On 22 Sep, 00:31, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
I don't own any kind of saw with laser guide, so have little experience of
them. *I did have a PP/B&Q jigsaw with a laser, but found both the saw & the
laser useless, so I gave it away - lasers just confuse you on curved cuts
anyway.

On a circ saw or SCMS how do they cope with the kerf of the saw blade?

Assuming said kerf is 3mm, is the laser to the left or the right of the
kerf, in which case you could cut over or under by 3mm, or is it central
which would give you 1.5mm short either way?

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk

I've got a Makita LS714 SCMS with laser. The laser is positioned so
that it hangs directly above the blade and projects the line down
parallel to the blade. There is a little thumb-wheel adjuster which
allows the laser to move left and right across the width of the blade
so that you can adjust the laser to work on left or right-hand cuts,
and to cope with different blade widths. To set it up, shove a bit of
paper underneath the blade, and bring the blade down onto the paper to
let a tooth make a mark, then lift up and adjust the laser to fit the
mark. When set up properly (30 second's work), the laser is accurate
enough for all but the most furniture precise work I do, and I
wouldn't be without it.

The shop I bought the saw from told me that lasers on the cheaper
tools are basically gimmicks, and aren't accurate enough to do decent
work with, but the tools from Makita, DeWalt, etc. have lasers that
work properly. For example, some lasers are positioned out of parallel
with the saw blade, and so the line will vary position depending upon
the height of the material to cut. Also, make sure that the laser can
be switched independently of the saw blade - some saws have lasers
which only work when the blade is turning!

dan.