Stores don't have their SCMS plugged in so I can't see if a laser is
worth having.

Here's my main concern: will a pencil mark on a dark colored wood like
walnut (hard to see under the best conditions) be visible under a laser?

I currently just pull the saw blade down (NON slider) to the wood and
align the mark with the edge of the blade. If I get a sliding miter
saw, I'm PRESUMING that while the saw is in front of the wood, the laser
light will shine towards the rear where a narrow piece of wood is
against the fence and will indicate the cutting path without having to
move the saw to the rear and hold it down against the wood. IS THIS TRUE?

Dave

My new DeWalt 718 does that. The laser lines up the cut beautifully when
the saw is up and back and pulled forward. The line appears slotted
momentarily when the saw is lowered due to the blade guard, but the laser
line returns and is bright, crisp, and clear throughtout the cut. BTW, the
laser on the DW is switched separately from the blade switch, which means
the laser is always on (well, as long as the saw is plugged in) which is a
nice feature. This saw was a recent purchase and the sliding Bosch was the
closest contender. One thing that really influenced my decision towards the
DeWalt is after talking with a Bosch rep at the local WW store, he said the
laser on the Bosch slider comes on ONLY when the saw blade starts.
FWIW I didn't like that concept. One of the beauties of the laser is you
can mark a short point and long point of an angle, and "connect the dots"
with the laser to make an angle cut without knowing what the angle is. I
mean sure, I could break out the sliding bevel and get the angle before the
cut is made, but in a production environment, it's much faster to let the
laser connect the dots and just make the cut.
Furthermore, I've cut a few pieces of walnut and the mark is still hard
to see on the darker woods. The laser is intensely bright and thin, but it
won't light up the cut mark for alignment. Your best bet here is to have a
brighly lit shop. --dave



"David" wrote in message
...
Stores don't have their SCMS plugged in so I can't see if a laser is worth
having.

Here's my main concern: will a pencil mark on a dark colored wood like
walnut (hard to see under the best conditions) be visible under a laser?

I currently just pull the saw blade down (NON slider) to the wood and
align the mark with the edge of the blade. If I get a sliding miter saw,
I'm PRESUMING that while the saw is in front of the wood, the laser light
will shine towards the rear where a narrow piece of wood is against the
fence and will indicate the cutting path without having to move the saw to
the rear and hold it down against the wood. IS THIS TRUE?

Dave

Dave Jackson wrote:

My new DeWalt 718 does that. The laser lines up the cut beautifully when
the saw is up and back and pulled forward. The line appears slotted
momentarily when the saw is lowered due to the blade guard, but the laser
line returns and is bright, crisp, and clear throughtout the cut. BTW, the
laser on the DW is switched separately from the blade switch, which means
the laser is always on (well, as long as the saw is plugged in) which is a
nice feature. This saw was a recent purchase and the sliding Bosch was the
closest contender. One thing that really influenced my decision towards the
DeWalt is after talking with a Bosch rep at the local WW store, he said the
laser on the Bosch slider comes on ONLY when the saw blade starts.
FWIW I didn't like that concept. One of the beauties of the laser is you
can mark a short point and long point of an angle, and "connect the dots"
with the laser to make an angle cut without knowing what the angle is. I
mean sure, I could break out the sliding bevel and get the angle before the
cut is made, but in a production environment, it's much faster to let the
laser connect the dots and just make the cut.
Furthermore, I've cut a few pieces of walnut and the mark is still hard
to see on the darker woods. The laser is intensely bright and thin, but it
won't light up the cut mark for alignment. Your best bet here is to have a
brighly lit shop. --dave



"David" wrote in message
...

Stores don't have their SCMS plugged in so I can't see if a laser is worth
having.

Here's my main concern: will a pencil mark on a dark colored wood like
walnut (hard to see under the best conditions) be visible under a laser?

I currently just pull the saw blade down (NON slider) to the wood and
align the mark with the edge of the blade. If I get a sliding miter saw,
I'm PRESUMING that while the saw is in front of the wood, the laser light
will shine towards the rear where a narrow piece of wood is against the
fence and will indicate the cutting path without having to move the saw to
the rear and hold it down against the wood. IS THIS TRUE?

Dave



Thanks, Dave. I'll take a look at the instruction book for the Makita
if I can find it on line to see what triggers the laser.

So dark wood IS a problem for the laser to indicate the pencil line. I
suppose if I had a lightweight, easily moved piece of stock, I could
turn on the laser and slowly move the stock until the pencil line just
"disappeared" under the laser line? does that sound feasible? Or is
the more practical solution to find a white pencil?

Dave

Why not use a light/white coloured pencil line on dark woods?
"David" wrote in message
...
Dave Jackson wrote:

My new DeWalt 718 does that. The laser lines up the cut beautifully when
the saw is up and back and pulled forward. The line appears slotted
momentarily when the saw is lowered due to the blade guard, but the laser
line returns and is bright, crisp, and clear throughtout the cut. BTW,
the laser on the DW is switched separately from the blade switch, which
means the laser is always on (well, as long as the saw is plugged in)
which is a nice feature. This saw was a recent purchase and the sliding
Bosch was the closest contender. One thing that really influenced my
decision towards the DeWalt is after talking with a Bosch rep at the
local WW store, he said the laser on the Bosch slider comes on ONLY when
the saw blade starts.
FWIW I didn't like that concept. One of the beauties of the laser is you
can mark a short point and long point of an angle, and "connect the dots"
with the laser to make an angle cut without knowing what the angle is. I
mean sure, I could break out the sliding bevel and get the angle before
the cut is made, but in a production environment, it's much faster to let
the laser connect the dots and just make the cut.
Furthermore, I've cut a few pieces of walnut and the mark is still
hard to see on the darker woods. The laser is intensely bright and thin,
but it won't light up the cut mark for alignment. Your best bet here is
to have a brighly lit shop. --dave



"David" wrote in message
...

Stores don't have their SCMS plugged in so I can't see if a laser is
worth having.

Here's my main concern: will a pencil mark on a dark colored wood like
walnut (hard to see under the best conditions) be visible under a laser?

I currently just pull the saw blade down (NON slider) to the wood and
align the mark with the edge of the blade. If I get a sliding miter saw,
I'm PRESUMING that while the saw is in front of the wood, the laser light
will shine towards the rear where a narrow piece of wood is against the
fence and will indicate the cutting path without having to move the saw
to the rear and hold it down against the wood. IS THIS TRUE?

Dave



Thanks, Dave. I'll take a look at the instruction book for the Makita if
I can find it on line to see what triggers the laser.

So dark wood IS a problem for the laser to indicate the pencil line. I
suppose if I had a lightweight, easily moved piece of stock, I could turn
on the laser and slowly move the stock until the pencil line just
"disappeared" under the laser line? does that sound feasible? Or is the
more practical solution to find a white pencil?

Dave

My quilting wife had a white pencil for marking dark fabric. HAD
being operative word. Slick on Cocobolo!

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 17:55:45 -0800, David wrote:

So dark wood IS a problem for the laser to indicate the pencil line. I
suppose if I had a lightweight, easily moved piece of stock, I could
turn on the laser and slowly move the stock until the pencil line just
"disappeared" under the laser line? does that sound feasible? Or is
the more practical solution to find a white pencil?