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Laser Edge Finder

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PhiberOptix:
I have always wanted a laser edge finder since I first set eyes on one, butthe cost was ridiculasS £79 my A***

So I decided to make one, It is all done with basic turning, center drilling, drilling and tapping so I wont bore you with pictures of the deatils
and depending on what laser you buy the dimensions will need to alter accordingly

anyway, so I bought a keyring laser pointer off Ebay


turned a length or Stainless roundbar down center drilled it and drilled it so it holds the laser snuggly turned it around and thinned the back down so as it fits in drill chuck or collet I also drilled a hole and threaded it m4 so a grub screw can hold the laser is situ


next I made a coller to slide over the laser housing with one grub screw to lock it on to the housing and another above the on/off switch


a step inside alows clearance of the switch and forms a shoulder for the laser housing to butt up against


the three main parts


the laser in its housing


The finished product


Now it can be placed in the milling head in either a drill chuck or collet holder a little turn of the grub screw an on it comes a little red spot directly below

BEWARE some of the cheaper laser keyrings lasers' are not quite central so you may have to bore a bigger hole in the housing and use some shim steel to move the laser over, or drill the hole off center in the first instance, the way I checked mine was to place a center drill in the drilling chuck and just barely tuched on to some scrap material, replace the centerdrill with the laser and see where red dot is in relation to the centerdrill mark, mine was spot on

so there you go in less than an hour you can have a £79 laser edge finder for less that £2 and a few bits of stainless steel off cuts, and 3 grubscrews

Regards
Andy

NickG:
Great idea Andy! Will definitely be giving that a go. How do you use those? At what point is the edge found?

NIck

PhiberOptix:

--- Quote from: NickG on September 14, 2009, 01:02:19 PM ---Great idea Andy! Will definitely be giving that a go. How do you use those? At what point is the edge found?

NIck

--- End quote ---

That depends on the diameter of the lasers' beam the smaller the beam the more accurate it will be,
you can locate markout lines/intersections, just by the red dot been visible on the material where the dot is is where you drill/mill
good also for setting up vices etc
for edges I would use half the dot on and half off the material have a look at http://www.lasercenteredgefinder.com/
and http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/direct-edge-finding-via-laser.aspx they explain it far better than I can

Hope this helps
Regards
Andy

raynerd:
 :thumbup:
smart idea - may very well give it a go!

Chris

PhiberOptix:
Mine wasn't as spot on as I first thought so I had to mod it to get the laser dead central
4 adjusting cap heads were added to the sleeve so I can move the red dot about much the
same way as you would use a 4 jaw, ease off on one, then tighten its opposite side
turn the head thru 360 degrees and see if the dot moves at all, if it doesnt its central

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