Does anyone actually use laser guides?

[Stephen Tashiro]

I work mainly outside in bright sunlight and usually I can't see the lasers on tools. Am I missing anything? I can understand that if you only want to cut something to plus or minus 1/8 th, the laser line might be useful. But if you want to do better than that, how can they be used?

For example, the laser on my sliding miter saw: the beam is much wider than any pencil line that I would ever use as a guide. An I'd have to stop and think every time about it's relation to the saw kerf. I don't understand how to adjust it.

[Tom Schmidt]

My MS solves that by having a double laser line, so I know which side the waste side is. The problem I have now is that I bought a thin kerf blade, and the width of the double laser is an eight of an inch. I still have to take a moment to adjust when I use it.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I use the laser all the time on my Hitachi 10" SCMS.

The laser isn't razor thin, but it's thin enough that you center the cut between the laser mark and then you're accurate within a 32nd which is good enough by my own standards. :D

I really like the idea of double lasers and if my saw had that feature then I wouldn't have to move it to the left and right when cutting off various ends of trim.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I use the laser guide on my circular saw about every time I use it. It came with some orange safety glasses to make it easier to see in the daylight.

Doc

[Bill Huber]

I have a laser on the drill press that I use every time I drill something. The one on the MS is ok but for stuff that I really want close I don't use it. To just cut close I will use it.
When I cut sheet goods I use the one on the skill saw all the time.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have the crapsman cordless circular saw with a laser, I rarely use the laser feature to cut. But I did use it to layout tiles.;) Pretty sweet layout guide that I didn't have to pay for. It shoots a small enough line.

I bought the aftermarket laser crosshairs for my drill press. I quite often drill 3" holes with a hole saw and the laser makes that easy to set up. Normally can't see where the pilot drill hits when the hole saw is down. I used to press down, lift to see where the dimple is. Repeat until I hit the center. PITA.

[Cary Falk]

I have a laser that came with my drill press. Sometimes it comes in handy. Most of the time I don't use it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I'll offer the disenting opinion, no, I don't use one. Seems to me that most of the tools that have lasers attached to them could easily be aligned by just lowering the bit/blade/cutter to the workpiece. I'm kind of old school though, so I might be missing something great...

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's an unusual laser guide. In chair building, there's often a point at which you're drilling sockets for stretchers which go horizontally between the legs. You'd like the sockets to be in line. The traditional approach is to eyeball it. Sometimes that works. Me, I mounted a laser pointer on the back of the drill. I drill one hole, and when I'm drilling the second hole, I aim the laser dot at the middle of the first hole. This ensures that the two holes line up.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I can't see the complete construction of that jig, but that is a neat idea!

[Jamie Buxton]

I can't see the complete construction of that jig, but that is a neat idea!

You see it all in the photo. There's a laser pointer (from an office supply store) fastened to the back of the drill. (Okay, it is a right-angle head on the drill; there wasn't enough distance between the legs to fit the drill itself.) As part of the fastening, I carefully aligned the laser beam with the drill bit. That is, the red dot on the rear leg is exactly on a line with the hole being bored by the bit at the front of the drill. Look carefully, and you can see the red dot on the leg to the rear of the drill. What you want is that the holes at the two ends of the spindle line up. It actually isn't structurally essential that the two holes be horizontal or anything else. You just need them to line up, and this laser guide helps accomplish that.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Nope - don't like most lasers.

IMHO - it's like giving a child a calculator w/out the child having any experience doing math.
Yes - they can divide 1 by 3, but they don't know what 1/3 of something means.

I've promised myself that I'll shun using most lasers until I feel I'm at the point where I don't "need" one.

[Paul Steiner]

I prefer edge of the blade edge of the line. I recent got a hitachi SCMS with a laser, the laser is helpful but not accurate enough. However, Laser on a drill press! I think I would get alot of use out of that.

[Russ Boyd]

I use the laser on my Makita scms whenever possible. Like someone said, you can't see it in bright light, but it is much quicker than pushing and pulling a board to the line.

[Chris Kennedy]

I have a laser on my circ saw, which I rarely if ever use. The only time that I have thought a laser would be nice is on my CMS when I have been trying to match a specific angle on narrow stock. Just to have the laser line that I could at least make parallel to my cut line so I know the angle is correct. I would likely still line it up by using the blade. Maybe when I buy a nice one when my cheap one finally dies (which it keeps refusing to do).


Cheers,

Chris

[Michael Trivette]

Just my .03 cents here.

But not only do I not like lasers

But if a tool comes with a laser I will not purchase that tool.
I can see some very slight advantage for the miter saw.

But Not enough to warrent the use for me.

[Eric Gustafson]

I never use lasers when cutting material. However, I have a self-leveling laser I bought to use when hanging pictures, cabinets, etc. It is extreemely useful. I also used a simple laser level for laying foundations for a shed and some retaining walls I built at the house. That also worked very well.

[Mike Henderson]

Here's an unusual laser guide. In chair building, there's often a point at which you're drilling sockets for stretchers which go horizontally between the legs. You'd like the sockets to be in line. The traditional approach is to eyeball it. Sometimes that works. Me, I mounted a laser pointer on the back of the drill. I drill one hole, and when I'm drilling the second hole, I aim the laser dot at the middle of the first hole. This ensures that the two holes line up.
Good idea! I'm going to remember that.

Mike

[Julian Nicks]

I feel lasers are better left to toys than most simple tools. They sure are fun to shine on the wall and watch the cat try to catch it.

[Mike Parzych]

I think lasers are only useful for apppealing to to weekend carpenter/fix-it type people who think it provides some sort of accuracy. I didn't even bother installing the laser on my mitre saw.

I think the folly of lasers became crystal clear when they mounted one on a handsaw. That was absurd beyond words.

[Brent DenHartog]

I agree they are not very accurate. They do come in handy though on a miter saw when you have an angle marked on the board and you want to adjust the saw to match it. Much easier than getting a protractor out to determine the angle and then using the saw's scale to set it.