LABOR SAVING DEVICES 56-015 / DBHC-10 Dual-Bladed Hole Cutter Power Tools & Accessories

The media could not be loaded.  Just like the name says, this tool is a labor-saver. I bought it specifically to cut 20 holes in my ceiling for speakers. I needed two different sizes, the largest being just over 9-3/4 inches so this was one of the only hole-cutters that fit my needs. I’ve included lots of pictures of both the tool, and the hole it can cut. There is also a video of it in action.It claims to be able to go through wood, and I plan on testing that eventually, but for now I only did interior drywall ceilings with it.***UPDATE: I used it to do 4 holes in wood, exterior soffit that was about 3/8 inch thick. It worked really well. Took a lot more time and pressure than the drywall of course, but it was a very nice clean cut. Pictures included.2nd UPDATE: About a year later, I need to do 2 more holes in 1/4 plywood. Didn't do so well this time. On the second hole, the center bit broke into several pieces. I always expected the point of failure would be the cutting blades or the attachment screws. See the added pics. I still recommend this item, but take your time when doing wood instead of drywall.***It definitely worked as designed and the actual hole-cutting, was fast and fairly easy, but you have to be very meticulous with the setup. Unlike some previously reported, the measurement guide along the arms do work accurately, but they are difficult to use unless you have a nice round measurement. I’ll talk more about that in the con section below.For the short review version, it was definitely worth the money for doing lots of holes. For more details, see below.Pros:-- Holes come out very clean on the side you drill into. By clean I mean a nice edge to the corner with no chunks or trailing pieces hanging down. You will have some on the paper side of the sheet rock, but who cares about that?-- The shield catches all the debris and most of the dust keeping things a lot cleaner than using a saw and having a helper hold a vacuum up near the cut. You simply wait about 5-10 seconds until after you stop the drill to let the dust settle inside, then tip it over into a trash can and you are done.-- It’s fast, drilling the actual hole takes about 15 seconds.-- It’s adjustable. I will talk more about how to adjust it in the con section, but it is nice to have one tool that can cut such a wide range of sizes.-- Comes with two sets of blades, one is already installed the other is extra. They are labeled L and R for the two sides of the tool. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t sharpen them yourself when they need it.-- You can adjust the depth of the cut by twisting a large nut in between your drill and the shield. There is a spring in between this nut and the shield which keeps pressure on the shield against the surface while the drill can move up and down to the depth you set.-- No need to outline your hole. You only need to know the center point and make sure you have room around it. I used a wire hangar bent into a Z shape with one end being slightly larger than the radius of my hole. I put it through a small pilot hole in the middle and turned it 360 degrees to make sure I wasn’t going to hit anything. You’ll notice below I talk about making sure the center guide bit has something to drill into which means, no pilot holes right... In my case, a small hole about ½ inch next to my intended center point was sufficient to still give my guide bit something to bite into. I compensated by making the length of my wire slightly larger than it needed to be to make sure I wouldn’t hit anything when I moved over that ½ inch.Cons:-- You must have something for the guide bit in the center to cut into. You’ll notice in my video, there is already a small hole where I wanted my hole to go. I had to drill right next to it for the tool to work. I tried one time, to make a cut with the bit “floating” in a pre-existing hole and thinking I could hold the whole thing steady as the blades starting biting. That was a mistake… one side started while the other hadn’t touched yet and the whole thing pulled sideways on me. The shield being pushed against the surface just doesn’t have enough grip to hold everything still.-- In order to adjust the size of the hole, you have to disassemble the tool. The screws to adjust the blades along the arms, are underneath the blades. This is facing the shield while the tool is assembled. To change the size, you have to remove it from the tool, take the shield off which requires removing one large nut (hand tightened only) and a spring, then loosen the screw under each blade, reset the size, tighten them down and reassemble. The only way I think this could be fixed is to put the screw on the side of the blade post rather than underneath, but they might have already tried that and this just might be the best way to keep the blades from moving. The last thing you want is one of them moving even a tiny bit while drilling.-- The measurement marks along the arm only work for nice round measurements. They are marked off to the nearest ¼ inch. That doesn’t seem so bad except the measurement only works by lining up each blade so that the inside edge of the post lines up with the numbers. This is a rounded post being lined up on a straight line, and you have to use the edge closest to the center guide bit and opposite of the cutting blade. Since both blades have to be adjusted independently, and having them at two different distances would ruin your nice hole, getting them exactly even is very important. Anything in between ¼ inch measurements you have to be very careful about. I double checked everything with a ruler and tape to be sure.-- Towards the middle-end of my 20 cuts, I noticed an increase in the amount of dust that was escaping between the shield and the surface. There is a thin piece of plastic on the edge of the shield and I think if they increased the size of that and made it more like foam weather stripping, allowing more compression as you pressed it against the surface, it would help, especially with textured ceilings. It should be noted, towards the end, I was doing the large holes, almost the full 10 inches, which may have contributed also.Tips for use:-- Don’t go too fast. Get your guide bit going into the surface, get the shield firmly against the surface, get the drill spinning before the blades make contact, and press evenly and slowly. Trying to go too fast causes it to bite hard and stick instead of cut which makes it want to jump out of your hand.-- Speaking of that, even with pressing smooth and slow, it took a lot of hand and forearm strength to hold it steady (especially by the end of 20 holes). The larger the hole, the harder it was to control. I have a great deal of respect for my wife’s fitness, but there is no way she could have controlled it and held it while it bucked and jumped during the large holes. One way around this would be a second set of hands. Once you got it started with the guide bit in, you could have a second person press up firmly on the shield while the drill operator used both hands to secure the drill.-- The blades are thick, so remember that while the measurement guide is labeled to be used with the inside of the blade post, the actual edge of the cut will be the outside of the blade. When you’re doing a backup measurement with a tape measure, measure from the outside of one blade, to the outside of another. Then make sure the center of the guide bit is exactly in half of the two.Overall I’m happy with it. If I only had to do a few holes, it wouldn’t be worth $100 that I paid. I did 20, and I’m glad I had it. I can’t imagine how long it would have taken me, how messy it would have been, and how much uglier my holes would be if I used a hand drywall saw or some other power tool like a jigsaw.

