Chasing a plaster wall

[Michael Chare]

Will a Fein or other oscillating tool chase a plaster wall for a cable without creating the levels of dust that an angle grinder would?

[Andy Burns]

[tabbypurr]

Yes, but the linear cutter speed is way lower. WAY lower.

NT

[Tim Watts]

Not really. It will take a million years (I've tried cutting plasterboard with a Fein).

[GB]

I suppose that the dust level *might* be lower?

[Robin]

Depends also on the "plaster" being plaster. On Victorian walls which have been much patched over the years I've had bits where even an angle grinder with a diamond blade took its time :(

[Andy Burns]

Sure you don't want to be doing many floor to ceiling chases, but I found it very useful to e.g drop from ceiling to top of door opening for cables to alarm contacts in uPVC frame.

[newshound]

They are OK for cutting a hole in plasterboard to take a box. Not particularly hard, not much dust. For chasing in plaster I would only use them for the last couple of inches, into a corner, up to a ceiling, or down to a skirting board. The bit you can't do with an angle grinder.

[Roger Mills]

Wouldn't the appropriate channeling chisel in an SDS drill be better than either?

[Michael Chare]

It was installing alarm system cables that I have in mind. Did you use any small diameter trunking when you installed yours?

[Andy Burns]

No trunking, cable rodded within ceiling voids or behind coving then dropped down in corner to PIRs or above door opening to magnetic contacts.

[tabbypurr]

then you only need a small shallow chase. SDS + small chisel oughta do it.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Personally for alarm cables I'd make as small a chase as practical then make good directly over them. No safety issues there. And how often would you need to replace them - the only real reason to use trunking.

[dennis]

Is there a safety issue with mains? The regs now say you bury them >50mm deep if no RCD or use an RCD and do them shallower. I assume its the same thinking as part P ... make the cable deep enough that you can't detect it and you don't need to worry about someone using a 65mm screw or if its shallow enough to detect you need to make sure its safe.

You have to wonder if these people have ever done any wiring or DIY.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For alarm cables, I was assuming the usual 4 or 6 core alarm cable which normally carries a maximum of 12v DC. And would not be suitable for mains anyway. No need to protect it for safety reasons, so can be as close to the surface as you want. Of course it could be damaged by a nail etc - but then so could plastic trunking, and anything inside it.

[Tricky Dicky]

I have used a Multitool with those diamond edged semi-circular blades to ma ke capping wide chases for mains cables. The Multitool is much slower than an angle grinder but much less dust, it produces much neater edges to the c hase and does not disturb slightly loose plaster too much. Once the edges o f the chase are thus marked the rest Inbetween is simply chiselled out. I f ind this method produces neater chases and disturbs the plaster less.

Having once produced chases through tiles with an angle grinder I would ne ver use one again for this type of job, the dust produced was horrific and in a matter of seconds in the confines of a bathroom I could not see what I was doing.

When putting some conduit up an outside wall of my daughters new build I wa s obliged to cut away some of the rough cast facing on the stonework to avo id bends in the conduit. I used the same tool and method, again much slower than an angle grinder but far more controllable.

Richard

[Jon Fairbairn]

For fairly fine plaster or plasterboard a multitool with a coarse sawblade is much faster than a diamond or grit edge. It blunts the blade very quickly, but that doesn?t make much difference. Still less messy than an angle grinder. Won?t go into brick, though.

[Andrew Gabriel]

You can't chase 50mm deep in many domestic walls without compromising their stability too much.

[spuorgelgoog]

Wouldn't most of the stability be regained once the chase is filled in again?

Owain