please help me with recommendations/drawbacks. i’ve been vacillating for months, years, and apparently haven’t the power to decide on my own. i will want to use it for cabinets, trim, etc., mostly interior work, but occasional decks and additions. is there a distinct advantage to the rotaries that can not be performed by the set type? can’t you just stick the regular ones in a corner and project a level line throughout the room save a few inches from the corner? will the rotaries only throw a level and not a plumb? could you rig a 3rd hand as a post and attach a vertically adjustable mounting thread on a hose clamp? i’m seeing a lot of mention of the pls’s, and that’s where i’m leaning, but i can’t figure out from their diagrams if the laser is throwing a line or a dot or what, and at what arc from the front, 180? do you always have to move out of the way of the laser to see the work, or do you just use the laser as a ref and then snap lines? i like to use other people’s tools before deciding what to buy, but nobody seems to have a laser ’round here for me to demo in the field. i unfortunately have a couple drop ceiling jobs coming up, and a new laser might at least give me slight pleasure during the work. thanks in advance for answering the longwinded distress call.
Replies
pls2 is great for interior work---i've never had one out in the sun but i think it would be hard to see.
FastCap, the people that make the 3rd hand also make LaserJamb.
But you can by just the mount and add it to your 3rd hand.
http://www.fastcap.com/prod.asp?page=lasermount
"i'm seeing a lot of mention of the pls's, and that's where i'm leaning, but i can't figure out from their diagrams if the laser is throwing a line or a dot or what,"
The PLS3 and 5 just project dots. You can use them to mark the far ends to snap a line. You can also use then with a tape to to see how much the wall or floor varies from the line.
The PLS 2 generates a vertical and horizontal lines so that if you point it towards a wall you get a cross pattern.
I have seen at least one rotory laser with a plumb, but don't know whose it is.
i got one of these last summer:
http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/details.php?cat=Laser%20Levels&product=1877
and a laser jamb.
self leveling rotary it either runs a level or plumb line. comes with a receiver for outside. its been very handy at times and i'm sure that i don't use it as much as i could. i guess i'm set in my old ways.
but i've been very pleased its been great for setting out sites etc..