I have am doing another "honey do" chore for my wife putting in a bunch of 6" cans. I have a cutter that fits on my drill that does a good job on the 4". No joy on 6" tho.

I experimented with a box knife blade on a stick of wood with a center pivot hole into a screw in drywall anchor. That seemed to work OK for scoring the paper but as the blade got a bit deeper it was gouging out the hole (flat blade, round hole thing)

I guess there is an attachment for a rotozip but I don't have one and I am hoping she gets over this can thing soon.

I was just curious what the real tool was.

I use a rack-a-tiers Hole Pro adjustable twin blade hole cutter,it will cut plywood and also drywall.I have had one for about 3 years and it works well.The mess is contained in the cover.Great tool!

Hole-saw in a cordless drill, as a rule.
If you are really smart, you'll put a paper grocery bag just "above" the chuck of the drill, this catches any dust.
Less time cleaning up, more time watching sport.

I look forward to the end of the pot light fad.

Drywall saw. I can "feel" in I'm hitting wires and joists without damaging them

Hole saw for me, back probe to make sure there are no joists in the way, and just cut the rock. Mikes trick with the paper sack works great.

I’ve used a HolePro X-200 adjustable hole cutter for years. I think they have changed the model number for this cutter now, but it is an 8-inch max diameter, two-blade cutter with a nice heavy duty plastic dust shield that uses a sealed bearing assembly in the shaft hole. I use this with my cordless 18V XRP hammerdrill with the side handle installed.
I upgraded it with their tungsten carbide cutters so I can use it for plaster, Hardiboard and fiber cement shingles as well. I also have the hole saw adapter arbor kit for it, so I can use the dust shield with my regular hole saws and my larger Greenlee RC light hole saws.
They now sell a vacuum adapter for the dust shield for RRP work, if that’s something you do.

HolePro Cutter

Greg,

Ideal makes an inexpensive adjustable hole cutter (for drywall or ceiling tiles only):

http://www.licensedelectrician.com/Store/ID/Adj-Can-Light-Hole-Saws.htm

Bill

The Greenlee hole saws work reasonably well, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

Problem #1 for the Greenlee saws is that they come in several sizes that are very close together- it's quite easy to pick the wrong one, and make the wrong hole. Make REAL sure you have the right one.

Problem #2 is the ease with which any large hole saw binds. This can be hard on the wrists- and the head, if you're flipped off the ladder. When cutting through plywood, I've had that little 'bind' break things inside the big, fat right-angle drill. (More of a piglet than a hog!)

Problem #3 is the enormous amount of dust created as you drill. Better have someone hold a HEPA-filtered vacuum next to the saw- and a tarp under you.

Still, I cannot think of a better way. Maybe the fancy saw covers work; the cheap ones sure don't. Someone suggested cutting a basketball in half, and I just might try that; I can even add a vacuum hose port!

I can't see how to use a multi-master to make a round hole in the ceiling would be much of an improvement- though the muiti-master is the cat's meow for rectangular holes in walls.

As for the Ideal cutter ... when they say 'drywall' they're only kidding. Even with ceiling tile, it's one heck of a dust maker. Using the plastic packing as your dust collector, as they instruct you, is some marketing guy's wet dream. The most I would use that for would be to mark the ceiling for guiding another tool- like a saber saw or rotozip.

As for the rotozip .... here's a hint: Don't use Rotozip bits! Instead, go to a machine shop supply house and get solid carbide milling cutters that are designed to throw the chips / dust DOWN, away from you. These will push a large amount of the dust into the wall cavity, rather than filling the air around you. Expensive, but worth trying.

I use to use a drywall saw my self for all my cutting. They didn't have the hole saws when I was in business. Times they keep changing.

I managed to get these things in using a combination of my razor cutter, a drywall saw and my sawzall when I hit a purlin in the exact place my wife wanted a can. (we had already negotiated away from the trusses)

Dust from the cutting operation was not the issue. It was the 8" of 30 year old cellulose blow in insulation that came down. By now that has degraded into about 3-4" worth of gray dust. That is miserable stuff that I would not wish on my worst enemy and he is the guy who invented it.

Another question, maybe for Harold. Back in the olden days Wiz had a trick for locating a wire in a wall with an AM radio. I know you can use a toner but I don't have one anymore. Anyone have that procedure, or a better idea?
When they were putting the roof on and had the sheathing off of a spot on an outside wall I shoved 8' of Romex in the wall and now I can't find it. I can get to the other end up in the attic but I am having a hard time correlating that to a wall cavity.

I use a green hole saw from Home Depot, I think it's an Ideal, anyway it's abrasive and works great on plaster and drywall. It comes with an arbor and the price is cheap for the amount of holes you get (hundreds).The plastic dish they give you works if your hands are big enough to hold it against the ceiling with your index finger while drilling, otherwise it spins around and chucks dust everywhere and scratches the ceiling.

Now as for the blown in insulation, here's my trick, I'm pretty sure I invented it. First I drill a 1/4" hole in the center and probe around to see if the location is good. Then I drill another hole with a small hole saw, say about 3/4". This hole is drilled OFF CENTER. Then I fish the wire thru the offset hole, only pulling out a tiny bit of it. Next I take the hole saw and cut thru the first layer of paper and the rock, but I leave most of the backing paper intact on the backside. Then I pull the wire(s) all the way out, wire the can, and take a drywall saw and cut that last bit of paper, shoving the can and the drywall piece up into the attic all at once. Nary a shred of insulation will fall.

Greg,

What I would do to find hidden wires or duct work or trusses in the ceiling was to put a small hole in the center of the can, and insert a piece of wire. The wire would be at least a #12 ga or #10 ga and I would bend it to 1/2 the diameter of the hi hat. (ie for 6"can, I would bend the wire at 3") The wire was bent like this

_____
!
!
!
!_____

(I hope this diagram goes through.)

Then I would spin the wire around and around while I raise and lower the wire the full depth of the can. If there was any pipe or duct or beam, the wire would hit it and you could almost tell exactly where the obstruction was. You would then just move the hole around a little bit until it was all clear. Then install the can.

The diagram came out wrong but it will still work. The top piece usually is 180 deg of the bottom piece. The top piece was 3" ( or 1/2 width of can) the upright piece was the height of the can. The bottom piece can be what ever.

Do I understand correctly, that the insulation is in direct contact with the can?

Absolutly, they are IC rated 6" cans. I cannot do 4" cans this way however as there is no 4" IC rated remodel can made.

These are IC cans but I did push away all of the cellulose and ringed the can with fiberglass.
This is Florida so I am not as fanatic about attic insulation as people who run the heat.

I haven't installed a 6 inch light in years, but I've replaced a few with 4 inch. Anyway, I think the whole thing is an issue of fashion over function, so it isn't surprising that the fads are different.

We have to install a vapor barrier over the lights. Think about cutting a hole over the kitchen sink, putting your hand up and touching the roof above the hole. Now imagine crawling out to the hole from above, pushing insulation and spanning the rafters with your elbows and knees. That's why my family wears head lamps when we do dishes. I'll do that work for money but not for love.