I'm trying to drill a hole for a coax cable up from a basement into a first-floor wall. The place I need to drill is about 8" behind an "engineered I-beam" into which I drilled a 4" access hole. I used a 12" 1/8"-long twist-drill bit on the end of a drill-bit extender to try to create a pilot hole to confirm the position of the hole. Wouldn't you know, once the bit was 4" in (at least the first part MDF subfloor), it stuck! I tried attaching the drill to the and of the bit and running it in reverse, but it couldn't get a good enough grip on the bit. Same with a vice-grip.

Once you've stopped chuckling at my misfortune, can anyone suggest an approach to solve this problem? I'm thinking about drilling with a spade bit of the diameter I'll need for that coax slightly offset from the twist bit, but that could be a little tricky.

How's the weather?

I ask because, in theory that engineered I-beam won't expand or swell much, but if the weather or the wall cavity is cool or damp, heating it up in there with a hair dryer, etc. might change things enough to let you get the bit unstuck.

Alternately, if you get some freeze spray (sold to freeze warts, or to shoot down bees) and ice down the bit, it might contract enough to pull it out with the vice grip.

Or...how big is the drill bit shank? 3/8"? Then get a hardwood broom handle or something, drill a hole of the same diameter in it. Fill the hole with a premimum epoxy. Swab off the end of the drill bit shank with some alcohol to degrease it, jam it into the new handle, let set and dry overnight. Betcha you can just pull the sucker out after that, and chew away the wood and epoxy with conventional means.

** you will need to fill the hole **

That's true, more or less.

** and you will not need to cut the piece of tube off **

It's not a "piece of tube", it's a 12" long 1/8" twist drill bit that cost me $ 6.41. I'd like to recover it if I could.

More of the saga: I bought a 16" long, 1/2" spade bit. That did a good job of drilling up from the basement, at least after I remembered that I'd left the drill set to reverse! :-(

However, I'm still having trouble. I have to drill at a slant anyway, so it's a bit of a guess as to just what angle to use to have the other end of the hole end up inside the upper floor wall. I've tried twice so far. The material that was coming out of one hole gave me the impression that I was drilling into the exterior wall.

So, the job still isn't finished.

Once I finish the hole (or if I need a break from the job), I'll work on freeing that other drill bit.

** The piece of tube I was referring to was the one turned into a hollow drill bit. **

Now I understand. Thanks for the suggestion.