A good laser for ceiling layouts?

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C

Cow

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Location
Eastern Oregon
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Electrician
I've got a warehouse to wire and would like to find an easy way to keep my pipe runs straight. If there was a laser available that could do this it'd save a ton of time over a string line...

I'm going to do a bit of googling, maybe look into PLS products, but if any of you have any ideas I'd appreciate it. I'd like to find something that could do a 100' radius(this warehouse is 200' long) and then just set it in the middle of the floor. If it could hit measured marks on the floor and then transfer it to the ceiling even better!

Thanks!
 
I didn't buy one, but I looked at the PLS 180. It's self leveling and shoots a horizontal and vertical line. The vertical line extends up and beyond where you set the laser, but it doesn't act as a plumb bob. Visibility is excellent and the line is easily visible. There are probably better options out there but I haven't checked recently. The main thing I would check is visibility of the beam. The higher the price, the easier it will be to see. The other thing you might want is something self leveling that has a magnetic base so you can mount it to a truss.

A cheaper option for a per-wall reference is just a simple laser level with rare earth magnets. You can get one stick of pipe up and level, then mount the laser to it and mark one reference point the whole length of the wall.
 
Stud Frames use a Hilti that shoots a vertical and horzonital beam no bigger than your hand and then put on the floor.

I don't know the cost verses other prices...
 
I've always done something similar to what PetrosA mentioned. I would start the pipe run and get the first piece measured out straight and level as could be. Then I would put my magnetic Checkpoint level with laser on the side of the pipe shooting straight out making sure that the laser was hitting the proper place across the building. Then I would start putting pipe on and after every pipe was in place I would use a laser card on the side of the pipe where the laser was shooting. The laser in the Checkpoint is 1" off of the side of the pipe so that is where I would put the dot on the laser card. I could also see if the pipe was high or low and adjust the trapeze accordingly to make sure that the whole run was perfectly level.
 
We bought one these brand new on E-bay for about $140. It works so well that the big rotary laser now just sits in the box. :roll:

image_8748.jpg


http://www.toolbarn.com/dewalt-dw086k.html
 
You don't set a laser between two marks on the floor. You set the laser on top of one of the marks.

If you set it in between the marks, you'll spend forever moving it back & forth just to get the beam to hit both marks, then when you adjust it for plumb, it won't hit the floor marks again. So you keep moving the laser.

Set it right on top of one of the marks, and aim it at the other. Adjust for plumb, and you're done.
 
PetrosA said:
I didn't buy one, but I looked at the PLS 180. It's self leveling and shoots a horizontal and vertical line. The vertical line extends up and beyond where you set the laser, but it doesn't act as a plumb bob. Visibility is excellent and the line is easily visible. There are probably better options out there but I haven't checked recently. The main thing I would check is visibility of the beam. The higher the price, the easier it will be to see. The other thing you might want is something self leveling that has a magnetic base so you can mount it to a truss.

A cheaper option for a per-wall reference is just a simple laser level with rare earth magnets. You can get one stick of pipe up and level, then mount the laser to it and mark one reference point the whole length of the wall.
Click to expand...

I looked at the PLS 180 but it doesn't have the long range without using a laser finder, unfortunately. I was hoping to set something up on the floor once, get up in the air and run my conduit without needing to use a laser finder, tape measure, etc just to shave some labor and streamline the process a bit more...

ptonsparky said:
I bought a Dewalt. Self leveling vertical and horizontal. Magnetic base with other options. Tripod etc.
Click to expand...

Dewalt didn't seem to have the long range or very high accuracy. The ones I looked at were an 1/8" in 30 feet?

480sparky said:
You don't set a laser between two marks on the floor. You set the laser on top of one of the marks.

If you set it in between the marks, you'll spend forever moving it back & forth just to get the beam to hit both marks, then when you adjust it for plumb, it won't hit the floor marks again. So you keep moving the laser.

Set it right on top of one of the marks, and aim it at the other. Adjust for plumb, and you're done.
Click to expand...

I thought most lasers only had a 100' radius without using a laser finder, so I figured I'd have to set it in the middle. When I looked in to PLS lasers, I found out rotary lasers can get the long range without the laser finder so I should be able to set it near one wall and hit the mark on the other wall like you mentioned. From what I've read it looks like a PLS HVR 505R should work well. It's fairly expensive but I try to buy good tools once.

http://www.plslaser.com/rotary-lasers/pls-hvr-505-r

Thanks for all the replies. I'll probably order it in the morning...
 
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