Newest Toy

Yep, the infamous rotozip tool. I have used them for years. It does the best job of opening a hole for an outlet in drywall. You do have to start where the box is touching the board, though or it will tear up the paper when the box pressing on the board breaks the last little bit you haven't yet cut.

-Chuck Harris

Thanks, Chuck! I'll watch for that. The next part of the project will be thru drywall.

...Jim Thompson

First, take the handle of your drywall hatchet, and pack the wires deep into the back of the box. Then lean the sheet against the box, and look in from the top, and reach down with your hatchet, and peck the drywall in the center of the box (It takes good depth perception). Next, put a nail or two along the top edge of the sheet, at least 4 feet away from the box. This is just to hold the sheet in place. Punch the zip tool through the center of the box, and go until it hits the side of the box that is touching the drywall sheet. Make sure that you head for the most clockwise corner of the box where the sheet is touching, and then carefully extract the tool so you hop over the edge of the box, and start cutting in the counter clockwise direction. Counter clockwise is important, because the force of cutting pushes the tool into the edge of the box, making it easier for you to keep it hugging the edge. Be quick as you finish the last side of the cut, just in case the cutout is going to break, and tear the paper. Try and keep the force of the drywall leaning on the box to a minimum. If you don't have the depth perception to be able to peck the center of the box with a hatchet, use your tape, and measure X-Y to the center of the box, and make a mark.

Oh, and get help carrying the sheets, I have a couple of disks that give me the nicest sciatica phantom pains because I didn't.

-Chuck Harris

And wear a good face mask. You've never seen so much dust.

-- Joe Legris

On 16 Jul 2006 20:13:42 -0700, "J.A. Legris" Gave us:

That's what a good vacuum cleaner hose is for.

If you want to see lots of dust try removing old wood lath and horsehair plaster from a 100 + year old house that was heated with coal for over 50 years. I had big fans running constantly, and I could still barely see where I was swinging my 20 pound sledge hammer.

I hope you used a really good respirator in that environment.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 06:12:10 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell" Gave us:

Cool house... Sounds like it would be a pain in the ass to wire up though.

Not at all, after all of the old plaster was gone.

Chuck, Took me awhile to realize exactly what you were saying. You're hanging drywall over boxes, so alignment is crucial. I'm adding a box to an existing hung piece of drywall... "old work" boxes with fold-out "ears".

Normally I do this with a drywall saw, but this location didn't allow for easy access or much physical movement.

...Jim Thompson

I have two houses that were built around 1877 and I removed all the old lath and plaster. I found it was possible to pull large chunks of plaster from the laths, and then remove them (mostly) intact, using a flat "wonder" bar. It was still an incredibly messy job. There was already some wiring in the house, mostly old cloth covered romex that had been fished behind walls and ceilings, and under the floor.

When I was pulling down the plaster from one part of the ceiling, something that I first thought was a coil of old black romex cable fell to the floor, but then it moved. A head appeared, and it turned out to be a black snake, who was now flitting his tongue to check out his newly changed environment. I got him to wrap onto a stick and I put him outside to make a new home in the bushes.

Wiring is certainly a lot easier with the plaster removed. It's basically the same as new construction.

Paul

"...the most clockwise corner..." ???

Except for drilling in 100+ year old hand hewn oak beams. Some of it was so hard that I had to use masonry bits. A couple minutes a hole wasn't uncommon, unlike 15 to 30 seconds per hole for fresh pine 2*4s.

When my oldest son was at Chaparral High School (North Scottsdale) a kid lost 3 fingers on a band saw and they were vacuumed up by the central shop vac.

While the medics were stabilizing the kid, my son dumped the saw dust out on the floor and recovered the fingers.

They were successfully reattached!

("Course it helped that the kid's father was a surgeon ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Yep, though I cut these receptacle holes freehand. That's why cover plates are larger than electrical boxes ;-)

I bought mine (IIRC) around 1980... love it!

An old Sony Cyber-Shot 3.3 MegaPixels, DSC-S70, "macro" focus setting.

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

Ouch! I remember being annoyed that the machine shop I visited while working in college required you to wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt, even if it was

I never did take issue with using a push stick whenever you were getting close to finishing the cut through your material on a band or table saw...

I'm thinking an exceedingly hard, sharp, tough bit, (case-hardened carbide?) running at insane speeds, could dig through tile, but yes, I'd want some substantial safety glasses for when it snaps. =:-O

Thanks! Rich

I learned all that crap at the age of about 8, because Dad inherited Grandpa's ShopSmith.

I came home from school one day (about 5th grade or so) to find that my brother (about 10th grade) had cut his finger on the table saw and was on the way to the hospital.

They saved the finger. :-)

Cheers! Rich

For tile, the sell a solid tungsten carbide 1/4 inch diamond cut router bit. It walks right through normal clay based tile, such as is typically seen in bathrooms (eg. 4 inch square clay bisque tile). It would have a problem with porcelain floor tile, as it is much harder, but it would still cut it...slowly. You have to let these bits cut at their own rate. Forcing them is a recipe for instant destruction of the bit.

-Chuck