Square box cutter 77mm for sinking boxes

[oldman2]

I'm a sucker for tools, so bought this and the rotory cutter. Not used either yet, the plaster and render are harder than most of the brick in my house so I'm hoping they will do the job but...

I have a question for someone who has tried one of these, mine has a 2mm gap between the shank assembly with the nut fully tightened and the box cutter itself, so in operation the shaft will be hammering up against the back of the square box, is this how its supposed to be?

I would have thought the box needed to be locked hard up against the shank so it worked as it does when you are chiseling, ie the drill dong the impacting not the float in the box to shaft trying to do it?

Did I get a faulty one?

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[davy_owen_88]

I'll check mine later but isn't there a spring/spacer between the shank and the cutter?

 

[oldman2]

There is a spacer around 10mm on the shank then the box with a brass insert, then the sleeved hex nut. No spring in mine.
When the nut is fully tightened the box has around 1.5mm float against the shaft spacer.
Perhaps I am (a spring? wouldnt have thought that would last long) or spacer missing.

IF thats how its supposed to be, all floppy no wonder the complaints about the pilot holes getting opened up so red plugs wont do. I can see the thing thrashing about all over the place unless its held more rigidly as you would need to hold the drill machine dead right all the time to keep the box and pilot in line even after getting started.

 

[40 watt spark]

Mine also has the 'gap' IIRC they say that it floats on the shaft as a safety feature.....i.e if you forget to select roto-stop it won't rip out of your hands

 

[oldman2]

OK, thanks for the replies, 40 watt do you find its acceptable in use or is yours burried at the bottom of the unusable tools pile?

Do you find it cuts a clean not too far oversized hole?

I will give mine a go tomorrow with and without an extra spacer to get rid of the floppyness, I would have thought thats what the clutch in the sds is for btw

I would have thought a nice touch would have been a double box template enclosed with the tool, not hard to make one but just my opinion.

 

[40 watt spark]

I've used mine many times, its OK in the soft stuff and produces lovely square holes in breeze or clinker blocks, but it can struggle when you get into decent bricks, and forget it in engineering bricks !!

I have had a couple of occasions where a brick has broken in on itself and left far too large/deep a hole........but thats what patching plaster was invented for a quick splodge in the hole, push the back box in and leave it to set....and Bobs your fathers brother

I have seen one of these jam when a mate forgot to select roto stop ......... it made a lovely mess of the wall (breeze) and he got some lovely bruises from the drill......the safety clutch never cut in !

I bought the armeg kit and it came with the single and double cutters and a template, let me know if you want any dimensions from it... my emails in my profile

 

[RF Lighting]

We've got one at work, and I can still chop boxes out quicker and neater with a chisel bit in my SDS drill.

Also, you will not be able to get a fixing in the pilot hole you drill for the square thingy to go into.

Nice idea, but mine is in the pile of useless tools I'm afraid.

 

[oldman2]

Im wanting it for double boxes so the pilot hole being enlarged doesnt worry me as the fixes for a double box are elseware, I used to be an industrial sparks so apart from a brief spell of house bashing many moons ago my first fix days are a distant memory of frozen fingers and brused knuckles and rawlplug tools and bits. No drills in those days just brute force and fibre rawlplugs

Just looking for an easy life now and clean edged holes that dont require a kilo of making good is what I was looking for.

 

[Click-Sure]

I like mine, got the full armeg kit, I don't bother using the pilot hole for fixing, i prefer 2 screws personally.

Noticed the slack on the double and single 'squarers' but never found it to be a problem. Use a powefull drill with it if you can, my bosch 36v does well.

 

[oldman2]

I did find a couple of video's of the box cutters in use.

Double here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aOCVmQQglWI

and the single http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OSVjn0PF4x8