Cable/Pipe detector

I have a cheap one and just recently used it to detect the nails holding plaster board to the studding. Previously it was never much use but have found if set properly it is quite useful. I use a known nail for example and turn the wheel slowly until it beeps then pull the detector away and it stops, place back over the nail and it should beep again. I was too much on or off before without doing some fine tuning.

A nail's the only 100% effective pipe detector. Avoid? Avoid the pipe.

NT

Another surprisingly good way to detect nails and hence studs is to use a rare earth magnet suspended by a bit of thread as a sort of pendulum (sliding the face of the magnet along the wall). I have used this with some success to locate studs behind a very old lath and plaster wall, where a "mid-priced" detector was pretty useless.

Bosch GMS120, not amazingly cheap, gives false positives and false negatives on wiring within plasterboard, wouldn't buy again ...

Yes the principal they operate on is just simple detection of a change in the resonance or otherwise of a coil at a given frequency. Copper moves it one way, iron the other way, and depending on how wide you make the window shows its accuracy, if you narrow it too much you might miss it completely, but too wide tends to give results that are vague to say the least as they may detect changes due to more distant metal or indeed normal fluctuations in the make up of the wall itself.

Its very much like a metal detector. Some I have seen seem to be able to detect live wires, I suspect this is done by detecting the AC field in some way. Brian

As someone else has mentioned, a pack of ten small neodymium magnets is good for that, you leave one stuck to each nail/screw so can easily see where the joist is.

I have a PlasPlugs Stud detector which does an admirable job of finding cables and pipes as well. I?ve had it years but I expect they still make them. Mine has a line of LEDS which light to indicate the stud/pipe/cable. You calibrate it by holding it against a bit of clear wall and pressing a button, then sweep across the area to be checked.

I?ve even used it on my previous motorhome which had a thin metal skin (aluminium) to detect wooden hard points to mount a back box.

Resolution is pretty good, you can find the edge of a stud within 1/8? or so.

I've got three or four. None 100% reliable. Usually false positives.

Interesting one here

That's a neat idea, I have a pack of small self-adhesive ones that I've never found a use for. (I realise I won't need the adhesive there).

The reviews on that model agree. The somewhat cheaper and more basic Bosch Truvo, does a little better but still isn't brlliant.

Tempted to take a punt on Amazon around the 20 quid mark. Or dig out a 30+ year old cheapy from Maplin that sort of works. Was hopeing technology would have moved on a bit...

Thinking of doing that to find floorboard screws under a fitted carpet so that they can be tightened and hopefully stop noises from the floor as you walk across it.

It has with the fancy ones that work with a smartphone, but they aren't cheap.

I'd worry about how "gimmicky" they are when they show an image representing their interpretation of what they've detected within the wall ...

More profitable, rather than more better?

Quite, I wasn't overly impressed by the demo linked to earlier. Plenty of false detections that where ignored by the demonstrators...

B-)

I have a Zicon M40 metal detector that works well although it seems a LOT more expensive than when I purchased it.

It's also "discontinued" here and there as well at least hits using m40 rather than z62616 are... Quite like the "wide" and "pinpoint" scanning. Just over £50 from Amazon or £49.99 from CEF of all places. Bit on the pricey side.

The youtube does show it working very well. Not cheap tho.

Google "walabot" for other videos, some quite variable in performance.