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Toggler for TV mount

cbut8995 | Posted in General Questions on

Hi All,

Decided to go to the toggler route. Seems a like quicker and doing the wood pieces and cutting a notch and then securing it seemed a lot more work than the togglers.

Just wanted to clarify which toggler you guys suggest. Bought a few from HD. See attached pic.

So the idea is to drill a hole through the sheetrock and then the metal stud. Stick the toggler in and then use the screws that come with the toggler to mount the TV mount onto the wall instead of the screws that come with the mount. This will be sufficient to hold up the tv mount (full motion echogear)  27lbs and the tv 65 lbs. on onside of the wall and another same setup on the other side of the wall. THey share 1 stud same as they are almost back to back.

I have this milwaukee red box of drill bits (shockwave impact duty titanum) wil this work to make a hole in the sheetrock & stud? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-SHOCKWAVE-IMPACT-DUTY-Titanium-Drill-Bit-Set-23-Piece-48-89-4631/205879024

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Replies

  1. Expert Member
    BILL WICHERS | | #1

    The ones on the left with the white plastic will be a little more finicky to install. I've found the plastic used on those is brittle, so it breaks easily. This is a plus in that it will easily break off flush with the hold piece that goes in the front of the drywall, but it's a minus in that you have to be more careful to avoid breaking it off prematurely. The other ones look to be the kind with a more pliable plastic, so it won't break off cleanly, but it's much harder to break prematurely too. I've used both types, I don't particularly like either over the other, they just both have different things to fiddle with at install time.

    I recommend using a small hole saw instead of a drill bit when using these in drywall with metal studs. A drill bit won't drill into the metal stud as well as a hole saw will without damaging/deforming the stud.

    Once your drill the hole, I recommend cleaning it -- especially the paper bits -- before inserting the anchor. The big problem I have with these anchors in drywall is that if the drywall paper gets into the threaded "nut" area of the toggle piece, the bolt can jam and spin the anchor inside the wall. This can be a difficult situation to correct. Cleaning the hold first goes a long way to getting these anchors installed properly the first time.

    Use the strongest versions of these you can find, with 1/4-20 bolts. TV mounts -- especially full motion mounts with the extension arms -- put a LOT of force on the wall. If you use togglers in the flange of the metal stud, I think you'll be OK, but you'll probably have a little flex in the wall when moving the TV around. Wood blocking would be stronger, but more work to install.

    Bill

    1. cbut8995 | | #2

      Hey Bill,

      Were going to use a 2x4 with the notch on the ouside studs and then have the togglers go through the sheetrock and metal stud in the middle on where its shared. This should be fine right?

      The diagram I have shows what I plan on doing. let me know your thoughts as it seems the easiest route and it was hard to use a 2x4 for the middle stud since both sides of the wall would have the tv and they wuld share a stud so Idk how to make it so both sides could drill into the wood in the middle.

      light blue: 2x4 stud probably 16 inches long where I cut the small notch so the lip can fit inside
      orange: sheet rock or plywood to cover the holes I made
      black: is the stud from top view
      green: metal to wood screws you suggested from big box store
      red: togglers
      pink: the screws that the echogear mount came with for wood studs (question: will that go through the metal stud easily before it hits the wood stud? since its designed for wood stud only)
      dark blue: echogear mount I just ordered given your suggestion of it

      Will these 1/2 hole saw work with the sheetrock & metal stud?

      https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-1-2-in-Diamond-Max-Hole-Saw-49-56-0511/204994403

      https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-Brazed-Diamond-Core-Bit-Hole-Saw-for-Granite-Quartzite-Marble-Concrete-Porcelain-Ceramic-and-Other-Stones-BDBP0012/319959697

      id obviously like to get the cheaper one since its like a 1 time use.

      1. Chris_in_NC | | #5

        A regular (toothed) bi-metal hole saw is fine. Drywall is really easy to cut, and steel studs are just stamped sheet metal. Zero reason to use an abrasive/diamond saw.

        Something like this, but the proper size:
        https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-3-4-in-HOLE-DOZER-Bi-Metal-Hole-Saw-with-3-8-in-Arbor-and-Pilot-Bit-49-56-9658/313347418

        For whatever screws you're talking about for the TV mount, a quick pre-drill of the steel stud will be fine, if you're worried about a wood screw penetrating the steel stud before getting into the wood blocking. For the screw size you're talking about, any high speed steel drill bit will work fine. Else, if the screw point is sharp, just give it some pressure and it should punch right through. Interior metal studs are very light gauge steel usually.

  2. walta100 | | #3

    Seems to me that adding 2x4 inside the wall is over kill given the weight of a modern TV. But drywall anchors seems like not enough given that this could be an expensive TV. Consider adding some ¾ plywood that would span the studs but is smaller than the TV and mount the TV to the plywood.

    Walta

  3. aaron_p | | #4

    I used snaptogglers brand anchors to hold up a wall mounted pot rack and a tv mount in a building with drywall and metal studs. The anchors were drilled into the metal studs - that was an extremely sturdy fastening with that setup. I would shocked if that wasn't sufficient for this use.

    Looking at the snaptoggler chart, 1/2 gypsum board with a 25 gauge stud can achieve pull out values of 412 lbs - 468 lbs per anchor depending on the size. For the shear values, the anchors achieved 247 lbs - 292 lbs per anchor in 1/2" gypsum board alone.
    https://toggler.com/pdfs/SNAPTOGGLE%C2%AE-Heavy-Duty-Toggle-Bolts.pdf

    Like Walta proposed, 3/4" plywood from stud to stud would be route I would go if this is approaching the limits of the anchors in the studs or if you want more locations to secure to for the mount placement.

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