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I've been waiting for someone to finally make a consumer stud finder that works and this just might finally happen after this deregulation of the spectrum.

The construction industry would hand over wheelbarrows full of money for a BLE phone-paired puck that located studs and pipes behind drywall. Someone could even sell a "pro" version that combined the data from multiple pucks to render a 3D point cloud of the inside of the wall on the user's phone.



Would the Walabot fit the bill for you? I bought one when it first came out and seemed pretty good. I haven't messed with it in a couple years though.

https://walabot.com/see-through-walls

This seems like a pretty good review:

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/walabot-stud-finder/


I tried one and it's pretty disappointing. Plenty of room for improvement.


Most studs have things (like drywall) nailed to them, and the nails are usually made of iron. So, all you need is a high-power rare earth magnet. I use a particularly strong refrigerator magnet.

If you want to splurge (or are willing to couple trips to the coffee shop), you could buy one (or two) of these:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/C-H-Hanson-Magnetic-Stud-Finder-...

I was tipped off to these by the someone in the construction industry. He buys a few whenever they're in stock, so that he can have them in every toolbox, lose them, etc.

Note that, once you find a nail head, you can just leave the magnet hanging in place. If you have two, you can hang both, then use a straightedge or chalk-line to mark the point between the two where you want to make a hole. The fancy radar puck thing can't do that. (Maybe, someday, fancy AR goggles will solve that problem, but we're a long way off from that.)


This doesn't work for conduit and plumbing. mmWave radar does.



They also seem to have development hardware available https://walabot.com/makers


This stud finder uses UWB radar (lower frequency) https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-D-Tect-Floor-Scanner-Technology...


As a radar guy I'd love to hear more about this. Stunned that's not a solved problem.

To be clear you probably wouldn't get a 3D view of the whole room, just a narrow window like a conventional stud finder.


Yes, this would be incredible.




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