laser levels

Not necessarily, some project various lines along with dots in other directions, e.g. horizontal and vertical cross out of the front, but dots out of the sides, so you can realign the lines by making use of the dots.

Can either be tripod mounted (which generally allow for height adjustment) or mounted by magnet or hung on a screw/nail, some have a rack and pinion on a base to allow adjustment.

Not wanting to dissuade you, but if it's only a level between two somewhat distant points you need, a few metres of plastic tubing and some water will do the job.

Thanks, yes understood. It wouldn’t be difficult to transfer the level using a sport level too. It’s more a good excuse to buy a laser level.

If you cannot place the laser at the required height you can always use it to establish a datum line at a convenient height and simply measure up the same measurement up from it. Using a rod is less likely to result in measuring errors.

Richard

I bought one of these 8 years ago and have been very pleased with it. It is much smaller than some of the alternatives.

Later I bought one of these so that I could use it outdoors in the sun.

You can get laser levels that modulate the laser and then have a separate receiver. This means that you don't have to have the laser at the level you want. You attach the receiver to a measuring stick (preferably a ruler but a length of wood will do).

This Youtube video explains the use

I have a cheapish green laser Bosch one purchased many year ago. Have glued a magnet to it. For some uses I stick a piece of steel to a wall with industrial strength double sided tape. The laser level the magnetically sticks to the steel.

When working inside, I often find they will stick to the corner beads embedded in the plaster at door and window reveals etc.

I have had a few over the years... the first one I got was just a conventional 30cm level with a laser in the end that could project a dot. Better than nothing, but a pain to use. I also had a very basic rotating level. It was a manual level one (there was a bullseye level on its tripod base). Again a bit of a pain to setup, but quite good for measuring up or down to a particular level. However since I got my first self levelling line projector, I have not felt the need to go back to the others. They latest multi axis line projector has been very useful and easy to use.

Depends on how you define "need"... A basic self levelling unit that can project a line, will likely do what you need since you can often get its line to project the full width of a wall, and spill onto the sides of the adjacent walls. Many have nice smooth rotating bases - so you can also rotate the direction they are pointing while keeping the level the same. (the auto adjust units suspend the laser mechanism in a pendulum style arrangement - so you manually level them to "near enough" (typically within 4deg) then unlock the self levelling restraint, and it will level itself the rest of the way. (most will flash the laser if the base level is too far out for the self level to work).

Having said that, the 360 levels are very nice. Especially the three axis ones. Very quick and easy to project a "ring" round an entire room.

The offset of the laser from the base of the unit is usually fixed. So you set the height of the unit itself using tripod, or hanging / clamping / "magnetting" at the required height. If you can't physically get it at the height you need, you just set it at a datum level and measure up /down from it, or better use a story stick or plank to mark off.

Green levels are usually brighter and easier to see (especially if outside).

Some levels also support a pulse mode. The pulse rate is too high to see by eye, but it will be detected directly by a laser level finder[2]. This will greatly extend the useful range outside. You clamp the finder to a survey stick or ruler etc, then use the level finder to establish a level at distance. Very good for marking out excavations, or foundation levels, or just surveying topography.

Thanks everyone for all of the feedback. Extremely useful. I’ve settled on a fancy 360 unit

I used to use that method when I was working in steelwork construction.

There are sellers on Ebay that go to their local Lidl/Aldi and buy up "centre aisle" stock. It then appears on Ebay at 3x to 4x the price presumably to sell to buyers who have no knowledge or easy access to a Lidl/Aldi store.

And who can't be bothered to see if anyone else on Ebay selling it for less. It's strange to see the same thing *with* *the* *same*

Of course, some people will never lose the 'you get what you pay for' attitude, and presumably believe the extra price confers some sort of extra hidden reliability or quality.

Farnell is not particularly cheap, but I've seen components on Ebay priced higher than at Farnell, who have given up the restricted membership thing and sold to the public for years. The same with RS: I got thrown out of RS about forty years ago for not buying enough, they soon stopped doing that once the expensive catalogues went online.

Both RS and Farnell's prices are VAT exclusive. Ebay prices would be 20% higher to be comparable.

How many here remember when the "Radiospares" catalogue was a little A5 booklet, and not a doorstop?

Yes, three of my uncles owned a small TV shop, and I used to visit now and then. The things in the catalogue really were TV and radio spares, with a large range of mains dropper resistors and toroidal resistors to make replacement droppers not in the range. Most of the TVs sold and repaired were AC/DC types with huge rotary switched tuners, either turret or fireball types.

The biggest problem with radio spares at one point was that they overprinted the ICs with their own catalogue stock number. On using a solvent to remove the overprint and it was not unusual to find the 10 off item you purchased were from a couple of different manufactures, but worse could be different speed grades.

As a student / hobbyist in the 80's, the snotty RS rep refused to let us even have a catalogue, and we could only order via the university purchasing department (run by an equally snotty bloke who made every request feel like he was doing us a major favour). I ordered a lot from Farnell instead, and their rep called me personally and set me up a trade account, with free catalogues and credit line. Guess where I directed most business in the following years...