Switched from manual leveling to laser leveling after 15 years

For over a decade I was eyeballing my crane loads and using bubble levels like a caveman. Last month I finally got a rotary laser and now I can set a 10 ton beam dead square in under 5 minutes. Anyone else stick with old methods way longer than they should have?

2 comments

2 Comments

seanjackson1mo ago

You still keeping the bubble level as a backup or did you toss it?

hannah_perry1mo ago

You mentioned "keep the bubble level as a backup," and I actually just heard about this on a podcast where a contractor was saying he keeps a few old-school levels in his truck because the digital ones can die or get knocked out of calibration. It stuck with me because I've had a digital level give me a false reading on a shelf install before, and that was a real pain to fix later. So I'm in the camp of holding onto at least one bubble level, especially for rough framing or quick checks where you don't want to mess with batteries. I think people toss them too quick, but if it's been dropped or the glass is cracked, then yeah, it's probably time to let it go.