Bought a $150 laser level tool and it saved me a full day on a shaft alignment job

Last month I was working on a traction elevator in a 12 story building in downtown Denver. The old rails were off by almost a quarter inch on the top floor. I usually do alignments with a string line and a lot of guesswork, but I finally splurged on a green beam cross line laser from a tool truck. It was around $150 and I was nervous it was too much for something I would only use a few times. But I set it up on the bottom floor guide rail and could see the whole run clear as day. I found the offset in maybe 10 minutes and fixed it on the first try. Has anyone else tried one of these for rail work or do you stick with the old methods?

3 comments

3 Comments

richard_young8012d ago

The green beam is a game changer for sure. I used to run string lines and pray the building wasn't shifting, but that laser cuts through all the guesswork. On a shaft that tall with that much offset, you probably saved yourself from having to realign the whole stack twice. I'm curious if you taped the laser to the rail or used a tripod mount though, I find keeping it dead level on the bottom is the trickiest part. Once you lock that in, the rest is just following the line up.

jenny19812d ago

Struggled with the same thing on a site last week... spent a good hour just getting that bottom level perfect before I could trust the beam. Feels like half the battle is just getting set up right.

wade_kelly7712d ago

Nailed it on the setup being half the fight honestly. I had a similar nightmare last month on a 6-story stairwell where the whole bottom plate was off by a quarter inch and I didn't catch it until I was three floors up. Ended up having to tear the whole rail back down and re-level the bottom bracket with shims for like 45 minutes before it felt solid. You're totally right that once you get that bottom floor perfect the beam just carries the rest of the way up, but if you rush it you're just asking for a headache later. I taped mine to the rail like a hack but it worked fine cause I used three strips of gorilla tape and checked it with a bubble level twice before I even started the second floor. The real trick I learned is to walk away for five minutes after you think it's perfect and come back with fresh eyes because sometimes you miss a tiny rock in the level that throws everything off.