George Vondriska

Adjusting Miter Saw Laser

George Vondriska
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Description

Having a laser on a miter saw is a great benefit. From a safety perspective, it shows you where the cut is about to be made, so you can make sure nothing that you don’t want cut is in line with the saw blade. From an accuracy perspective, a correctly set laser makes it easy to align the saw blade with the pencil line on your work. The key to this is the part about being correctly set. Like any tool, a laser on a miter saw is only as good as its set up.

Working On Alignment

Besure you get going, you’re going to have to check the owner’s manual for the saw. Yeah, I know it’s against our nature to read owner’s manuals, but you’ll need to know the specific adjustments on your saw in order to get everything correctly set.

Checking the laser’s position relative to the blade is easy, and is outlined on the video. And, the video shows you how to easily tweak the laser’s position to get it perfectly dialed in.

No laser on your saw?

If your miter saw doesn’t have a laser, in some cases a laser can be added. Attaching a miter saw laser isn’t hard. But keep in mind that after market lasers typically aren’t adjustable.

Is your saw cutting square?

Correctly setting the laser is just one part of miter saw set-up. Setting up your miter saw for perfect cuts will ensure that 90-degree angles really are 90. The process is simple. The payoff is significant.

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One Response to “Adjusting Miter Saw Laser”

  1. jsuchocki

    I keep getting a picture of what looks like an African woman whose picture, when clicked on, brings me to MercyCorp. Can't see the "Adjusting Miter Saw Laser". Help!

I love having a laser on a miter saw. It's a great safety thing. If the laser's on your hand, don't make that cut. It also can help with accuracy, but only if the laser is where it's supposed to be. So let me do just a nibble here and we'll see how this one looks.

Yikes. So by doing that scoring cut, there's my laser, there's my cut. This is the way to fix this. This is the easiest way to fix this. So make a cut like this in a board.

Keep the board where it is. So I've stabilized this. If you've got a clamp on your miter saw, clamp it in place. Bottom line is, this board can't be allowed to move. Then, read your owner's manual.

I know that can be painful for you, but read the owner's manual and find out, "How do I adjust the laser? What do I do to make this happen?" Now, move the laser to match the cut. That's why it's so important that we don't move the board. So now, as I tweak that laser position, I get it to align with the cut on the board. That way, when I have a specific spot I want to make a cut, laserific.

If you take the time to do that alignment, you're going to be able to use the laser to cut right to your layout lines. It's a great way to add accuracy to your miter saw, provided you've taken the couple minutes required to do this alignment.

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