Pro tip: I used to check door lock rollers with a flat bar and a lot of guesswork

A guy on a job in Charlotte last year showed me how to use a simple laser level to check the whole track for level and plumb at once. I bought a cheap one for about 40 bucks and it saves me at least 15 minutes per car now. How do you guys check your door lock roller alignment quickly?

3 comments

3 Comments

robert_roberts1mo ago

I just eyeball it with a straightedge.

kai6571mo ago

But that's the thing, eyeballing it with a straightedge like @robert_roberts said can trick you. Your own eyes can get fooled by the angle or a shadow. I always mark a light pencil line first, because even being off by a tiny bit can make a whole project look wrong later. It only takes an extra ten seconds to do it right.

janac511mo ago

Listen, I've seen what happens when people just eyeball it (looking at you, robert_roberts). Kai657 is totally right that shadows will mess with you every single time. My whole garage is full of projects that started with a confident "that looks straight" and ended up looking like a funhouse mirror. That extra ten seconds with a pencil feels like a pain, but it saves you from ten hours of trying to fix a crooked bookshelf later.