Clam Ice Auger/Cordless Drill Review

[peteinvermont]

Low speed for me.  Its easier on the drill and still unbelievable fast and easy.

[Spider1]

the low speed has more torque.

[hardwater diehard]

Drill mode ...low speed

[TA]

Pointerguy, Thanks for the great review. This is an awesome set up. Did my homework and found a cordless drill that best fit my needs for torque and battery life. A clam auger plate that you don't need to remove the drill chuck. Had an old 6" mora/ eskimo foldable off set handle auger. The auger stem and the adaptor on the drill plate OD's are very close. So machining an extension to connect the two was fairly easy. Now I have an auger that is fast, light weight and easy to use. Thanks again.

[JeJa]

Just converted my 18 v 3amp Dewalt into my fishing gear. Added the clam auger plate. I use a 6" auger. Took it out yesterday and worked flawlessly in 12 inch ice. I'am very happy with it. A very cheap mod as all I had to do was buy the clam plate.
 

[TheSituation]

Does anyone have any experience with a Bosch drill?  It's the brushless DDS-182-02.  The thing that worries me is it's only listed around 442ish in-lbs.  Reason I ask is because I was able to get one for cheap and was thinking about pairing it with a clam plate and 7" auger.

What is the "best" 7" out there?  The lazer seems very popular and for a reasonable price.

[Mid County Outdoors]

So I took my Mora 8" and unscrewed the crank from the auger. Went to my shop and made a conversion bit. Then added a 5 inch plate with a bearing and tack welded it to the auger and attached a bungee cord to go over the drill. (just I case the chuck loosens) Then welded the bit
to the auger. Went out on the ice 3 deg. with Dewalt 20 volt batteries in my coat. The key to any of these augers/cordless combo are sharp blades!!!  My test: semi dull blades, 8 inches of ice, 3 deg "F" Drilled 14 and a half holes battery dead.
                            Sharp blades, 8 inches of ice, 3 deg.   Drilled 38 holes the battery had 1 bar left, but was tired of drilling. Each hole was drilled under 8 seconds. Make sure you use the "T" handle....Torque is crazy!!

Two things: sharp blades and warm batteries.

[Gills-only]

So I took my Mora 8" and unscrewed the crank from the auger. Went to my shop and made a conversion bit. Then added a 5 inch plate with a bearing and tack welded it to the auger and attached a bungee cord to go over the drill. (just I case the chuck loosens) Then welded the bit
to the auger. Went out on the ice 3 deg. with Dewalt 20 volt batteries in my coat. The key to any of these augers/cordless combo are sharp blades!!!  My test: semi dull blades, 8 inches of ice, 3 deg "F" Drilled 14 and a half holes battery dead.
                            Sharp blades, 8 inches of ice, 3 deg.   Drilled 38 holes the battery had 1 bar left, but was tired of drilling. Each hole was drilled under 8 seconds. Make sure you use the "T" handle....Torque is crazy!!

Two things: sharp blades and warm batteries.

                        The Milwaukee batteries are made for "COLD" weather, you don't have to keep them "WARM" .  I think they are the only company that has "perfected" the lithium batteries, so far!!

[Spider1]

The Milwaukee batteries are made for "COLD" weather, you don't have to keep them "WARM" .  I think they are the only company that has "perfected" the lithium batteries, so far!!

I don't think you can make a claim like that. I have 2 of the ridgid 4ah batteries. On a 6" HT auger. I took them out last weekend for a test. -2 degrees with constant 30-50 mph wind gusts. I was there all day and left the drill out in the cold to see how the batteries would be effected. Drilled 15 holes. When I packed up for the drag back to the truck I still had 4 bars. Didn't even need the 2nd battery.

[Gills-only]

Wind chill has nothing to do with batteries, look for threads about Milwaukee batteries and see for your self, not saying anything bad about yours if they work for you that's great!!   15 holes in 10" or so of ice it should almost have full charge left!!

[Spider1]

wind chill means nothing to inanimate objects. But windy conditions can beat up equipment. snow and moisture as well as other debris. The main thing was that I left the batteries out in the cold for the day and they weren't affected. The thing I'm saying is, you can't claim that milwaukee is the only ones that "they are the only company that has "perfected" the lithium batteries". Lithium batteries themselves handle cold alot better than the nicad batteries. Milwaukee makes great tools, no doubt about it. So does Dewault, Ridgid, Portercable and several more.

For the most part, Milwaukee and Ridgid seems to be getting the best marks.

