Drill Press Lasers

[tomscanio]

Woodcraft has a column mounted drill press laser assembly on sale for about $35. Two lasers intersect at the point where the drill bit hits the material. Has anyone used these? I'd be worried that they might be accurate at one table elevation but not if you moved the table up and down.

Thanks,
Tom Scanio

[gsmittle]

Woodcraft has a column mounted drill press laser assembly on sale for about $35. Two lasers intersect at the point where the drill bit hits the material. Has anyone used these? I'd be worried that they might be accurate at one table elevation but not if you moved the table up and down.

Thanks,
Tom Scanio

My Delta benchtop DP came with one. I find it more useful than not. Once it's aligned it's accurate at all table elevations. The trick is to make sure the lines are vertical and registered to each other. The kit should have a rod with a line on it you put in the chuck and use to align the lasers.

I find it most useful when I have several identical holes to drill. After setting up the fence, stops, etc. it's a nice double-check on where the hole will actually be.

OTOH, I'm a bit of a gadget freak, so I might be a little biased....

g.

[LCHIEN]

I have Two drill press lasers, one a Craftsman add-on which is on my Delta 12" benchtop and the other came with the Hitachi BR16M.
Each one uses a two lasers, with a lens on the laser spread the beam into a line. The one I like best has these lines at 90 degrees to each other and 45 degrees to the right-left axis of the work (because you generally draw marking lines right left and up down). When the marking lines are in the same direction as the laser lines, they become very hard to see.
The Hitachi has lines NOT at 90 degrees to each other, more like 45 degrees and this is sometimes harder to see.

I find both however very useful. Would not be willing to give them up.
I can see when I've loosened the table lock lever. As I tighten it it will pull the table up and move the workpiece ever so slightly towards the column as it takes the sag out of the table.

In these you align the laser assembly (each rotates so you can aim the line so that it intersects with the drill center). The laser is mounted on a ring around the drill quill. As you move the table, the lines stay centered over the drill axis.

I have not worked with the column-mounted ones. From a technical standpoint, you could still aim the lasers to intersect at the center of the drill axis. How much it changed would depend on how parallel the drill axis was to the column, flexing of the head and of the column. (both of which would not be a problem for the quill mounted ones). If mounted high up on the column, the column flex would not be an issue.
As a side benefit, the quill mounted lasers are sometimes blocked (shadowed) by the bit when using Forstners and other large diameter bits close to the work, having them on the column woiuld elimnate much of the shawdowing.

[Slik Geek]

I've got the unit sold by Woodcraft. I haven't had long enough to give exhaustive feedback.

I took the time to align it when I initially installed it. I found it a bit challenging to get it perfectly aligned for two reasons:

Once you drill a bit of a hole to see if you have it set properly, I found it hard to tell if the lasers cross at the apex. Apparently I didn't quite get it exactly right because I'm very slightly off at the moment. Even so, I'm hitting my targets more accurately than without the laser.

The second reason I found alignment challenging is that calibration is a mult-axis problem. This just makes it a bit tedious.

Nevertheless, I like having the lasers. They make repeated hole drilling alignment faster. I like only lowering the quill when it's time to drill, not to check alignment.


I would rate it as a "very nice to have", not necessarily a "must-have".

[tomscanio]

Thanks for the input.

Tom Scanio

[cgallery]

I have wanted a laser and purchased the Woodcraft one. Problem is, it can't be mounted to my column because the R&P mechanism interferes. Perhaps the Sears one Loring refers to would have been easier to install (I think it mounts to the quill). However, the Sears unit seems to be NLA.

A little Yankee ingenuity led to a solution that allowed me to take advantage of the ventilation slots in the bottom of the motor assembly to mount the Woodcraft laser. Doesn't require any modification of the DP and only required drilling two 5/16" holes in the laser casing.

After using it for a couple of days I am very impressed and wished I had gotten one earlier. Pre-laser I was often off of center by as much as 1/128 or even 1/64". Now I'm spot on, with much less effort.

Once aligned using the centering pin it stays accurate despite changes in elevation. And it even works for my larger Forstner type bits. This is important because the larger bits are even harder to line-up than the smaller ones!

Well worth the $30.

[LCHIEN]

good solution to the mounting problem.

I think given a choice for usefulness between the laser for DP and CMS, the DP wins hands down.

I had to make a precision ring to adapt my sears laser assy. to the Delta ring where its supposed to mount.