Patent Application
20130247737
This application claims, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, priority to Taiwanese Application No. 101110400, filed Mar. 26, 2012, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, inclusive of the specification, claims, and drawings.
The present disclosure relates to circular saws and more particularly, to a cutting indicator for circular saw.
Before operating a circular saw to cut a workpiece, the user can mark a cutting line on the workpiece, and then lower the circular saw blade to touch the workpiece for visually checking the alignment. After the alignment has been checked, the circular saw is operated to cut the workpiece along the marked cutting line. However, only a small part of the circular saw blade can be aimed at the marked cutting line during alignment between the circular saw blade and the marked cutting line due to the limitation of the shape of the circular saw blade, and thus an error can easily occur, resulting in an inaccurate cutting size. Therefore, regular circular saws are commonly equipped with a cutting indicator that can be controlled to emit a laser beam, forming a laser indicating line on the surface of the workpiece. Subject to the indication of the laser indicating line, the circular saw blade can be operated to cut the workpiece accurately.
However, prior to the workpiece cutting operation, the user normally needs to make a 3-dimensional adjustment to the cutting indicator. To accomplish this, the user first needs to adjust the laser beam projection angle, and then keep the laser indicating line formed by the laser beam parallel to the workpiece cutting line. Finally, the user must move the laser indicating line into alignment with the workpiece cutting line. After these three adjustment steps are accurately done, the user can then start operating the circular saw to cut the workpiece.
For example, China Patent Publication No. CN201058385 discloses a circular saw, entitled “Saw Cutting Machine”, which teaches a first step of rotating a screw nail 35S to assure parallel alignment between the plane beam LP and the circular saw blade 23, a second step of rotating a screw nail 38S to assure parallel alignment between the line of light LPL and the circular saw blade 23, and a third step of rotating a screw nail 34 to assure positioning of the circular saw blade 23 within the width of the plane beam LP, or to enable the plane beam LP to be positioned adjacent to one side of the circular saw blade 23. In these aforementioned techniques, the lens for converting the emitted laser beam to a plane beam is directly mounted in the laser module. When an adjustment of the laser indicating line is necessary, the user must use a tool to rotate the screw nails 35S, 38S, 34, respectively. These techniques also have the drawback of a low adjustment speed. Further, adjustment in each dimension may affect one another due to the constraint of the design of the laser module itself, resulting in user confusion about the cognitive dimensions. This adjustment method likely causes considerable trouble and inconvenience for unfamiliar users since user skills also determine the effects on the adjustment.
The present disclosure has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present disclosure to provide a cutting indicator for a circular saw, which facilitates simple and quick adjustment.
To achieve this and other objects of the present disclosure, a cutting indicator comprises an adjusting base, a lens, and a laser generator. The adjusting base is pivotally mounted to a saw arm of a circular saw by a pivot bolt, defining a through hole therein. The lens is mounted at the saw arm corresponding to the adjusting base. The laser generator is mounted in the through hole of the adjusting base, and adapted to generate a laser beam. Thus, when the laser beam generated by the laser generator passes the lens, it is converted to a plane beam, thereby forming a laser indicating line on the workpiece to be cut.
Biasing the adjusting base relative to the saw arm allows the plane beam to be quickly switched between a predetermined first plane position and a predetermined second plane position that are substantially aligned parallel to two opposing lateral planes of the circular saw blade of the circular saw. Thus, quick adjustment of the laser indicating line can be easily achieved.
Preferably, the cutting indicator further comprises a rotary knob rotatably mounted in the adjusting base and connected with the laser generator for adjusting the laser beam projection angle.
Further, the lens can be adjustably mounted in the saw arm for obtaining the optimal plane beam. Alternatively, the lens can be affixed to the saw arm after calibration.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.
It should be noted that the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, but instead are drawn to provide a better understanding of the components thereof, and are not intended to be limiting in scope, but rather to provide exemplary illustrations. It should further be noted that the figures illustrate exemplary embodiments of a cutting indicator for a circular saw and the components thereof, and in no way limit the structures or configurations of a cutting indicator for a circular saw and components thereof according to the present disclosure.
Other and further advantages and features of the present disclosure will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrative embodiments are shown in the drawings and are described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, combinations, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
It will be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined in this disclosure to possess a described meaning, there is no intent to limit the meaning of such term, either expressly or indirectly, beyond its plain or ordinary meaning
Referring to
Referring to
The adjusting base 40 is pivotally connected to the circular saw blade holder 142 of the saw arm 14 by a pivot member, such as a pivot bolt 42. The adjusting base 40 also comprises a through hole 44 cut through opposing top and bottom walls thereof, and a constraint portion 45 radially formed in the through hole 44, as shown in
In this embodiment, the two locating members 50 are screw rods 50a, 50b respectively threaded into the screw holes 46 of the adjusting base 40. As shown in
The lens 60 in this embodiment may be a wave lens or a serrated lens adjustably mounted in the circular saw blade holder 142 of the saw arm 14, and corresponds to the through hole 44 of the adjusting base 40. The through hole 44 is further adapted to adjust a better planar light beam. Alternatively, the lens 60 can be positioned in the saw arm 14 after calibration, or made in a detachable form to facilitate cleaning and replacement.
The laser generator 70 is mounted in the through hole 44 of the adjusting base 40 and inserted with the bottom end thereof into the constraint portion 45 of the through hole 44. The laser generator 70 is controllable to generate a laser beam in this position. When a laser beam generated by the laser generator 70 passes through the lens 60, the laser beam is converted to a laser plane and projected onto the worktable 12 or the workpiece 20, forming a laser indicating line L, as shown in
Referring back to
During adjustment, rotating the rotary knob 80 tilts the laser generator 70 due to the eccentric coupling between the laser generator 70 and the rotary knob 80, thereby changing the laser beam projecting angle to the extent where the plane beam P formed by diffusion of the laser beam passed through the lens 60 is aligned parallel to the two lateral planes LP1, RP1 of the circular saw blade 16. At this time, the laser indicating line L formed on the workpiece 20 by the plane beam P is kept in parallel to the cutting line made on the workpiece 20 by the circular saw blade 16. It should be appreciated that if the projection angle of the laser generator 70 is affixed during installation and not allowed for adjustment by the user, then the aforementioned step of rotating the rotary knob, or even the rotary knob 80 itself, can be eliminated.
Thereafter, turning the adjusting base 40 about the pivot bolt 42 enables the plane beam P to be moved in a parallel manner relative to the circular saw blade 16. Thus, the user can adjust the plane beam P to a substantially parallel position relative to the two lateral planes LP1, RP1 of the circular saw blade 16 subject to the thickness of the circular saw blade 16 or other actual needs, as shown in
After the position of the adjusting base 40 is set, the user can selectively and rapidly switch between a predetermined first plane position P1 and a predetermined second plane position P2 that are substantially aligned parallel to the two lateral planes LP1, RP1 of the circular saw blade 16. In this embodiment, the first plane position P1 and the second plane position P2 are respectively disposed at an outer side relative to the lateral planes LP1, RP1 of the circular saw blade 16, as shown in
As stated above, adjusting the position of the plane beam P of the cutting indicator 30 does not need any tools. Simply moving the adjusting base 40 can achieve quick adjustment. Thus, the present invention advantageously simplifies the plane beam adjustment process, thus enhancing convenience for the user.
Although a particular embodiment of the disclosure has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the disclosure is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101110400 | Mar 2012 | TW | national |
