My laser level was off by 1/4 inch and I found out why in my garage last night

I was hanging cabinets in my kitchen and kept noticing things didn't line up. Checked the bubble on my old Stanley level and it looked fine. Then I set my laser level on a countertop I knew was dead flat and shone it across the room. The line was tilted by almost a quarter inch over 15 feet. Turns out the internal pendulum on that cheap Bosch model I bought at Lowe's for 60 bucks got jammed with dust after sitting in my tool bag for a year. Anyone else ever have a tool gradually drift off and not notice until you're already done with a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_cora3d ago

Twenty bucks says that cheap Bosch pendulum is still sitting in your tool bag gathering more dust too. Nothing like finding out your "helpful assistant" is actually a lying piece of plastic halfway through a cabinet install.

dylanh813d ago

Does anyone else wonder if @the_cora had bad luck with that particular Bosch model, or if it's the whole concept of pendulum stud finders that's the problem? I've been using a basic Zircon for years and it's never given me false readings, but I've heard enough people complain about those self-leveling ones to think maybe they just don't work well on anything but perfect drywall. The extra moving parts seem like they'd introduce more chances for error, not less.