How would you drill this Hole????

Ok Im trying to run a wire into the flat bar on my FTC tower. The bar that has the board racks on it. Im instaling a Power Flag and need to run a wire loom threw the round bar and into the flat bar.

Im thinking I will need to drill a hole threw the round bar run the wire loom up to the flat bar and then drill a exrta hole directley threw the round bar and into the flat bar and then run the wire into it. Then I will need to put a plastic plug to cover the hole that I use to drill threw the tower with.

Option #2 I could drill a rather large hole in the flat bar close to the round bar on the inside of the tower, I would use this hole as a opening to drill into the round bar of the tower. And the use a plastic plug to cover the hole I drilled.

Im thinking it would be better not to drill all the way threw the round bar on the tower and the flat bar would be the better way to access the round bar.

The Power Flag is going to be mounted on the rear leg round bar leg of the tower, Its the leg that sticking up in the photo's
Just wanted to throw it out and see if any of you had any better idea's or ways to tackel this.

my 2 cents i would go with your second option, if your doing it the way im thinking it will be more easy to get you wire ran into your flat bar, and it being beside the board rack studs a black cap would look less obvious than one sticking out on the round bar. The only other thing i would know to do you haven't listed is drill one small hole on the round bar and one on the flat on the inside of the tower, then run the wire out and back in. but no body wants to do that it is kinda ghetto.

Why not just run your wire out of the round bar in a loom to your flag. It will only be a few inches of loom and I think it would look better than having a plug in your tower.

Grant, there is only one option for you.

Cut a section of the flat bar out and then drill the round tube. reweld the flat bar and repowder coat the entire unit with diamond encrusted red powder.

Jan: LOL

Mike: It has to come out of the round bar and into the flat bar and then back out of the flat bar and back into the round bar and then to the power flag, IMO to many in's and out's I would rather have a small hole in the flat bar with a plug in it than a loom weaving in and out of the tower.
Craig: I agree no ghetto wire job's

Grant,

Option 3: Pop off one of the racks, drill an access hole under it, then use a flexi bit to get into the round tube? (if you can find a flexi bit for metal, http://www.basshome.com/subcategory_123.htm)

Option 4: In a discrete location - drill through the oval tube very close to the round tube, angle the drill over and pop through the round tube behind the weld, pull wires, then patch the first hole with JB Weld. Lightly sand and touch up finish to match?

Option 5: mount power flag on side of speaker box and run wiring with speaker wires?

all kidding aside, option #1 in combination with Mike's option #4. It wouldn't cost you much at all to have that hole welded back shut either. I am thinking you could get away with a 1/4 in hole which is pretty small. JB weld should be able to hold that. I know you wont be happy with a plug either in the long run so just drill the hole,have it plugged and repaint.

Option 3 seems the nicest, but almost impossible...

Grant, go for option 3

Grant,

I take it you don't want to take the option of running the wire up the rear tower leg to the junction where the tower gets unscrewed for folding out the lower leg, though a quick disconnect and then back into the rear leg of the upper tower?
I would look similar to what you have for speaker wires running up the front legs just with a a quick disconnect. Then you're only drilling two small holes for the wires to exit and enter.

Chris
Get the Grip you Deserve
www.wakejunky.com

Mike "the remove the wake board racks" seems like a nice choice, But the racks are to far away from the round tube in the center of the flat bar, and the size of the hole that I would be able to cut away to make room for the flexy bit would be fairley small due to the small foot of the board rack's so that idea is out.

It seems like the drilling into the flat bar as close to the round tube as possable option looks pretty do able. Im pretty sure I could drill a hole large enough to angle a large drill bit into the round tube and then put a plastic plug to cover the hole in the flat bar. It will look like one of the plastic plugs that CC uses to cover up the holes the board racks need's you can see them in the last photo I posted.

Im wondering if im going to have a problem with cracking if I drill a hole close to the weld on the flat bar???? Any Idea's The photo below would show the potential drill location's in blue tape. Im guessing that the hole I would need to drill would be 3/4 to 7/8 round so its not a small hole! The hole that I would be drilling into the round tube would be like 3/8-1/2 inc round so as not to chafe the loom.

Chris: That option would be "Ghetto" having to un plug and plug the flag in everytime I fold the tower would be no good. Come on Chris you can do better than that! (I hope) LOL
Chris keep in mind that not all of us have a Big Pimpin garage like you. Us po folk have to fold out tower's LOL

(Message edited by whitechocolate on December 15, 2004)

Why does the wire need to cross over there? What about on top of the tower?

tuneman: It has to cross there because #1 thats the shortest point and #2 the same flat bars are at the top so the problem is the same at the top.

I wouldn't worry too much about the shortest point.

Couldn't you use the top center bar to cross over? Your speaker box would cover the holes on top.

I my guess is you would see the holes more, And I would have to take my tower box down to do it.
and the factory Power flag wire loom will go that far. Humm!

I am just curious how this thing works?

I have a "Big Pimpin" garage, but if i bought a folding tower i would want it to fold.

Option #6: Using a long (like 2' long) metal drill bit start at the back of the rear tube drill forward throu both sides of rear tube and rear side of front tube (along your blue tapes), stop before you come out the front. Take your time when you get to the front hole because of the angle. Mount flag to cover rear hole. Hole is small, like 1/4 - 3/8" right? These tubes are pretty much in tension or compression in these areas so the holes should not create any structural issues.

Option #7: drill up from bottom of oval tube close to the round tubes creating "drain holes" at the bottom front and back of the oval tubes.

I just hate the ideas of using the plastic plugs.

