Love my Kobalt 10” Sliding Compound Miter Saw. But I have one major beef with it. The laser guide is on the wrong side! It’s been driving me a little crazy that I can’t use this guide. It was a selling point for me, so I fixed it.
While they are common now, I never owned a saw with one. I only saw them in the store and wished I could justify spending the money for one of those new saws. Well, I finally ponied up the cash and got one. I got it home. Unboxed it. Followed all the instructions to set up the saw and tweak the guide. And then realized, this guide is useless.
The laser is on the right side of the blade and shines under the saw’s motor housing. It draws its line on the waste side of the blade, not the hero side. It becomes hidden as you lower the saw to make your cut. I couldn’t even adjust it to the edge of the cut. It disappeared before it ever got there.
This never bothered me too much since I never had a laser guide before. I’m a little old school and just drew a line with a combination square. Worked just fine for me. But in the back of my mind, it bothered me that this didn’t work the way you really needed it to. So finally, that little voice in my head said to go for it. You’re not using the guide, so if it breaks while you are trying to figure it out, what did you really lose?
Examining the Laser
Because the saw needs to be plugged in for the laser to operate and I was experimenting, I took a Philips head screwdriver and inserted it into the hole in the activation trigger. This will reduce the chances of any inadvertent triggering of the saw. An even better option for locking out the saw would be a padlock with a longer shackle, but this is what I had to work with.
I removed a couple of screws and popped the laser housing off the saw. Should you try to make this adjustment, you probably will not need to remove the laser. I did just to see what I was dealing with.
What did I see when I looked under the laser housing? The laser sits in a small sled. Looking into the side, you can see where the laser front to back and left to right adjustments can be made. The sled itself rides on two smooth rails. And there is another threaded rail that is not readily accessible as an adjustment.
When you look a little closer at the threaded rail and where it appears you would access it from the outside of the housing, you see a small plug. Using a utility knife, I removed this plug. Behind that plug was the head of a screw. You could use either a Philips or slotted head to turn it.
I reinstalled the laser on the saw and got set to either break the laser guide (which was useless on the wrong side of the blade anyway) or achieve success and see what Norm Abram introduced to us years ago.
Making the Adjustment
Moving the laser to the correct side of the blade was a little bit of a leap of faith. I took a Philips head screwdriver and tried to turn the screw. There was a bit of resistance. If you look closely, you can see that some blue threadlocker is on one of the other adjustment screws. Knowing that, I’m assuming there is some on the secret adjustment as well.
I gave the screw a little more force when I tried to turn it again and heard a little crack. I assumed this to be the thread lock letting go. Then I saw the entire laser move toward the saw blade and then disappear. I gave it a few more turns and then it reappeared on the left side of the blade.
At this point, I began to adjust the laser according to the instructions in the manual. However, I also used the secret adjustment that was not in the manual to get it really dialed in.
Conclusion
Moving the laser guide from the wrong side to the correct side felt pretty good. I now have the saw I thought I was originally buying. That being said, I use it as an assist to help setup the initial placement of the board I am going to cut. I still lower the saw and verify with my eyes.
For those of you who have a newer version of this saw, it appears that the laser on the wrong side is no longer an issue. Additionally, the adjustment is now tool free. There are two little dials to adjust the laser instead of needing a torx head screwdriver. Personally, I liked that you needed a tool to adjust the laser. Less chance of having someone just touch the laser and messing up the alignment.
If you’d like to check out my video about the secret laser adjustment, click here.
