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Talking to an old timer made me rethink my whole approach to leveling
I was swapping out a controller in a 40 year old Otis last Tuesday and this guy who retired 10 years ago came by to grab some paperwork. He saw me fighting with a digital level and just laughed. Said he never used anything but a 2 foot bubble level and never had a callback on a single car he set up. I asked him how he managed that with rails that were never perfectly straight. He said you don't level to the rail, you level to the car's final travel path and let the shims fix the rest. Been trying it on two jobs this week and it's way faster. Any of you older guys still rely on bubble levels over digital?
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butler.finley27d ago
Tried a laser once and spent more time leveling the laser than the car.
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wesley_martin27d ago
Bubble levels are a pain but at least you can trust them once they're set. Lasers drift, batteries die, and if the floor isn't perfectly flat you're chasing ghosts. I've seen guys spend twenty minutes tweaking a laser only to realize the tripod sunk into the dirt. Give me a simple 4-foot level and a steady hand any day.
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johnson.jason28d ago
Ditch the bubble level and use a laser, old timers just got lucky with slower speeds.
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