Adding laser to miter saw

[Robert Engel]

I recently bought the 12" Bosch axial glide which I like a lot, with one excepting being no laser (you'd think that would be standard for the price).

I've been looking at aftermarket lasers so far only Oshlun and Laserkerf.

My question is for a laser to really be effective, wouldn't it need to be a double laser?

I've also looked at the hack one guy did to a Bosch to add a light that will produce a shadow that seems pretty effective, but unfortunately my model of saw isn't the same.

[Paul F Franklin]

I have the laserkerf on my dewalt slider. It doesn't need to be a dual because it shines the light where the blade will cut, not outside the cut.

It was a little fussy to mount and align but works reasonably well. It does tend to get dust behind the front lens, so it has to be blown out from time to time. And you have to choose between full or narrow kerf when you buy it and width of beam is not adjustable after the fact (at least on the model I have), so if you switch between thin and full kerf blades, the beam width will be off for one or the other. If it breaks, I'd buy another one.

[Tom M King]

The lines are always too wide, and edges too fuzzy to suit me. I like a sharp no.4 pencil arrow.

[Frank Pratt]

I've never used a laser that I thought was worth having. I guess if you had a bunch of cutting to do where +/- 1/32" didn't matter it would be a time saver.

[Rod Wolfy]

I got the Oshlun for my Bosch 12" glide. It's kind of underpowered (dim) as far as casting a line and the blade has to be spinning to even get it to cast a line. When you turn off the trigger, after viewing your cast laser, the head will jerk from the power being turned off. If it's near the wood, you might accidentally cut your workpiece. The laser will only cast a line on the nut side, so you're limited to laser views left of the blade anyways.

The battery went dead a year or two ago and I just use the teeth on my 100 tooth blade to line up my cuts on either side. I have a Milwaukee 7 1/4" that casts a line on both sides and it works perfect. I saw the video that you've seen. I'd be way more inclined to either get a couple LED lights to do shadow lines, like in the video or just go without.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I have installed the LED shadow light mod on my Bosch 12" glide and and I'm very happy with it. My saw wasn't exactly the same as the one shown in the video but I was still able to mount the LED light in a very similar manner. You can't tell I've modified my saw (small mod to the plastic and it isn't visible). I don't know if there is more changes to the current model that is being sold. The LED light hack works well.
And the saw is a terrific saw!

[David Buchhauser]

The lines are always too wide, and edges too fuzzy to suit me. I like a sharp no.4 pencil arrow.

I agree! A nice sharp pencil mark.
David

[John C Bush]

Had the Laserkerf and it helped with initial positioning but wasn't as accurate I had hoped. Used a friends new Ridgid slider with the double shadow line and it was very accurate.

[Robert Engel]

I have installed the LED shadow light mod on my Bosch 12" glide and and I'm very happy with it. My saw wasn't exactly the same as the one shown in the video but I was still able to mount the LED light in a very similar manner. You can't tell I've modified my saw (small mod to the plastic and it isn't visible). I don't know if there is more changes to the current model that is being sold. The LED light hack works well.
And the saw is a terrific saw!

Could you post a pic of that?

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I can do that Robert.
I’m away for a couple of days but as soon as I’m back to my shop I’ll post some pics.

[Bill Dufour]

I remember taking a tour of a sawmill as a kid and they had wires in the ceiling that cast shadows onto the wood to show the rip saw cuts. I remember the lines waved around noticeably from quite a distance. Only need to be within a inch or so to select what width to rip the offcut. They switched to lasers by the 80's and I am sure it is automatic these days.
Bil lD

[Josh Molaver]

Just saw this thread - I uses this tutorial for doing this a few years ago, used the sewing Led they recommended and it’s still working great. Pics are in there, was really easy to do and easily reversible if you don’t like it for some reason. And not expensive at all.

https://www.instructables.com/id/How...w-Shadow-Line/

[Frank Pratt]

That's the first Instructables article I've seen that was actually any good. I can see that the shadow line would be better than the laser lines.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

Picture1.jpg
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Picture3.jpg
This is my Bosch 12" Glide Miter Saw with the shadow line modification.