Light a Wall Cavity While Fishing Wire
A second hole in the top plate for a flashlight, turning a blind fish into one you can watch.
A Drill Bit That Turns 90 Degrees Inside a Stud Bay
Bad Dog's multipurpose bit enters a stud face-on and steers a right angle to bore around the corner — plus side cutters that channel, mortise, and cut on the pull stroke — built for fishing wire and supply lines through framing.
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The Problem
Running new wire or PEX through existing framing hits the same wall every time: you can drill into a stud bay, but you can't drill around inside it. The next hole needs an angle no straight bit can reach without opening more drywall — which is how a one-cable job becomes a patching-and-painting job.
The Technique
The pitch behind this tradeshow bit (Bad Dog Tools) is a bit that steers:
- Enter the stud or plate face-on, like any bore.
- Once in, lever the drill to walk the bit's cutting head around the corner — it turns up to 90 degrees and keeps boring in the new direction, channeling a path for wire or PEX where a straight bit couldn't go.
- The head cuts on the pull stroke too, so easing back out continues to clear the channel.
- Side cutters on the shank let it work like a rasp-router: drag it sideways to connect bored holes into a slot or flatten a pocket into a rough mortise.
Eight cutting surfaces on the head, per the rep, and a lifetime replacement on snapped bits — steering a bit around corners loads it in ways straight boring doesn't, and the warranty is the honest acknowledgment.
Safety note: Boring blind inside closed walls is how people find electrical cables and plumbing the hard way. Locate what's already in the bay before steering a cutter through it, and treat drilled studs by the framing rules — hole size and edge distance limits still apply no matter how clever the bit is.
Electrical, plumbing, and structural work may be regulated where you live — check local code before you start, and note that a permit may be required. More in our disclaimer.
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