Black4Truck

I use a baffle from an old Atlite A149 fixture for a template.

Then I use a keyhole saw to cut across the diameter of the fixture.

If I hit a beam, I can easily move the can over to the side of the beam and just have a pencil make to erase instead of drywall to patch.

I tried a holesaw once and cut into a bunch of alarm wires. not fun to fix

gilbequick

Looks nice. Is the saw like the adjustable one that Ideal and Klein sells? This one: http://idealindustries.com/products/..._can_light.jsp

Kevin J

My method as well. Unless I can get in the attic and take some measurements to make sure everything is all clear, then I get out the spiral saw and the circle cutter attachment. Nothing worse than cutting out for an old work can, and finding framing in the way.

bobbyho

Or a plumbing vent pipe 3" above the sheetrock. I always trace the diameter and then take my tweeker screwdriver and pop a few holes around the diameter. You can never trust a studfinder especially for what is above the sheetrock.

KayJay

Has anyone tried the new hole saw arbor adapter for the Hole Pro cutters yet?
Just wondering if the X-200 dust shield still fits over the hole saw when used with this arbor?

I was thinking of getting one so I could put my old Greenlee RC light hole saws to use for something other than paperweights, but if the dust shield doesn’t fit over them, I won’t bother with it, since that defeats the whole purpose of using the Hole Pro.

Larry Fine

I use a 6-3/8" hole saw made for cans, and an 18" to 24" extension in my 36v DeWalt drill. The extension eliminates drilling while on a ladder, as well as the walk-and-damage-the-ceiling tendency.

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Article 90.1

Another High Hat (I can hardly stand to call them "Can Light" trick I've learned is to use colored thumb tacks for layout. You can hook your tape measure onto the the previous one in line (or if you're cool you might use your stick rule... or laser plumb bob) and if you need to move a fixture, a dab of white out usually patches the small hole. The next job I layout, I'm going to use the tacks to pin the little cardboard templates to the ceiling for final customer approval.

But back to the topic of pilot bits, my Klein philips screwdriver is close enough to 1/4" in diameter. I usually make my 1/4" holes in sheetrock with my phillips. I know, I know, and I wonder why I have to buy a new screwdriver every couple of months!

sherman

I use the remgrit holesaws with a racketeer dustbowl and I always get nice holes.

Michael Winters

I paid more than $70 for one of the Hole Pro adjustable hole cutter kits but then it cuts tongue and groove ceillings as well as sheetrock and plaster and even Hardie cement board and it has a 5-year warranty. I need a tool that will not break in the middle of a job and I know these cutters will not let us down.

Sizes are great with one model, the X-230 that adjusts from 1-7/8 to 9 inches and works for every size ceiling can light cutout on the market, even the 8" CFL recessed light can cutouts. I can cut a hole in less time than it takes someone to trace the circle to begin cutting and I spend zero time in cleanup as everything stays in the shield.

http://www.holepro.com/powerseries.html

With the Hole Pro I can adjust the cutting depth so it only cuts the ceiling and nothing else and I always get a perfect cut so the trim rings sit flush and I never need an oversized trim ring. Sheet rock is soft so the twin blade design keeps it balanced. We had used a single blade model from LSDI but it wobbled and made less than round holes and it was terrible on wood and did not have enough balance bars and was cheaply made.

The adjustable hole cutters take a lot less drill power. I had to make holes nearly 9 inches in diameter in 3/4 plywood a couple weeks ago and I was able to do it using a DeWalt 18v cordless drill. In the past I found that 4-5/8 was the biggest hole saw as I could use even with the Milwaukee stud drill. The Hole Pro cutters are great for cutting in for can lights or speakers in tongue and groove ceilings using just a cordless drill and these are the only adjustable hole cutters that have both excellent high speed steel blades for wood and acrylic and tungsten carbide blades for drywall, plaster, cement board, and other tough materials.

Hole Pro also makes a special arbor that we use with the kit shield and any hole saw. We use it when cutting tile with a tungsten grit edged hole saw as it saves time in setting up and with cleanup. We use the Hole Pro shield when we need a perfect straight in cut or need to limit the depth of the cut.

We switched our trucks to the Blue Boar TCT hole cutters that cut up to 2-1/4" and we can make holes up to 6-1/4" diameter in 1-1/8" subflooring with our 18 volt cordless drills. The cut plug just falls out and they cut through MDF and Hardie board like a hot knife through butter.

We cut 14" inspection holes with the Hole Pro X-425 model on one large project where access was difficult and then cut out the plugs from another sheet of sheetrock and had patches that meet fire code. After that we learned to make the plugs ahead of time when we make holes to pull wire and when we leave the job it is ready for the painter which makes our customers very happy.

We get called on now to install the room speakers for whole house music systems and the X-230 works great for that as well. Every speaker needs a different size mounting hole. The hole cutter is great for blind wire runs with new construction as we don't nick wires accidentally when we can limit the cut depth. And of course not eating gypsum dust and having it down our armpits is a big plus as well.