How To Fix A Craftsman Miter Saw Laser Not Working

Hey friends. My name is Maruf. I run the site Tools Engineers. I was in my cold shop last week. I had to cut some hard pine wood. I lined up my big wood piece. I went to turn on my red light guide. The line did not show up at all. My Craftsman miter saw laser stopped working.

I felt very mad at my tool. I let out a big loud sigh. I smelled the fresh pine dust in the air. I had a lot of work to do. I did not want to stop and fix things. But tools break down on us a lot. It is a true fact of shop life. I had to find out what went wrong.

I run this site to help you fix tools. I test a lot of gear all year long. I see what fails on them the most. I dug into this light issue right away. I fixed my saw in a short time. I will show you how I did it. You can fix your own saw tool too.

Why A Craftsman Miter Saw Laser Stops Working

A chop saw takes a lot of hard abuse. Big chunks of wood hit it all day. The large motor shakes the whole tool hard. Fine dust gets deep into all the parts. The small light unit is a weak piece. It sits right next to the big steel blade. It is bound to break down in time.

I looked at my fix notes from last year. I found clear facts on why this light dies. The small power cells run out of juice. Thick dust blocks the clear glass lens. Bad acid leaks rust the small metal clips. The main thumb switch breaks on the inside. These are true facts from my real shop use.

Steps To Fix Your Saw Tool Fast

Do not throw your good saw in the trash. Do not pay a guy to fix it for you. You can solve this small issue on your own. I will walk you through my exact steps. We will try the most easy tricks first. Grab a small flat tool and a clean rag. Get a cup for your loose metal screws.

Safety is our main rule in the shop. You must pull the thick plug from the wall. Do this right now before you touch the saw. You do not want the big blade to spin. That is a very bad way to get hurt. Keep your hands safe at all times.

Step One Is To Change The Power Cells

Some light guides do not use the wall plug. They run on their own tiny round cells. They sit in a small black plastic box. This box sits near the big saw blade. The saw shakes a ton when you make cuts. This shake makes the tiny cells get loose. They also just die from lots of use.

Take your small flat tool in your hand. Find the tiny screw on the top black cover. Turn it to the left to pop it open. Put that screw in your cup to keep it safe. Pop out the two old cells from the slot. You must buy the exact same size from the store.

Put the fresh new cells tight in the slot. Look close for the small plus sign on them. The flat plus side must face up to work. Put the top cover back in its place. Turn the screw tight so it holds firm. Push the red button on the side. The red beam should turn right on for you.

Step Two Is To Wipe The Glass Clear

Your tool might have brand new power cells. The small red light might be turned on. But you still do not see the red line. Fine wood dust is the bad guy in this case. I cut a ton of wood trim in my shop. That dust is like a thick cloud of fog. It drops right into all the small cracks.

The light shines through a tiny clear glass piece. Dust sticks to this glass like strong glue. The light gets trapped deep inside the small box. Take off the clear plastic shield on the side. Look close at the tiny glass part. It might look gray and full of dirt.

Take a dry clean swab in your hand. Wipe the small glass very soft and slow. Do not push hard on it at all. You do not want to break or scratch the glass. Take a deep breath and blow the dust away. Flip the power switch back to the on side. You should see a bright red line now.

Step Three Is To Clean Off Bad Rust

This happens a lot to very old tools. Did you leave dead cells in the saw? I did this once by a dumb mistake. I opened the box to look deep inside. It was a very gross sight to see. There was hard green crust all over the place. The old cheap cells leaked out bad acid.

The acid eats the shiny metal parts away. The power flow gets blocked by the hard crust. The light stays dark no matter what you do. You have to clean that bad crust right off. Take the old cells out and throw them away. Grab a small wood stick or a flat tool.

Scrape all the green junk off the spring clips. You can use an old dry brush to scrub it. Wipe it all out with a dry clean rag. Put new clean power cells in the right way. The metal touches the cell the right way now. The power flows and the light comes on.

Step Four Is To Check The Main Switch

Some big saw tools are built in a new way. They plug the light right to the wall cord. They do not have small coin cells to swap out. The power runs to a small black thumb switch. You press this switch to turn the guide on. This little switch can break down on the inside.

Fine dust gets trapped deep in the switch parts. The tiny metal springs snap from too much use. You press the switch and nothing happens at all. This is a bit hard to fix on your own. You need a test tool to check the wire flow. You have to open the saw handle with a drill.

You touch the tool probes to the switch wires. The tool screen tells you if the power flows. If the screen shows zero, the switch is fully dead. You have to buy a new switch part online. I had to do this last spring on a job. It took me a full hour to fix it right.

How To Aim Your Red Light Line

Let us say you fixed the main power issue. The bright red light is back on the tool. That is great news for your shop work. But wait and look at the red line. Is the line straight on the wood piece? Changing parts can move the small light box. The light shines in the wrong spot now.

Your cuts will be bad if you leave it. You have to aim the beam the right way. Take a scrap piece of wood from the floor. Draw a straight dark line with a lead pen. Put the wood flat on the saw base plate. Bring the blade down near the wood piece. Do not turn the big blade on at all.

Look at where the red light hits the pen mark. You will see a tiny screw on the box side. Turn this small screw very slow with your tool. Watch the red line move left or move right. Make the red line sit next to your pen mark. Now your saw will cut on the mark each time.

When You Need A Brand New Light Part

Sometimes we all have very bad luck. You tried all of my easy fix steps above. You put in brand new cells for the power. You wiped the tiny glass clear of all dust. You scraped the green rust off the metal clips. You checked the power wires with your test tool. But the red guide is still fully dead.

This is sad news for your favorite tool. The true light bulb is burned out for good. It reached the end of its long hard life. The tiny part inside broke from too much heat. You can not fix a dead bulb on your own. You have to buy a whole new light part.

You have some good choices to make now. You can go to a big web site for parts. Type in your exact saw code on the page. Try to find the real brand part for it. They fit well but cost a lot of cash. They might take a long time to ship to you.

You can also buy a basic guide part online. These slide right onto the big blade bolt piece. They turn on when the blade spins fast. They are cheap and work quite well for me. I use a cheap one on my old saw tool. It saves me cash and helps me cut straight lines.

My Last Thoughts On Fixing Your Tool

I know tool issues are a huge pain to deal with. You just want to build your wood frame fast. You do not want to spend the day fixing parts. But taking care of tools is a must do job. A dead light line is quite easy to fix up. Always start with the tiny round power cells.

That is the best and first fix to try out. Clean the fine dust out of the parts a lot. Keep your tools clean to make them last long. It helps them run great for years and years. I hope my tips get your saw running great today.