Drill press laser burnout?

[cbrown]

I have a Craftsman 10" drill press with laser crosshairs, about three years old. I came back to it after a month and found I had left the laser switch on and the laser wasn't working. I replaced the batteries but still no laser. Do these laser emitters burn out--before draining a pair of half-spent AAA batteries? A quick Google search reveals plenty of talk about DVD/CD lasers failing, but not much about failing lasers on power tools.

Maybe it's time to get a larger drill press--just to fix the laser, of course.

Chris

[dbhost]

Yep, once the laser is burnt out, the drill press must be replaced. If you are married you have my permission to tell your wife that...

[Uncle Cracker]

My CM DP has the built-in laser also. I have left it on until the batteries ran down numerous times. If the emitter was short-lived, it surely would've been gone by now.

One thing I have noticed on a couple of occasions (and this may be your real problem) when I have put in new batteries is that the battery terminals don't always make contact. Had to dig a couple of pairs of them out of the trash when I discovered this (I thought they were dead, but not). They just didn't fit properly in the compartment. I solved this by adding a drop of solder to the terminals in the DP. Works first time, every time, now.

[LCHIEN]

I haven't looked up any laser diodes but I would imagine the lifetime is pretty long barring any voltage reversals... if you put the battery in backwards, that will almost certainly blow out the laser diode.

[ejpotter]

As a EE I can say with some assurance that it's very unlikely the laser diode failed unless you put the batteries in backward as Loring mentioned. Unusual, but less unlikely is that something else in the circuitry could have blown, which amounts to the same thing... a new DP. I'd check the battery terminals really thoroughly before taking any drastic action.

-e

[Uncle Cracker]

On my DP, the batteries will only go in one way. There are molded-in fixture blocks in place to prevent installing them backwards. I think that's probably the reason the fitment to the contacts is a little iffy.

[iceman61]

I have a Craftsman 10" drill press with laser crosshairs, about three years old. I came back to it after a month and found I had left the laser switch on and the laser wasn't working. I replaced the batteries but still no laser. Do these laser emitters burn out--before draining a pair of half-spent AAA batteries? A quick Google search reveals plenty of talk about DVD/CD lasers failing, but not much about failing lasers on power tools.

Maybe it's time to get a larger drill press--just to fix the laser, of course.

Chris

I had the same problem on my DeWalt CMS. It burned out after 4 months, but it is AC powered off of the saw.

[cbrown]

Inspired by the replies here, I shuffled equipment around to roll the DP away from the wall and get better access to the battery compartment, and I fiddled around with the contacts. After a few tries with battery insertion, the lasers are now working again. The bad news, of course, is no excuse for a new DP. Thanks a lot (can that be both sincere and sarcastic at the same time?)!

Chris

[Uncle Cracker]

Glad you got it fixed. Now you can show the little woman how your ingenuity saved you from having to buy another DP, so you should be allowed to spend some bread on a tool you didn't already have...

[LCHIEN]

Glad you got it fixed. Now you can show the little woman how your ingenuity saved you from having to buy another DP, so you should be allowed to spend some bread on a tool you didn't already have...

you ARE bad.