[feathersnake]

Hi all experts out there!


What is the easiest technique in hiding the wires inside the wall for a plasma TV?


I mean how to fish the wires, drill holes, hook up the power supply for the plasma, etc.

 

[steuert]

There is no simple or easy way to do this, and unless you have a conventional sheetrock wall it will be a major undertaking.


You might want to look at the various types of "wire hiders" available at most hardware stores. Although they certainly aren't invisible, they make a neat appearance and can usually be painted to match the wall.


For speaker wire or other low-voltage applications, AR and others make flat, adhesive-backed wiring that can also be painted to match the wall and will be invisible from a distance greater than a couple of feet.

 

[PKamp]

crawl space under the house? Attic? worse case... take a router and make a channel in your wall the same depth as where your studs begin... staple the wires to the studs and use lite spackle to patch the channel up.... make sure you do this at a height you will never put another nail or be drilling into later on. If all else fails.... GO FISH

 

[iceman143]

What kind of wall material are you hiding the material behind? Wood, sheetrock, plaster, stucco, brick, etc.

 

[chucko]

I had to cut the holes in the wall (plaster & plasterboard) directly in line with each other vertically. That way I could drop a line with a weight on the end of it, thru the top hole, down past the bottom hole, where I could fish it back out of the wall with a short piece of wire with a hook in the end. Then, with the cables tied to the line, I pulled them into the wall at the bottom, and out of the wall at the top.


I'd suggest that you route any cables you may want to use, even if you don't have immediate plans to do so. I used a 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" hole cutter. Use the kind with a drill bit in the center. It keeps the cutter from sliding all over the place on plaster, as happens with the cutters with no drill bit in the center.


Chucko

 

[iceman143]

Some of the rotary tools make the cutout a snap. You drill the pilot hole and off you go. It is quite easy to cut along a line that you draw outlining the desired hole size. Check for cross braces or electrical wiring with a stud/ electrical wire finder to be certain there is nothing in the way between the top and bottom openings. A wall plate covering with the holes in the right places makes an easy finish to the cutout

 

[acheslow]

Depending on the size of your job, you may want to look into some of these specialized tools .

 

[pzand]

This is how I mounted my 503cmx. Really pretty easy.
http://www.plasmaextreme.us/guide.htm

 

[feathersnake]

The walls are sheetrocks. And I am thinking of putting all the wires inside the wall and run them all the way down to my unfinished basement, then run them across the room, and up again on the other side of the room (opposite to the plasma). My main corncerns are:


1) How thick is the floor (inside the wall). If I drill from basement, what is the thickness I should expect? Is it a 4 x 2" thickness of wood? Is there presence metal in the wall?


2) Where I should hook up the plasma electrically if all wires run inside the wall. Maybe I should get an extention cord and run it all the way to the other side of the room and just plug it on a wall outlet!


3) How big of a hole should I drill? Is 1/2" enough?


4) I was thinking of dropping a metal ball chain through the hole on top and fish it from the hole in basement with a magnet... then attach the wires to the chain and pull them through the wall. Any chances of success doing that way?


Chucko: You said you used 1 1/4" cutters, How deep does the cutter can go. If I have 8" of thickness by trying to drill through the floor, cutters won't do. But cutters are good for sheetrock.


pzand: I looked at your presentation (at plasmaextreme) repeatedly even before I post on this board. I have to admit that I was really pleased to see actual step-by-step photos of your job. You were the only person I can find on the internet with photos of an install. Besides, how big are those holes you cut, and with what tool? I saw you fish the wires out from the hole at the bottom. As for me, I am not planning of having wires coming out at bottom since there will be no cabinet or anything else below the plasma. It will be just a plain wall with a plasma hanging at the center.

 

[pzand]

Feathersnake,


I used a 3" holesaw that you'd normally use for drilling a hole for a door knob. Of course, the grommet I bought was 3.5", hence the extra manual work

In hindsight, I should have just used a little rotary tool, since it's only drywall! Would have been easier and faster.


I actually do have a few wires that don't come out of the hole at the bottom, but go all the way down into the basement. I went to the basement, figured out where the wall was, and drilled upwards with a tiny little drillbit (didn't know if I'd measured right, and didn't want to run the risk of having a big hole in the living room floor). As it turns out, I measured right, and drilled a 1" hole. The floor itself is just a sheet of plywood. The bottom of the wall is a normal 2x4.


Fishing the wires is the easy part. Just drop them from the top hole, and you should be able to grab them in the basement. Alternatively, drop a piece of string with something heavy tied to it (a metal pencil sharpener works well

) first, and tied your wires to the other end of the string.


The power cord for my plasma just goes in the top hole, and comes out the bottom one, since I happened to have an outlet next to the bottom hole. I see no reason why an extension cord wouldn't work.


The pics at plasma extreme are a little old. I've now finished building my cabinet... see attachment for how things look today.


Good luck, it's much easier than you think! The whole thing took me a few hours.


Peter

 

[Hawaii]

pzand,


that is a really sweet setup. i like how the speakers are out of the way. very clean. nice job.

 

[feathersnake]

pzand, thanks for the tips. I feel much more confident in going ahead with the project.


Thats a real nice cabinet and good height too. Your set-up is really clean, not overwhelming and the plasma really stands out.


Where you got the cabinet? Any other color?


feathersnake

 

[pzand]

Feathersnake,


The cabinet is from the Home Depot. It starts out as 4 sheets of birch plywood. Then there's lots of sawing, filing, fitting, re-sawing, screwing, some occasional cursing and finally staining. But you can get it in any color you want


Peter