Chasing cable for wall mounted plasma

[Marcos Scriven]

There are loads of useful threads on here for chasing cables, but there are a few things I haven't been able to find an answer to.

Firstly, my aim:

To hide the power cable and AV cable (a single cable which splits at both ends, one with a DVI like plug, the other an audio plug of some sort.) from the plasma TV to the cupboard at its bottom right (length of cable only 3m, we're not talking vast distances). I am planning to chase the cable into the wall, and take it to under the floor boards, then go along literally only a metre, and then back up through the floor boards to the cuboard, and there the power socket/media box. I will probably hire a diamon chasing machine such as this:

plan is:

1) Remove one sheet of the lining paper which is there

2) Cut the channel with the above tool

3) Chisel out the channel with a hammer and chisel (bolster chisel I presume?)

4) Put in some kind of plastic conduit which will allow the cable to enter laterally (rather than threading through) as the plugs are bonded plastic, and wired in a proprietary manner, so wouldn't want to have to cut them off and replace!

5) Thread cable through floor board and ensure there is enough slack both at the TV end and the cupboard end.

6) Use some kind of filler (polyfiller?) to fill in the channel.

7) Wait to dry

8) Sand as smooth as I can

9) Paste and cover with new lining paper

Done... Yeah right!

The problems I forsee, and need your advice with, are:

1) How do I know the wall is strong enough for the plasma?

2) I am not sure what to do when it gets to the skirting boards. They are pretty old (probably 1900-1905), and I can't see an easy way to pry them from the wall. They are a good 100-150 mm high, and 15mm deep. I just need to get that extra distance *behind* the skirting boards, down into the floor board void (which I can get to with the huge 1 metre crawl space underneath)

3) I am also worried old plaster/brick won't fare well with the chasing

4) As I mentioned before, the proprietary cable has two quite wide plastic bonded plugs (about 40mm width), so any holes will need to accomodate that)

5) Will I be able to get a flat enough finish with polyfiller, at least after it's covered with lining paper?

6) How can I line up the new lining paper with the old? Obviously going to repaint but is it best to redo the whole wall? Or even replaster?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Marcos

[Stephen Gower]

Are you sure this is proprietary? It would be so much neater if you could have the chased cable ending in a wall plate at each end that you can plug into. Anyway, I haven't got answers for all your questions, but I've been doing a lot of chasing to upgrade the place we bought.

Get a long drill bit and drill down at as close to parallel with the wall as you can behind the skirting board - don't try to remove it.

You'd be better with a bag of one-coat plaster - certainly going to be cheaper. Covering over a single chased duct it is fairly easy to get flat enough.

[Marcos Scriven]

Here's a picture of the cable:

video part is definitely DVI, but I'm pretty sure the wiring inside it is proprietary. It would be quite a task to wire up a DVI wall socket, if indeed one existed. Also, I've no idea what the audio part is. Never seen a plug like it.

[Marcos Scriven]

Have had a good look for DVI wall plates, and found this:

no idea about the wiring, I guess the chased in part can be the normal wiring, but you'd still have to do it for the patch cables, or vice versa.

Also no idea about the audio part...

[Marcos Scriven]

Have had a good look for DVI wall plates, and found this:

no idea about the wiring, I guess the chased in part can be the normal wiring, but you'd still have to do it for the patch cables, or vice versa.

Also no idea about the audio part...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What facilities do they provide? You don't, of course, have to use an identical connector for your wall outlets - I'd probably just use a suitable 'D' connector, which are cheap and reliable.

Of course the wiring would involve a bit of soldering...

[steve]

The connectors are, if I remember correctly, a DVI-D and a DFP-MDR20. both are video grade connectors, the DVI-D carrying picture and the DFP (digital flat panel) everything else. If it's a problem, pioneer do a 10m cable too, but sit down before you ask how much it is......... Whoops, seen where picture was, obviously you know!

Mind you, if your choice of supplier was any good, they could have answered this question for you, and not leave it to a third party. Buy it from the web, and from the web it will be supported... Yeah! As if! I prefer a desk to sit by, a cup of tea, and pleasant, knowledgeable guys who care. (Even if they only care 'cause you can come back and give them grief if neccessary...) Try your local Sevenoaks store, their price is the same, and (usually, but there can be exceptions) know what they're on about.

Steve. Steve.

Overlord of the Stuffed Attic. If it moves, I'll keep it.. If it stands still, I'll keep it.. If I want it, it's up there somewhere...

If I've not yet used it, it's not been kept long enough...

=================================================== Any opinions voiced that are possibly contentious were not written by me. Honest. No, really! Well, they might have been. Or not. Burble-Burble =================================================== [e-mail] [e-mail] ===================================================

[John Rumm]

Make sure you get one with very good dust extraction! Failing that a chisel bit on a SDS drill will do the job with less mess if you don't have access to good dust collection.

I think I would just cut through it and then bring the finish up to level with the top of the paper afterwards...

Yup, or a cold chisel.

I would have though it simpler to put in a conduit large enough to take the connectos as well. If you don't then you may be able to get the cable in there without cutting it - but it won't come out again otherwise. Look at CPC - the do conduit and trunking in all sorts of sizes.

How heavy is the plasma? What is the wall made out of? It it is any form of block work it should be fine. If it is plasterboard (or lath and plaster) over studs then you may need to locate the studs for fixing to, rather than the gaps.

Get a 'kin big drill bit. One of the Screwfix 1m jobbies will get you behind pretty much any skirting. You can also get special channeling chisels for SDS drills designed to reach down behind skirtings.

If cutting with a disc based chaser then it will be fine. Using a ordinary chisel on a SDS is also usually OK. Using a channeling chisel on an SDS is quick but will cause more collateral damage on flaky plaster.

[N. Thornton]

can buy an angle grinder for £16 from screwfix.com, and diamond blades are 3 for £11 from toolstation.com - you'll only get through one.

Seems a lot of work for such a trivial thing though.

Regards, NT

[Dave Liquorice]

Remember to remove *everything* from the room and possibly the house if use this or an angle grinder. They turn what ever they remove to find dust then blow it all over the place.

For a single chase I'd either do it by hand with a cold chisel and lump hammer or an SDS drill with rotary stop and chisel.

Does all the route of the proposed chase sound solid or hollow when gently tapped? If it sounds hollow on a what is expected to be a solid wall then the plaster is "blown" and may well fall off in large lumps when you start to chase through it...

Only you can answer that, as it's a learnt skill involving the consistancy of the filla when applied how set it is when smoothing and how much extra water you spray on when smoothing.

By removing "a strip" do you mean a full roll width or a narrower area? If narrower cut through the new and old papers together so that they must match.

[Ian Stirling]

You may run into problems doing that. DVI is a moderate speed bus, and it's not impossible you might get problems with reflecions on the cable.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No more than with any other connector, if you keep the pairs together. We're not talking Gigs, here.

[Ian Stirling]

Probably not. You've at least got to look up the pairs. I don't know how rugged the bus is electrically, I've never looked up the spec, especially if 10m cables might be marginal.