Do you have to have the laser level flat on the table to project a long beam or can you angle it above the table to check arc? Not sure how the beams are projected and would like to get some insight before I purchase one.
Laser Level
Do you mean a laser like this:
They dont project a laser point, they just do a line.
You point on something, like you do with a laser pointer. But instead of a small dot, there will be a line.
Harbor Freight in the US sells them. They are pretty cheap. In the store they are $5, if you happen to live near one. Add about that much for shipping. So, find a few friends to order with online.
Army Painter makes some, but I haven't seen any in the hobby stores in my area. I think those are about $8?
Harbor Freight in the US sells them. They are pretty cheap. In the store they are $5, if you happen to live near one. Add about that much for shipping. So, find a few friends to order with online.
Army Painter makes some, but I haven't seen any in the hobby stores in my area. I think those are about $8?
I think my Army painter one was $6. Could have been $8. Worth it.
I also have a Harbor Freight one. The line is curved. Good enough for casual play, but I wouldn't use it in a tournament.
Another difference is that the Army painter one requires you to continue to press the button to keep the line on. The harbor freight one you press to turn on, press to turn off. You might think this makes the HF one better, but you'd be wrong. Unless, of course, you enjoy spending exorbitant amounts of money on tiny batteries and/or removing them after every game. The button will get pressed in your bag and then be dead when you need it.
Edited by GiraffeandZebraI have a Harbor Freight laser. The line is straight and it has never turned itself on or off when I didn't want it to. You can keep it on the base and rotate it so the base protects the button from being hit inadvertently.
That's good as my friend just ordered two of them for us! I just paid him last night. I should get it next week.
I was thinking that it might be important to have it straight for an actual cutting tool.
Edited by heychadwickI have a Harbor Freight laser. The line is straight and it has never turned itself on or off when I didn't want it to. You can keep it on the base and rotate it so the base protects the button from being hit inadvertently.
A case of "buyer beware" I guess. I have 2 and both are curved. It is not much, an eight of an inch over several feet, but I'd rather not have it be an issue.
A laser level actually projects a plane, and not a line. (throw some dust up and you'll see what I mean) The line you see is actually where the laser's plane intersects with the table/wall and thus will be straight no matter how you hold it.
My Harbor Freight line is fuzzy. Not so bad but knowing it, I would have gone with a different one.
As I understand it, laser levels project their line by passing the laser through a refractor, so that the dot a laser usually projects is distorted into a line. On inexpensive models (such as harbor freight tends to get) the refractor can be flawed in some manner and result in a "line" that is not straight. It's pretty much entirely random whether or not any given cheapo one will be straight or not, although one can assume that the mire expensive, name brand ones have better quality control.
I got a $5 (delivered) line laser from AliBaba with the same distortion problem. I pulled the whole thing apart and found that if I adjusted the angle of the laser pointer through the optics I could change the shape of the curve. Centering the laser in the sweet spot resulted in a stright line. A bit of glue and job's done.
A laser level actually projects a plane, and not a line. (throw some dust up and you'll see what I mean) The line you see is actually where the laser's plane intersects with the table/wall and thus will be straight no matter how you hold it.
Nope. Mine just project a line that suddenly appear out of nowhere....
And dont even dare to reply to this ironic, sarcastic post from me 