(Message edited by mikeski on December 15, 2004)

Drill as shown in blue for option 7

Yes Option #7 Looks pretty good however they are gonna be some pretty large drain holes

How big is the wire? Security installers use flex bit's, some available at home depot, more at whole sale house. some bits are 8 feet long, with a hole drilled through the tip to hook your wire to.After you get the holes drilled you can suck a piece of string through with a shop vac to use to pull the wire, takes patience. Good luck.

Personally I wouldn't drill next to the welds or in your whole tower!IMO go ghetto,nothing wrong with the ghetto.I came from the ghetto!! And look at me,ohh Ok bad example.lol
If it weakeness your tower??If you do drill,IMO stay away from the welds.

Grant,

Did you get your holes figured out yet?

The golden rule: measure twice, drill once...

Update please

I think we are on option #8 ??? How about drilling as small a hole as you can in the flat bar and use a dremel tool w/ a grinding attachment for the round leg. You can drill a smaller hole through the round leg after drilling a smaller "access" hole through the flat bar. After your pilot hole is drilled in the round leg you can use a Dremel tool with a grinder attachment to enlarge the hole in the round part. Of course this will take longer, however with the control of a dremel tool you can totaly customize and more importantly minimize the holes, especialy with the flexible shaft attachment Dremel offers! Look at it this way... it could be a good excuse to buy a Dremel tool if you don't already have one... which you probably do!!!

Grant,

I do not know how low you are mounting your flag. If you mount it too low, you take a chance on bending the flag portion with the rope. You need to mount it high on the tower, so, the main tube of the power flag is around rope level. It does not take much to bend the flag and have to get it rebuilt.

Jeff: the wire loom is about 7/8 inc. So I guess I would need to have a hole about 1/2 to 5/8 in the round bar


Option #8 Humm I dont see how I can have my cake and eat it to. I.E drill a small hole in the flat bar and then have room to make a larger hole on the inside of the round bar even with a dremmel and Yes I have one. Remember If I drilled into the flat bar on the side or the bottom I would be drilling at a angle into the round bar. Ill try to post a photo of what Im talking about. Thanks to everyone for your Idea's Im still not sure on how im going to do it, but 2 or 20 heads are better than one so keep them Idea's comming.

Here are some photo's of the angles Im talking about Think about it when I drill into the flat bar I will have to drill sideways into the flat bar and that hole should be 3/8 to 1/2



These are the plastic plugs I was thinking of using to cover the hole I was going to drill in the flat bar

I was referring to smaller as in smaller than the hole you were talking about. A 3/8" or 1/2" vs 5/8" or 7/8" hole. From your post on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 1:02 pm:

For instance once the initial 3/8" or 1/2" "access" hole is drilled in the flat piece you can then insert a 1/4" bit (or smaller) into the dremel. Drill a pilot hole (with the dremel tool at an angle of course) into the round piece via the 3/8" or 1/2" "access" hole in the flat piece. Then insert a grinding bit in the dremel tool, and use the "access" hole as an entry point to grind material at the pilot hole in the round section to make said hole bigger. Of course this depends on how far the round leg will be from the hole in the flat piece and the angle! This is the important part, the have your cake and eat it too part...You are not using a drill bit to make the hole bigger on the round piece. The bit/shank on the dremel grinding stone will be a lot smaller than your initial 3/8" or 1/2" hole and will only be limited by the severity of the angle (which you already know). Are you following this or is it clear as mud???

Check out some of the smaller grinding stones here
www.ehobbies.com/tools---supplies-tools-power-tool-grinding-bits.html



(Message edited by biz on December 17, 2004)

(Message edited by biz on December 17, 2004)

Grant,

With all the publicity and cool ideas you give these guys they should build you a tower with custom holes pre-drilled before they weld it up.

I was out at a customer's site yesterday. They were having plumbing issues so they rented a camera on a cable. Knowing how disturbed you are when it comes to cool gadgets, I but you could use that to guide one of these dremmel cable drills/grinders up the tube like a doctor guides the scope up a the colon and open up that round tube behind the oval tube.

Help grab my feet, I'm floating away from the earth... Just drill the holes from the outside of the tubes then repair outside holes like any self respecting metal finisher would. You know every time you look at those plugs you are going to hate them, and they are right above your head right? Don't you need a fresh finish on that tower anyway? Mmmmm, red powder coated top section maybe?

I would drill 1 hole through the end all the way in to the other pipe and then use a string from one end to the other. buy a threaded alu plug and tap it in.

one more thing, use wire lube,clear, not the blue or yellow stuff as it can stain.

TR: I got ya. Have you ever used a grinding stone on aluminum? well if you havent this is what happens. The stone gets filled with the aluminum that your grinding away and clogs up the bit. I like your Idea Unless I have a flex bit tip and a special metal grinding tip I dont think it will work. I have some diamond grinding bits for a dremmel I used them to enlarge the holes that my speaker wires run threw, the aluminum the tower is made of is tough and does not gring very well with a dremel, Now with a Air tool (die grinder) and a proper bit it makes short work out of a job like this. I wonder if they have long thin Die Grinding bits, This would be the way to enlarge this hole, Im shure my tower will just laugh at a dremel.

Option 9# write a book with all these ideas, sell it, then use the money to buy all 20 or so of us a reef girl to hold our flags. it will be like the stuff you order out of catalogs just because its marked "requires no drilling".

I don't know about that wakedoctor, if I get a reef girl, there is gonna be some serious drilling!!!

G- not sure where you are mounting the powerflag then, but why not use it to partialy cover up the hole in the flatbar? Is that a possibillity? you could touch it up as good as possible, then use the mount to cover it.

Luke Thats funny, LOL

The flag will be mounted on the round bar at the back of the tower so it wont cover the hole in the flatbar

sorry...."requires drilling daily"

Oh man! no ghetto wire showing lookin nice and clean.