Chopping in back boxes ...

[steveg1957]

Does anyone have any ideas / know of special tools etc to help in the chopping in of back boxes in to brick (those blue ones are bl**dy hard)

Or I am I stuck with good old fashioned hammer and chisel and aching arms

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How much mess are you allowed to make?

 

[steveg1957]

House is empty and wrecked .... so as much as i like ?!

 

[sneaky]

i recently had the same problem. i hired a chipping tool from a hire centre and the work was easy.

cost about £20-£30 for the day - but was worth every penny!!! (depends on No. of sockets you have)

 

[steveg1957]

Chipping tool sounds good .. is that its proper name?
It must save the hire cost in time alone ?

 

[sneaky]

i'm not sure of the proper name

it was a hilti hammer drill with a small chisel on the end.

i tried drilling and chiselling one back box and couldn't do it within 2 hours

hired the tool and it took me less than 2 hours to do 9 back boxes!!!

 

[David E]

How about an angle grinder with a diamond blade followed by a SDS drill with a chisel bit. Plenty of dust but if replastering is on the cards if you make the cuts deep enough you can get nice square corners. About 5 mins for a box in blocks dont know about brick. Just make sure you carry the line on past the corner well.

 

[Qedelec]

I use a Hilti box cutter and sds chisel. Works well for me.
You drill a 7mm pilot hole first to locate the cutter, which is used afterwards for the fixing.

 

[steveg1957]

Why haven't I thought of an angle grinder before
I have an SDS drill / chisel but it tends to have a mind of its own and puts big holes (sometimes serving hatches ) in the wall!
A couple or more cuts down the brick with a grinder should give the SDS chisel some guidelines?

NOW where do I buy a good cheap angle grinder .....................

 

[Lectrician]

We have a chase cutter - two diamond blades (like an angle grinder) 25mm apart.

We use this for the boxes aswell, a couple passes, and quick hit with the hammer.

 

[DarkInferno]

I was looking a one of those hilti box cutters.... are they much cop?

 

[Qedelec]

They are great for breeze block. In brick you need to do some chiseling to save time but have not used it much on engineering bricks.
Makes a nice square hole.

 

[shaunsparks]

if youve got a decent drill why dont you mark out where the box is going then pepper that box mark with a series of holes the depth of the box, then chase out with a skutch chisel.

 

[BenStiller]

We have a chase cutter - two diamond blades (like an angle grinder) 25mm apart.

We use this for the boxes aswell, a couple passes, and quick hit with the hammer.

Why are the blades 25mm apart?
or is that just for the cable run?
and how much are they?

 

[andy]

get a box sinker... the round cutter is ideal and the square cutter can manage soft brick. if hard brick, use a SDS chisel