How to drill a hole in a noggin half way down a stud partition wall?

[No Name]

Right, I need to drop some networking and coaxial cables down from the loft into a bedroom.

Drilling a hole in the ceiling wall plate is easy from the loft side to pass said cables through.

half way down the wall is a noggin.

I wish to mount the wall socket lower down than this noggin and run the cables to the wall socket.

I dont really want to cut a hole in the PB to access said noggin to drill a through hole.

Is there such a thing as a 1.5m m long drill bit extender I can place between my wood boring bit and the electric drill?

being able to do this would be a time and a making good time saver!

S.

[Tim+]

I once made a long drill for a similar reason out of a long threaded rod. (Just what I had to hand). Did a bit of crude heating and hammering to make a simple spear point (a bit wider than the shaft) and ground some sharp edges on to the spear tip.

Very inefficient but perfectly adequate to drill through softwood.

Tim

[Tim Lamb]

You could buy 3 sets of these. Personally I'd cut the plaster.

[No Name]

I reckon given where the noggin is, I'd need a drill bit up to 1.8 m long.

Fortunately for me, the apex of the roof is directly above the ceiling wall plate I would need to drill.....

S.

[nothanks]

Many years ago I did something similar but now, if there was no alternative, I'd buy or make an extension for a spade bit. However, in the OP's case I'd cut a rectangle out of the plasterboard with a multitool, cut a notch in the noggin, drop the cable, replace the plasterboard (with rear battens), fill, sand and paint.

[Fredxx]

I have used a copper pipe with a serated end to cut through plasterboard. Not sure if it would cut through a 2" noggin very quickly.

As a last resort, with flux it is possible to solder onto a steel woodbit and a brass fitting, using a copper or similar pipe as an extension.

Otherwise Tim's suggestion would be the easiest and least mess.

[John Rumm]

Kind of - you can get extensions for spade bits that are typically around 300mm long. Nothing to stop you using several!

(or for that matter use one, and weld it onto the end of a bit or rebar or threaded rod etc)

[Tricky Dicky]

If your outlet is going just below the noggin it might be easier to cut an opening in the PB to take a dry wall back box and use a spade bit with one or two extension bars on at quite an acute angle and drill upwards from the opening.

Richard

[Clive Arthur]

Use a holesaw, but for the extension use pipe. My holesaw (Lidl) has a

19mm nut as part of the arbor which is about 21.5mm across diagonals. Looks like a 22mm copper pipe could be persuaded to fit.

[John Rumm]

Yup good point - no reason the hole needs to be exactly perpendicular.

[williamwright]

It's difficult to do this, and you risk damaging the plaster worse than cutting it. I always used to cut a slot in the plaster. It needn't be very big and with a bit of skill you can disappear it with polyfilla and sandpaper. Have you considered dropping the cable somewhere where a cut in the plaster wouldn't matter, then running it horizontally?

Bill

[The Natural Philosopher]

There is an easier way. remove a strip of plasterboard over the noggin, lay the cable and cover it with plaster then sand and repaint...

Personally I have removed and replaces so many bits of plasterboard in this house I have lost count.

As long as you have the right paint left somewhere it all comes good in the end.

[Roger Mills]

You beat me to it. I was actually going to suggest a flexible extender used from the bottom.

Whatever way the hole is made, it ain't going to to be easy to find it inside the wall when feeding the cables through. Like others, I would be in favour of removing a bit of plasterboard at noggin height.

[Muddymike]

But being an Amtech tool it will probably break first time you use it!

Mike

[John J]

Get a piece of steel conduit of suitable length. Affix a wood boring bit slightly larger than conduit diameter to business end and create a driving attachment for the top to fit your drill. Use this to do the business then remove your cutter and driver. Use the conduit to pass the cable through the noggin, possibly secure the top end of the steel conduit in the loft and leave it there to provide mechanical protection to the cable in the noggin as it's unlikely to be 50mm from the surface.

[Tricky Dicky]

I agree making the hole is one thing feeding a cable through is another matter even with the aid of a cable rod set. Myself I would not bother with all these esoteric tool adaptions and simply take out a piece of PB across the noggin and patch in afterwards, of course if the wall is papered and avoiding having to redecorate is a must then some of the other suggestions may have their advantages.

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News]

Going to be real fun and games to drop a mouse through that hole?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Does anyone paper rooms any more?

[newshound]

The devil is in the detail, what sort of access is available at each end, etc. I was very pleased to be able to pass a draw string through four metres of inaccessible roof void to a 75mm hole (for a pull switch) using one of those cheap fibre glass "fishing rod" kits made for the purpose. One I had the draw string through it was easy to pull through a length of 1mm^2 3+e.

[Andrew]

Those photos you once posted of your kitchen ceiling cracks shows that you do !