. Basil notes others:
More versatility
In addition to the laser-guided grader attachment, Basil can equip his loader with a variety of other Bobcat attachments: a utility bucket for spreading base material prior to grading it, an auger for digging fence postholes, and pallet forks for transporting supplies.
Prior to purchasing his Bobcat equipment, Basil had considered replacing the motorgrader with one equipped with a laser system or with a laser-controlled box blade pulled by a tractor. “An articulated grader with a laser system costs at least as much as my Bobcat loader and laser grader, and I can’t use it for other jobs, such as hauling material or drilling postholes,” Rissolo says. “A tractor and box blade didn’t offer the versatility of the Bobcat equipment.”
A better job
Because of the increased accuracy of laser-guided grading, the company can produce a flatter, more uniform surface for the courts. That’s critical for providing an ideal playing surface and preventing puddles of water from interfering with play.
Ample power
The loader has the strength for a wide range of jobs, from hauling and spreading the 300 to 500 tons of crushed, blended stone to building an asphalt court to handling pallets of construction materials, including bags of crushed rock and sand and rolls of synthetic grass. “It will do everything we need to do,” Basil says.
Easy to transport
His Bobcat loader and grader weigh less than 10,000 lb., Basil notes. “We can tow the equipment using lighter trucks and our drivers don’t have to have a commercial driver’s license,” he says. “That’s important to us.”
Easy to operate
Acquiring the skills to operate a motorgrader with manual controls takes several years of experience. By contrast, Basil says, just about anyone who can operate the Bobcat loader can quickly learn to use it with the laser-guided blade to produce good results.
Versatile Bobcat equipment is helping both Basil Rissolo Co. and its clients stay on top of their game. It provides the efficiency to work productively and profitably and the precision to produce a quality playing surface.
A Great Tool for Precision or Utility Grading
The Bobcat grader attachment, which Basil Rissolo Co., Inc., uses with a laser system, features a 7-ft.-wide moldboard that adjusts hydraulically six ways. The moldboard angles hydraulically 25 degrees right or left and can be moved manually up to 12 in. to the right or left.
The attachment requires no hard wiring for use with a laser guidance system. In this application, the laser system controls all blade movement for very precise grading.
The grader attachment can also be used manually for rough grading. The operator controls the blades using switches mounted on the loader’s steering levers.