Throw those 6 footer flexies away and cut the drywall open. You cant destroy a plasma or a water pipe with joint compound.

39 cent, i'd rather not cut 6' of drywall and patch it all, too much time when the bit works so well. i did what you said this morning to go through 3 studs, because i had to fish the cable a strange way that couldn't be done with a straight shot. but it takes time to patch, even with my heat gun to dry the joint compound.

it had to go up to another spot in the next studbay for the tv location. the flex bit would have saved at least an hour but it wasn't possible.

We were wondering why things were going so slowly on a restaurant install we're doing...drive fifty miles only to find the conduits they said were in were not in...

On the job the other night, doing what we could, we found a large paperback book from Home Depot on the floor near the latest electrical disaster. It was Stanley's "Basic Electrical Wiring," a book with LOTS of pictures.

Not Mr. Stanley, but Stanley the tool brand.

There's another level of scary.

Me too! I haven't even carried a 6 foot flex bit in about 3 years. There's no telling what you're going through... romex, pipe, hvac, anything. I try to keep all drilling as vertical as possible now. If you hit electric or a pipe then you're going to be cutting a hole in the wall to fix it anyway, whether you want to or not. :)

THAT, 39 & jimstoltz, is excellent advice!!!! I HAVE HEARD, SEEN AND EXPERIENCED SO MUCH GRIEF WITH THOS G*D-DAMNED STUPID 6 FOOT BIT'S I COULD WRITE A BOOK!

If the customer is too dang cheap to pay for some drywall patching then, they shouldn't do the job.


I just remembered a deal about 8 years ago... I was doing a retro in this old Seattle mansion (old-money couple bla bla bla)... I hired out a security system installer to help with some of the more challenging "fishes" and he assured me up and down, that he was the "Pro" when it came to using a 6 ft. flexi, and often used additonal 6 ft. extensions, and NEVER had ANY problems!!!

I was trying to get down from an upstairs bedroom down thru the foyer into a basement room...

So my "Sub" is drilling down from the bedroom, and I am in the foyer, where I was digging thru my tool kit, when I heard a funny noise, and, to my horror looked over to see a pile of drywall dust on the floor!! So I scampered over to see where the drill bit, had popped out---- It popped out mid-level through a very valuable Oil-Painting!!!

God, I hate those d*mn flexi bits! I agree, 39, throw those things away!

I had a little incident for some of you newer guys that resulted in over $860,000 dollars in damages, not to mention many condo-owners having to relocate etc.

I HATE FLEXI BITS!

My buddy once was drilling down into a small cut-out with one, when his hair got caught in the drill and removed a major chunk of his scalp... we nick-named him "patches" after the fact.

JMO)--- Don't use those damn things!!!!

Double-stick tape and steel-toed boots.

...And a good dry-wall knife!

We still use them but you do have to be careful with those flexbits. One time are tech was in the attic drilling down through a fire stop, when the bit hit a nail or somethng and busted through the wall. Unfortunately the ide o the wall it came out of had some irreplacable, and supposedly very expensive wallpaper! Long story short this client went around badmouthing us to every builder, interior designer,and contractor she knew. Luckily for us evrybody she knew already knew us, so it didn't cause us much harm.

Andrew

One of these days I am going to retire from all this and just sell instruction videos giving away all my secrets about how to do fast clean drywall patches & texture
[Link: mastertheaterbuilders.com]

They say that the best hole is the one you never have to patch. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the hole you only have to patch once.

That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it... and it's worked out pretty well so far.

:)

Theres no reason drywall cant be cut, wire run, wall patched in an 8 hour day. The link provided by RTI Installer proves it. Nice work.

Thanks, and you are right, a lot of people waste more time trying to find a way around cutting the drywall, that it actually ends up being more trouble.

If you go into the job planning to cut ( even if you end up not cutting) rather than avoid the issue, then you have a different mindset and the whole process generally goes like clock work.

I will let out one trick ,and that is never use a drywall saw as it tears up the drywall to much, where fore it wont patch perfectly level, which will in turn add 2 hours to the job, always use a new drywall blade, there is a tool called a speedy sharp that you can pass over the blade edge that keeps it clean and sharp while you work the drywall.

http://www.speedysharp.net/


PS, I hate those long flex bit as well, to much liability. I sure do love my chain and magnet sets :-)

Thats a cool looking product!


I'm done with the 6 ft. flexi bits! Never again!!!

After yesterday, I now worry all the time! I was doing a relatively simple install yesterday - LCD TV over a fireplace with metal studs used for framing. No big deal - togglers were used. There was an existing low voltage box with cable and CAT near the studs - as well as an AC outlet. I used the LV opening to stick a wall scope in to check things out and verify studs, etc - and all seemed OK. Drilled the first hole into (what I thought) was the stud to the upper right of the AC outlet and POP - out go the lights. Upon further investigation - the outlet box was a 4" x 4" becuase it was a major junction, and therefore the stud was not directly adjacent to the box. The stud finder had located the armoured cable that ran near the stud - but that's not what I hit. Between the armoured cable and the metal stud was a PLASTIC conduit with a bunch of single AC wires in it! I clipped the side of that and nicked a couple of wires.

I'm not new at this, but this is the first time that I've seen plastic conduit used for AC. Is this a new thing, or did sparky screw up? I thought plastic conduit was for LV only!

Well here in Missouri it has to be greenfield or metal conduit so if it was here then they screwed up. However that really changes nothing!