[calibos]

Couple of questions guys.

I need to hide about 8-10 inches of speaker cable in a plastered wall. I know I have to cut a channel, pop in the cable, polyfilla levelled off and then sanded and painted when dry. I believe the cutting of the channel is called 'chasing'. What do I use to cut this channel and make it reasonably even so that the job of filling it in will be easier??

I want to paint a black ash veneered centre speaker to match my new beech hifi rack which it will be positioned on top of, and new Beech Mission M74 speakers. What do I need and how do I do it?

Also, I want to paint a black 14in tv, Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube silver to match my new receiver, dvd player and video. Again what do I need and how do I do it?

Any help/hints and tips very much appreciated!

for a one off chase a into a plastered brick wall a bolster chisel\brick chisel with a 2-21/2 inch blade and a hammer will be cheapest,especially as it olny a short channel .
cutting back the wall paper a couple of inches wider than chase width makes life easier when it comes to refilling

[menalaus]

borrow an angle grinder, as this will cause the least distrution to the surrounding plaster resulting in a better cosmetic result.

[ReTrO]

Less dusty than an angle grinder would be to hire an SDS drill and a chasing chisel set. I Used these plenty fo times during installing last year and they are so tidy and easy to use.

[hornydragon]

To paint the speaker try ronseal? paint and grain, but have a practice first on some old black ash.
You can buy/rent the gear for chasing a wall, Try HSS or similar hire shops.

[calibos]

Cheers! Whats an SDS Drill though??

[ReTrO]

It's basically a high power hammer drill that I think are pnematic. They can be used as a normal drill (rotary) or when used for chasing just to do the hammer bit.

Like so:

http://www.diy.com/bq/product/produc...3&CATID=166901

[hornydragon]

pnuematic means air driven, they are impact cutters as opposed to screw cutter a mechanical hammer essentially. HSS will get you all the gear for a few quid, you can also get an attachment for a rotary drill to chennel plaster.

I have a drill holder with wheels that you put your standard drill into with a masonry router bit and wheel it up the wall to create a nice straight chanel in the wall. dunno what its called, but it does the job!

[Miniholic]

Check out this link for a wall chaser, £19.99 for the adaptor and bit, for your own drill.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...41695&id=11900

Hope this helps,

Ian

[calibos]

Thanks miniholic. I'm off to Woodies tomorrow for a new hedge trimmer so I'll be keeping an eye out for something like that. Now i know what to look for.

Originally posted by calibos
I'm off to Woodies tomorrow for a new hedge trimmer so I'll be keeping an eye out for something like that.

Well, any luck in Woodies???

Chasing walls - I hope you're not still chasing Panasonic/Meritec

Painting telly, PS2 etc...not really recommended. It's very difficult to get a good/acceptable finish.

The centre speaker: give it a very light sanding first so the paint will take.

Best of luck

[calibos]

Kramer,

Didn't chase after all. I realised that I would have to chase across the mains cable to the sockets on one of the walls and decided it wasn't worth the risk or hassle. I just moved the surround speakers slightly so no cables are visible. I am still chasing Panasonic and Meritec however. Projectorless for 2 months now!

I painted the consoles and the tv and while they don't bare close inspection, from about 2ft back they look grand. I'll post a pic tonight.

Not going to paint the centre after all either. I might investigate that wood effect stick on vinyl stuff though.

[calibos]

Heres the pics as promised of my recently painted Gamecube, PS2 and 14in TV.

Very nice

[mr ooops]

may i ask where u got that wooden unit from, its exactly what i am after, and how much was it?

cheers
jason

ps nice bit of painting

[calibos]

I got it from a local furniture shop here in Ireland, not a big name furniture retailer I'm afraid so tbh I dont know where to tell you to look. It cost about €250 IIRC. It has 'DOME' printed on the front. Don't know if thats a brand name or something but it may give you something to go on.

[theritz]

Keith,

Neat job with the paint - PS2 look esp. cool !

If you want to try it, Contac is the brand of the stick-on vinyl with the wod grain effect - you'll get it in Woodies I'd say - Homebase (used to be Texas Homecare) deffo have it. Care needed not to get wrinkles or air bubbles, but if you get over that you should get a perfect finish.

all the best,

Sean G.

[calibos]

cheers Sean!

[hornydragon]

What paint did you use? that GC looks very sexy!

[calibos]

HornyDragon,

The paint was just a can of Plasticote Silver spraypaint that I bought in my local woodies. I searched the internet for console spraypainting tutorials etc and apparently it involved taking the casings (shells) off the consoles, sanding them, spraying a coat sanding again, another coat etc Then finally topping of with a layer of clear laquer. I did none of that!! Well I took the casing off the PS2 and sprayed it and it looked pretty good even after the first coat. I gave it another coat (no sanding in between though) and then put it back together. As for the Gamecude, I discovered to my horror that it required a special screwdriver attachment to unscrew the non standard screws. I decided to risk masking sensitive areas instead and spraying without taking it apart. I only gave it one coat. Like I said earlier, the finish isn't perfect but from a foot of so away you can't see any of the blemishes etc.

[menalaus]

bumped.....for Mr Bump!

[Shoka]

Th cube looks like my platinum one