Alois Schmid's table saw laser sight

This article contributed by Alois Schmid. Translated from German by Matthias

The idea was to build a line laser, as is available for many format style table saws, but for much less money.

I found a line laser for 5€, but this laser only projected a narrow beam and would have to be mounted at a low angle over the work to produce a long enough line.

The problem was how to mount it. To get a decent line, the laser would have to be mounted directly on the machine. This would make a non-through cut impossible without removing the laser every time.

This gave me the idea to mount the laser on the ceiling, this time using a different laser from Laserfuchs for 17.55€. This laser is focused for two meters away.

https://secure.picotronic.de/laserfuchs/index.php/cPath/15/category/Linien-Laser-rot

Building the mount was easy. I only used what I already had in my workshop

The laser gets a little out of focus towards the ends of the line that it projects, but that doesn't bother me much.

If I don't use the laser for a while, the alignment is often a little off, because of wood shrinkage and expansion from humidity changes

I built this simple jig to help align the laser.

The mount adjusts by loosening the wing nuts

Laser aligned, ready to go.

Using the laser to cut the rough edge off a piece of particle board.

I mostly use the laser for the first cut, to remove the bark edge from a rough board.

Matthias comments:

In Germany, lumber for furniture is often bought rough, with the bark edge still on. To trim the bark edge off, the board is placed on the sled of a format style table saw and a cut is made. Many format style table saws, including Alois's, have sleds over 2 meters in length. For another example, see here.