I have a job coming up in a kitchen I did some 20+ years ago. I installed halogen recessed lights over the sink in a wooden soffit. The homeowners want new lights ast the old fixtures are kaput. I have no idea what that is about.
The exsisting holes are 2.5" in diameter. I just installed new LED puck lights this morning but they want more light. So much for an easy job!
Another trip to the electric supply house and the only thing I can find with more lumens requires a hole 4.25" in diameter.
So fellows how would you do this in an upside down position. And with the least amount of mess?
Without seeing your soffit, maybe you could take a piece of wood sized to fit over the soffit surface, drill your larger holes with a hole saw where they will line up with the smaller holes in the soffit, temporarily attach the piece over the surface of the soffit using double sided carpet tape, and then use the holes in this piece to guide your hole saw into the soffit. Remove the attached guide piece and you should have nice clean cut large holes where you need them.
Any chance you could get away with doubling the number of lights? If not, can you possibly get pucks that are brighter? There seems to be a range of lumen ratings for the ones I've looked at (I got so confused with my own install that I just left the old halogen lights in place and replaced them with similar units as they slowly fail from the heat).
That's easy, you need what's called an oops arbor. It lets you mount a hole saw the size of the hole inside a larger hole saw. The smaller one then becomes the pilot.
I had one for years and used it a lot, then loaned it out and never got it back. Gotta order another.
As for lights, what I really, really like is Lee Valley's LED tape & aluminum track/diffuser. Doesn't sound like that would work for you though.
Drilling with a hole saw? Cut out several plywood disks the same diameter as the current hole. Glue them together. Drill a 1/4” hole thru the center. Slide this assembly over the pilot drill of the new hole saw. Plywood needs to extend above the hole saw by at least 1/2”. It will act like a pilot drill used for metal working.
