Having used it on two jobs since purchase a month ago, it has exceeded my expectations on drywall covered walls. Initially pricey at $50, the ability to locate and mark the center of studs on a cabinet run wall quickly, accurately (even on most insulated, exterior walls) and without the usual guesswork, it paid for itself in time and lack of the usual aggravation on the first job. So far so good. At this point you'd have to steal it to get it away from me, and I'd just buy it again.
Recommended, despite the price, if you often need to accurately mark the center of frame studs in many framed wall applications, particularly with drywall.
He and I have both been using the rare earth magnets for a few years now. The Franklin shows the edge of the studs. The magnets show where the head of the nail or screw is at and those are not always in the middle of a stud. Works well in a pinch, actually works quite well but the Franklin it is immediately W/O calibration and gives better information.
If you use a bunch and draw sort of a "best fit" line between the magnets, you can get pretty close to the center of the stud. Any errors will average out over the length of the stud. Get more magnets and lay out the entire room. ;-)
I'll definitely look at the Franklin. Like I said, I've bought several Zircons with much disappointment. I see the Franklin on Amazon but not at HomeDespot. Did you find it locally?
The Franklin I ordered from the Sears sale for ~$40 was delivered today. I tried it out on some paneling and was impressed by the display. I think it's a keeper ;-)
I have had one for some years now. I bought one of the 20 buck versions and ended up giving it away. The Franklin is indeed impressive although in installing a new stair handrail in my townhouse, I found that the framing at the top of the stairs defies description. Studs moving every which way. I probably don't want to know. Lots of strange framing stuff in this building. Oh well, I did ultimately find a place to attach the stringer. mahalo, jo4hn
Bought mine a couple of months ago. Dumped the other stud finders. Finding studs to do base molding. Talk about fast. Slide .. nail. Havent's missed one yet.
On that note, for grins and those who don't know already, an old trim carpenter trick:
If you need a nail in baseboard/molding in an area of drywall without a sill plate or stud, simply shoot two 2" finish nails through the baseboard and drywall about 2" to 3" apart, and angled toward each other at about 45 degrees+ ... put a little liquid nail/adhesive on the back side, if you have to.
Yes! and I figured that you would respond this way but as we both know when you need the tool, you need the tool. $50 is not prohibitively expensive and I need one often. It's not like it is a one time use thang. ;~) Gave me a chance to join to try out Amazon Prime too! LOL
This tool is as much better than the stack of rare earth magnets as they are to most any other stud finder.
An excellent tip. When the glue is used, the trim will go nowhere.
I started out working for a commercial contractor (not residential) and we had adhesives everywhere. Back in the 70s, few knew (including me) that th ere was such a thing as an engineered adhesive. So when I learned to trim out buildings, we had a lot of different kinds of trims (remember, no nail guns back then!) that we had to get in place to stay. Even with pilot hole s for he nails, small pieces of oak trims and other hardwoods would split w hen you put a 6d in it. Also, there was that "tiny" piece that was a retur n to a wall on a chair rail, and end cap to a piece of crown, or a finishin g piece inside a tight fitting corner.
I started using PL400 then, as that is what they bought for us to use. For a small piece of trim I thought would split, I came up with my own method of attachment. I would get those small pieces and drill a hole a bit bigge r than the nail, large enough for the nail to just slide easily in and out of the hole. Then I would take the nail and put a small "hickey" (bend)in it about 1/4" below the head. A spot of PL400, them drive the nail up, and the hickey would hold the piece of trim in place until it dried.
With today's excellent adhesives, I glue a fair amount of trim. I like to put a spot of adhesive on small trim and just pin it with my pinner as well . If I can get the angle away from the line of site, then I don't even fil l those tiny holes left by the 23 gauge pin.
As a sidebar, I rarely look for studs when I am trimming a house's baseboar d. I make sure I am not backing up to a kitchen or bath, and use a 2 1/2"
15ga nail in the base, nailed at about 45 degrees from about 2 1/2" up from the floor to hit the sill. If there is a gap of no more than 1/8", I leav e it and caulk it with the caulk acting as adhesive. The bottom is capture d by flooring of some kind or another, so I don't worry about that.
Gotta find those studs on 6" base, though. Next kitchen or trim that comes up will probably be buying that Franklin. Just finding the studs reliably in seconds instead of minutes make that a great tool to have.
I have one of those older Italian pinners (Omer) that gets used on every job. Only shoots to 11/16, but I rarely need any more than that.
Using it mostly with the thick cyanoacrylate glue for returns and small pieces that are prefinished or will split. Can hold it in place for a few seconds with glue on one side, let go, pin it, and Bob's your uncle.
The Franklin has lived up to its billing for my use. I keep expecting to be let down, but so far...
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