Anybody ever add Laser lines to their mills

[CaseyK]

Looking at adding laser line alignment to my twin blade build for assisting in cutting 7x9 ties. Adding two horizontal and 2 vertical laser lines to show where the blades will cut and where the other side of the tie will line up at.  I have never used them before but I ordered some off ebay today that are 100mw strength. Has anybody here ever added lasers to your mill to assist in lining up logs or calculating cuts? Since the heart has to be boxed or totally out of a tie I thought this would help a lot in making quick decisions on either cutting a tie or just a pallet mill cant when cutting close to the center of the log. On the internet if found some that sawmills are using and they were only 30mw strength so im thinking the 100mw strength ones I purchased should be visible as long as im not in direct sunlight.

[rooster 58]

I have a red laser on my 70. Even though it's under roof, there is no side wall and the sun shines on the log most of the day. I either need to close that section in or get a green laser. The green ones will work in direct sunlight in conditions where I am able to use my lasr, it works very well in spotting the sawhead on sweepy or irregular shaped logs especially ;)

[Ron Wenrich]

Sunlight washes out lasers. So does dirt.  I had lasers for a vertical edger and for aligning the opening cut.  Our mill was undercover and had walls on many sides.  It still made the lines faint. 

Where do you plan to mount the lasers?  If it's anywhere close to the saws, they'll be wiped out.  Ideally, they should be stationary mounts that move with the saws.  For our vertical edger, we had to mount it to the outside of the edger.  The lasers were attached to the saws by a set of cables and weights.  They were mounted on a rod. 

I don't see where you'll get a whole lot of benefit for calculating cuts.  That is pretty much a mathematical thing, and you get better with experience.  I also had the benefit of turning logs, and that makes sawing easier.  I did find them beneficial for setting tapers and the opening cut.  On a circle mill, the laser is pretty easy to mount on the roof, as the saw never moves.  I'm not sure how that works on a twin cut.

[bandmiller2]

I have a green line laser on my circular mill, mounted in the overhead. It is helpful as I don't cut as often as I used to. As stated sunlight is the lasers enemy. If your mill is indoors and not real bright they will work. What I understand you want to box the heart at your end, if your close enough the lines should show up. With a twin blade you will have to mount the lasers on your saw carriage, as you adjust that to center the log. If your sawhead is close enough to the logs end I think even cheap level lasers would work, it would be worth a try. How lasers would stay adjusted and aligned that close to the saw is another question, you will just have to experiment. Frank C.