Many folks I talk to don’t know what a flex-shaft bit is, but when it’s called by one of its other many names, like fishing bit or piranha bit, inklings of recognition glimmer here and there. Basically it’s an aggressive demo bit on the end of a flexible shaft that has a hole in the bit and another on the end of the rod to run cable with — and they’re lifesavers.
You can make them yourself out of flex steel or carbon fiber rod (my dad and I always used carbon arrow stock with a metal insert in the drill end) and it’ll work just as well. The idea is to drill into one end and pass the bit through whatever obstacles are in the way and come out the other side exactly where you intended with only one shot.
The bit in the picture let me run an old-fashioned satellite co-ax cable through the attic, down a closet and out two walls, drilling only twice. The whole run thing was done inside 20 minutes, and that counts ten minutes installing the box into the wall. It seems like a fairly obvious timesaver to me but even though it’s been offered to others many times, thus far, no takers.
A six-foot length on the shat will run you about $20, so really it’s a matter of what is more hassle — paying the cable installer guy $75 to get full of fiberglass, or saving $50 and doing it yourself.
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