Fought against laser alignment for years, now I'm a believer after a 4 week job in Gary

I used to swear by string lines and chalk for setting up drum alignments. Old timers told me lasers were just another way to waste money. But last month on a boiler drum job near Gary, Indiana, my partner talked me into using a Pinpoint laser system and we had the whole thing squared up in under 3 hours instead of a full day. Has anyone else had a tool or method they resisted that turned out to be way better than the old way?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey_lane7328d ago

I read somewhere that a lot of the pushback against lasers comes from guys who learned the trade before they got cheap and reliable. My uncle was a pipefitter back in the 80s and he told me the early ones were junk, constantly losing calibration and dying in the cold. That reputation stuck around way longer than it should have. But the Pinpoint system my partner brought on that Gary job was a total game changer, I could see the alignment data right on the screen and we didn't have to second guess a single measurement. Makes me wonder how many other tools I've been ignoring just because of old stories. Now I'm looking into some of those digital level apps for the phone, seeing if they hold up on site.

amy_sanchez28d ago

Picked up one of those digital level apps last month actually. I was skeptical too, thought it would be just some gimmick that drains your battery. But I had a weird floor slope on a bathroom remodel and my old bubble level was just sitting there useless. Figured what the hell, downloaded one and propped the phone up on a straight piece of scrap. Thing was accurate to like 0.1 degrees compared to my buddy's digital level on the same spot. Not saying I'd trust it for something critical like a foundation pour but for drywall and cabinets it's been solid. Makes you wonder how much junk we carry around when the phone already does the job.