Elecrtical box sinkers

[steviebow]

Hi there, this is my first post!
Does anyone on here use a box sinker with a hammer action drill to chase in boxes, just wandered if they are any good.
thanks
steve

 

[trev]

I bought a kit a few years ago, it was pretty pricey and didn't really live up to it's claims. It was fine in the softer blockwork materials but in hard engineering brick it couldn't really do much. These days I go with a scutch chisel bit on an SDS and take my time, always get nice flat bottomed chases and holes for my boxes.

 

[PB1]

I've just bought the armeg kit and tried to use it for a rewire of my new house. Trouble is the walls are stone so it didn't work because of the unevenness- back to the chisel/sds drill arrangement which works well. I saw a demo of the armeg kit last year and it's brilliant in soft blockwork as trev says. They have now added a new circular cutter that is supposed to be able to cut hard material. I will use it when I can on different types and walls and will let you know how it goes.

 

[Marvo]

There's been a few threads about these in the past. General consensus seems to be they're useless if it's a decent hard brick.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page there's a box titled 'Similar Threads' (might not be visible if you're on a mobile device). You can check out some of those for more info.

 

[PB1]

Ah thanks Marvo. I should have read that before i bought one!

 

[trev]

The round cutters are not much use either mate. You drill a pilot hole where the plug is supposed to fit when you're done but the giude pin that fits in to guide the cutter makes it too big.

 

[clicon357]

I dithered over buying one of these a week ago and then took the plunge and got the Armeg kit from Electricfix (Screwfix). Doing the FIRST double socket box down low for the fridge freezer I thought "Big mistake here!". 1/2" of sharp sand render then into hard white bricks. The circular cutter tool got there in the end but it was VERY hard work. Moving on to the sockets above the worktop and once through the render it was into old breeze. The circular cutter ate them up and doing the square holes was a doddle. The thing is IMO no good if you already have say a double socket and want to move it's position say half a box along. The kit comes with a hard material chisel and that's has seen some work I can tell you! The worst thing is the DUST even with a half decent vac on it. The dust collection unit that came with it is rubbish - nowhere to attach a hoover hose so it just fills up. I also dropped the drill, broke the dust collection unit (it cracked) and Armeg want I think around £40 for a new one - I've since repaired it and am looking to fit a hoover take off. Try before you buy if you can to make up your own mind! Plus the guide holes drilled didn't line up with any of the ones in the back boxes I got! The jury's still out on this as far as I'm concerned. Got it as I may have a 60's re-wire to do where it's all breeze so hoping it'll come into it's own then.