SDS box cutters

[David]

Are they much the same? Toolsatan are showing them a lot cheaper than Screwfix.

Also, how effective are they compared to other approaches?

Cheers

Dave R

[Bob Minchin]

I'll be watching with interest as I wondered the same recently having chopped out 2 single and 2 doubles into medium density blocks with drill and bolster. Trouble is my days of having significant numbers of sockets to fit are hopefully over. Unless I get involved with house re-wires for offspring that is?--eek!

[Capitol]

I now use a diamond blade in a 3 inch saw. Very clean edges and fast. Need dust extraction on the saw.

[Tim Watts]

Box cutters are good on soft blocks and hopeless on bricks. I've done both...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But it's not difficult to do the sinking on soft blocks anyway. Most bricks are a different matter.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The circular cutter will sink about 25 holes into brick IME (and not hard brick at that) before suddenly going blunt. It generates enormous amounts of dust. The square box cutter to finish off was completely useless, and just jammed in the wall. An SDS masonary chisel bit was much more effective.

For just a few boxes, I would stitch drill around the outside and then use a chisel bit to finish off. If you have lots to do, I would consider the circular cutter if large amounts of brick dust thrown into the air are not going to be a problem. I wouild not bother with the finishing square box cutter.

[Tim Watts]

Hell yeah - I did this in a room that was down to screed and broken plaster - I still did not enjoy it. I would not even think about it in a decorated room!

If you can deal with the dust, running an angle grinder around the 4 sides makes it a lot easier.

Failing that (or as well as depending on how hard the bricks are) I drill to the same depth a *lot* of holes and that makes for much lighter work with the SDS. It also tends to give you an even back to the hole rather than lumps dropping out.

[John Rumm]

Using a wall chaser with only one disc fitted makes that a much more realistic option in a habited space since it will catch the dust.

[David]

THanks to all - saved me some money :-)