Stud Finders

[Michael Mcneil]

Anyone here with a particular preference for a stud/pipe finder?

I'm about to lay out the shekels for one but know nothing about them.

[Andy Hall]

I have a Zircon Triscanner Pro. These come from the U.S. and there cost about $30 - here they are around £40.

They are an order of magnitude better than the £15-20 ones in the DIY stores which just don't work for stud finding.

The Zircon will accurately locate pipes and cables as well. For studs you work by placing the device on the wall and moving horizontally approaching the stud. It will find an edge very well this way because the density of material behind changes. Then you approach from the other side of the stud. You mark both edges and the centre point is halfway between.

If nowhere else, RS components have them.

.andy

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[David W.E. Roberts]

I have a cheap(ish) Draper one which is triangular in shape.

You use one face for metal and electrical and the second face for studs. [Yes, you hold the third face]

There is a bit of a dark art in adjusting it so that it reports studs, but once the setting is right it works quite well. It works with lath and plaster, which I think is more of a challenge than plasterboard. [With plasterboard, you can probably find the studs by looking for the nails instead of the studs themselves.]

It didn't work on my late lamented dining room ceiling, but then I subsequently found that the plaster had come away from the laths so there was an air gap between the plaster and the joists.

As usual YGWYPF.

Cheers Dave R

[Michael Mcneil]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Now I know how they are financing the terrorism in Iraq.

I need one for tomorrow so which shed do I get the next best thing? Have you a link to RS Components?

[David W.E. Roberts]

[Michael Mcneil]

Or to put it another way:

think I shall go with the cheapo for now. I will post how I get on.

Thanks.

[Michael Mcneil]

I just did a currency conversion. $30 is £16.78 and £40 is $71.51.

It would be cheaper to bugger the job and preferable to being buggered by this con.

[Andy Hall]

Keep the receipt.....

rswww.com (leave out the www.)

Stock code 389 4050

.andy

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[Andy Hall]

I bought mine in the U.S. - where I buy a lot of my tools because it is so much cheaper.

Look at

and type 440787 into the search box.

When the exchange rate was around $1.40 it wasn't so unreasonable, but the UK prices have not been adjusted to account for the $1.80 rate

RS is generally more expensive than other places as well, but is convenient, and for something that does the job, I wouldn't have minded £40 rather than making a hash of it.

.andy

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[Rick Dipper]

I got one from screwfix, I would NOT recommend it.

Rick