Every rotating laser we sell leaves the workshop with a calibration certificate, and most manufacturers recommend a recheck every twelve months. That interval is a sensible default, but it is a default, not a rule. The right answer depends on what happens to the instrument between services.
What actually knocks a laser out
A rotating laser holds level with a compensator, either a pendulum or a pair of electronic sensors. Neither drifts much on its own. What moves them is shock: a case dropped off a tailgate, a tripod kicked over, a laser bouncing loose in the back of a van for six months. Heat matters too. An instrument left on a dashboard in July will come back with a different zero than it left with.
So a laser that is used twice a month for finished-floor checks and lives in its case will probably still be within tolerance at eighteen months. A laser that is on a groundworks site five days a week, set up on rough ground and moved twenty times a day, may need looking at every six.
The interval we recommend
- Twelve months for general construction use. This keeps you inside most main contractors' quality requirements and most manufacturers' warranty conditions.
- Six months for machine control, dual-grade work or anything where a few millimetres over a long run costs real money.
- Immediately after any drop, knock or vehicle incident, whatever the date on the last certificate says.
Three checks you can do on site
None of these replace a service, but they will tell you whether the instrument is worth trusting today.
- The two-peg test for level. Set the laser midway between two points about 30 m apart and take a reading on the staff at each. Move the laser to within a metre of one point and read both again. The difference between the two sets of readings should match to within the stated accuracy, typically 1.5 mm at 30 m. If it does not, one axis is out.
- Rotate and repeat. Turn the laser 180 degrees on the tripod and take the same reading. A change of more than the accuracy figure points to an axis error.
- Listen to the self-levelling. A compensator that hunts, clicks or takes noticeably longer to settle than it used to is telling you something. Do not ignore it.
What a calibration service involves
In the workshop we set the instrument up on a granite bench against a reference collimator, check each axis at range, adjust the compensator and, if fitted, the grade axes, then check again after a temperature soak. We replace worn seals and battery contacts while the housing is open, and the certificate that goes back in the case records the readings before and after adjustment so you have an audit trail.
Most lasers are turned round in two working days. If yours is out of action longer than that we can lend you a similar unit for the duration, so there is no reason to keep running an instrument you no longer trust.
If you are not sure where your laser sits on this scale, ring the workshop on 01522 697777 and describe how it is used. We will give you a straight answer.
