Need some ideas-- Need to make a hole in an electric box that is in the wall

[George Bokros]

to add a feed for some under cabinet lighting. How would you do it? These are Bakelite boxes. I do not want to make a hole in the drywall that I need to patch if at all possible.

I thought of a Dewalt right angle drill adapter with a stubby drill bit but it seems that it is a little large to get in the box and the largest stubby drill I can find is only 5/16.

Ideas, thoughts??

Thanks

[Jamie Buxton]

Can you approach the box from the other side of the wall?
Or can you get to a box which is further away, but in an area where you are willing to patch?

[George Bokros]

Can you approach the box from the other side of the wall?
Or can you get to a box which is further away, but in an area where you are willing to patch?

Cannot get to the boxes from other side of the wall in two of the three boxes. I am not totally adverse to patching the wall just want to avoid it if possible.

[Bill Dufour]

I believe Dremel makes a right angle head or they make right angle die grinders. A aircraft pancake drill or pancake adapter will allow you to drill out a ring of small holes. Also known as porkchop drill. I have never seen a threaded drill bigger a then 3/8" bit
Bill D.

ARO and Jiffy are big names in the aircraft drill industry

[Jim Morgan]

Drill through the back of the box.

[keith micinski]

I frequently am able to drill holes in soft and hard plastic boxes with a normal drill and a 1/2 inch spade bit. Why can’t you get a hole in the back of one of the sides at a slight angle?

[andy bessette]

Use a long (~12") drill bit to drill through the side or bottom of the box, on an angle. This gets the drill motor out of the way.

[Bill Dufour]

soldering iron?

[rudy de haas]

Unless you have a reason to keep the existing box you can just break it up to get it off and replace it. The only tricky part would be the removal of the existing screws and fastening the new box by driving new screws in at a steep angle.

Make sure the power is off

[Tom M King]

I use a long, 1/2" twist drill that I've had so long I forget where it came from.

[Michael Pyron]

Unless you have a reason to keep the existing box you can just break it up to get it off and replace it. The only tricky part would be the removal of the existing screws and fastening the new box by driving new screws in at a steep angle.

Make sure the power is off

???

most every single plastic electrical box I've seen is fastened to the stud with 2 nails that are pre-attached to the box...what I do to remove them with sheetrock present is to first pry it off the stud to get a smidgen of space, then use a sawzall to carefully cut the fasteners coming from the middle of the box and working to the nails...of course this leaves the issue of where the nails are attached to the box, but geometrically one can rotate the box out then replace it with a remodel box.

as noted, make sure the breaker is thrown off and one would be wise to carefully inspect the wires to make sure they didn't get nicked

[keith micinski]

The bake light ones actually break up pretty easy and you don't have to get a second tool out, but again if all you need is a hole to run cabinet lighting any bit over 5-6 long will do the trick

[keith micinski]

Plus introducing a sawzaw blade to those nails when someone could have stapled the wires anywhere around the box and you can’t really see them doesn’t sound like a particularly good idea to me.

[Lee Schierer]

If you have an oscillating tool, get one of these blades and grind off the little wings on the end of the cutting edge until you get a narrow blade.
57343-11-1000.jpg

[Michael Pyron]

Plus introducing a sawzaw blade to those nails when someone could have stapled the wires anywhere around the box and you can’t really see them doesn’t sound like a particularly good idea to me.

point taken and I obviously forgot to mention I have some very old blades that are really short that I use for this task (never seen any like them in the stores and they came with the sawzall I got at a pawn shop 30 years ago...said Milwuakee tool was all metal and literally almost as old as I am (55 years old))...to keep total control one can also of course use one of those hacksaw blade tools used by hand and make sure not to allow the blade to get above or below the box...

either way, getting rid of the existent box and replacing with another seems like the logical course of action