Larry,

I did tie a line to the bit, but I used fishing line. Every time I would extract the bit, would break. Then it would take another 5 minutes to find the whole. I tell you, it was painfull. I'm learning a lot with this project.

Try a strong kite string or twine.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Guess that explains why hes a "remoteprogrammer" instead of an installer.....

I cant remeber the last time I went more than 5/8" or maybe 3/4"

If you can gain access to the eve through the attic you can sometimes reach behind the wall & poke hole throught the fiber backing of the wall,Then fish your lines down.(it does take a small person to acomplish this feat) but it will get you down the wall & keep wires out of site & out of mind,No cutting extra hole in sheet rock & a cleaner instalation. or if your lucky enough to have an eve vent in the same stud space as your volumecontrol remove vent fish wires out of attic then acess wall through the vent .

Home Depot has a really great drill made by Milwaukee for 130 bucks. Its a small, red (of course) close-quarter drill that has a 90 degree worm drive and a trigger toward the end. it is our godsend for outside walls as I've hit them even with a 4/12 pitch. I've been known to use a short spade bit until it bottoms out and then placing a size smaller (but longer) spade in the hole and rechucking the drill. It's not very powerful so your bits have to be sharp but it has definitely been a great tool to have.

yea, that close quarters drill has saved my but more than once.

Yep, I have one, too.

The neat thing about it is that the angle head, which is removable for use as a straight-ahead drill, has two different-sized bevel gears, can be installed either way, and provides for either higher speed or higher torque. Plus, you can rotate it in any direction; up, down, side, etc.

It's variable-speed and reversible, comes with two side handles, a screw-in one and one that clamps on, a double-ended wrench and pin for removing/installing the chuck and/or angle hear, and an easily replacable power cord. Oh, yeah, it's powerful, too.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

P.S. Milwaukee, contact me for my mailing address for my check. : - )

Try this when you are trying to locate where the drill came through --
--leave the drill bit in the drill
--get out your telephone tone generator
--unplug the drill and connect one terminal of the tone generator to the ground pin of the drill plug
--connect the other terminal to the power ground
--check for continuity -- if you have continuity, this will not work
--switch the generator to tone
--go into the attic and wave the sensor around

You should be able to start hearing the tone when you are about three feet away from the drill bit. You won't have to toss a single piece of insulation around until you locate the right one.

This will not work if the drill bit is touching a ground. Also, if the drill bit is touching a metal sheet such as is sometimes found on one side of insulation, then the whole sheet will be radiating tone...but it will at least get you close.

Reference bits make it easier, too. I use the ones from LSD. That way you can put them up from the locations that you WANT to go up in, then go into the attic and see if you CAN get there. I sometimes paint the bits flourescent so that I can easily find them with a headlight while I am doing the "belly-crawl"...