This product is a hole-in-1! If assembled properly (which admittedly is not hard, but you might put the nut in the wrong place), the item will make minimal dust. Other reviewers said it's messy - you have to have the drum fully seated against the ceiling/wall that you're cutting into. Once the hole is cut, let the dust settle for a sec before removing the drum. Then, take it carefully to a trashcan outside and dump the core & dust. Construction is going to be messy, but you can limit the mess using this tool.Also, the holes are perfect...if you align the blades properly. I always set them and measure the distance between the outer edges of the cutting blade before making a hole. Measure the tool twice, cut a hole in your ceiling once!I have cut 8.5" holes for five in-ceiling speakers into fresh drywall (perfect fit on first try), and then 6" holes in plaster for four LED "pot" lights. Plaster was a little tough, but this still worked. On a previous pot light project I used the simple 6" hole saw sold at the hardware store....what a mess. That spinning blade tool spews drywall dust like a snow-maker at a Florida ski resort.Highly recommend if you're going to do more than one size of hole, or more than a few holes of any given size, this is a must.

Great tool but impossible to find replacement blades which is a must because sooner or later you will need to replace them. But awesome tool, bought a second one because my other one was getting dull.

As a professional installer for more than 20 years, this is the best hole cutter PERIOD! LSD is a fantastic manufacturer that makes quality specialized tools for electricians and wiring installers. Everything else similar is trash compared to this. In 20 years I only had to buy one replacement. Need to cut precision holes in drywall breadboard or even plaster, overhead with out making a mess? This is it! It's also the only one with the biggest hole size. Guys see me run this and loose their mind. Money well spent.

I use this product for our AV company its my third to buy, they last about 3 years. On average we cut about 50 speaker holes a week with them.

very missy

A lot less messy than a keyhole saw over your head. But it took me two speakers to learn to keep the guard tight to the ceiling so the dust doesn't come flying out when you lower it from the ceiling. The adjustments are easy to do for different dimensions and comes in a very nice box. Very happy with it.

This hole saw works better then any I have used in the past.