[potatoe]

We have about 10 of the Milwaukee Fuel drills at work running the 4.0 batteries. They seem to be holding up well under daily heavy use.

[TheSituation]

Any end of season deals on the clam plate? 

[hardwater diehard]

Any end of season deals on the clam plate?

I seen some deals on the old style plate ...for $50 bucks ...new style is full priced or sold out in most places.

[uglyduck]

Thanks for the review!  I love the math discussion-I'm a math teacher I'm definitely gonna pick one up.  Clean, near and easy to pull out on a sled!

[Ice Scratcher]

wind chill means nothing to inanimate objects.

Except that they freeze faster is all..

<°)))>{

[Spider1]

no wind chill is just how the temperatures feel if it's windy. It doesn't actually change the actual temperatures. Put a glass of water out in 0 degrees with 20mph winds and it will freeze no faster than if there is no wind but it "feels" colder to an animal. that's what wind chill is. It's how it feels to an animal, including us. Doesn't change the fact that it's only 0 degrees. Inanimate objects don't freeze faster because of it. Now ice, snow and moisture blowing into electrical components is another thing altogether.

[Ice Scratcher]

Put a glass of water out in 0 degrees with 20mph winds and it will freeze no faster than if there is no wind

I will have to disagree...

It will not get colder than 0, but it will certainly freeze faster..

<°)))>{

[SirCranksalot]

Yup---for sure!!

[Agronomist_at_IA]

no wind chill is just how the temperatures feel if it's windy. It doesn't actually change the actual temperatures. Put a glass of water out in 0 degrees with 20mph winds and it will freeze no faster than if there is no wind but it "feels" colder to an animal. that's what wind chill is. It's how it feels to an animal, including us. Doesn't change the fact that it's only 0 degrees. Inanimate objects don't freeze faster because of it. Now ice, snow and moisture blowing into electrical components is another thing altogether.

LOL. Wind chill might not "change" the actual temp. However when you have wind things will definitely freeze faster. Reason being is the wind will pull the core heat away from something faster. (Speed the mixing and averaging process of tempatures) an example is like dumping sugar into a kool aid mixture, stirring it speeds the process of dissolving the sugar into the water.....the wind is the stirring process that speeds up the temp change/shift.

[Spider1]

yeah... ok, but that works with kool aid and water. Not batteries. If the battery is 0 degrees, it isn't gonna get colder than 0 degrees just cuz it's windy. Wind chill isn't going to affect batteries or other inanimate objects. You guys are comparing apples to screwdrivers. They ain't the same things. Remember, we're talking about cordless drills here.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

yeah... ok, but that works with kool aid and water. Not batteries. If the battery is 0 degrees, it isn't gonna get colder than 0 degrees just cuz it's windy. Wind chill isn't going to affect batteries or other inanimate objects. You guys are comparing apples to screwdrivers. They ain't the same things. Remember, we're talking about cordless drills here.

I think your are clueless and need to educate yourself. Nobody said that wind chill could cause a lower temp then what the temp is. What we are saying is it changes the speed at which an object cools/freezes. Wind chill is basicly a word reference to reflect the increases heat loss of an object due to the effects of wind carrying away heat faster from the object. So living, inanimate, or whatever an object is the effects of wind removing heat faster from an object is fact.

So an example is if the tempature was 32*f out-freezing and you had a wind chill of -5*f. What it means is that due to the wind helping remove heat from an object faster it will cool faster. It will cool the item at a speed of cooling considerable to where the outside temp was -5*f with no wind.

[holehopper]

I'll try to bring this full circle. if you are fishing with a cordless drill auger set up, my advice would be:

1.  if it is snowing and/or blowing, I would not leave the drill exposed.  Doesn't matter what brand you have, snow inside the drill is not a good thing.  Either bring it inside or cover the drill.

2.  Taking the battery off/putting it back on most cordless drills takes less than 2 seconds.  If it is nasty outside, it is worth pulling the battery off if you are going to stay in one spot for a while. 

In talking with the guys at Clam at the ice show this past weekend, they hinted that they will have a drill cover available next season. 

[Ice Scratcher]

In talking with the guys at Clam at the ice show this past weekend, they hinted that they will have a drill cover available next season.

Probably look a lot like this....

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=333613.msg3534042#msg3534042

<°)))>{

[Gills-only]

I use a Meijer plastic bag, just tie loose knot never had a problem. My Milwaukee has never had the battery r moved to keep it "warm"!!!

[Spider1]

just gonna say this last thing then I'm not gonna waste time any more.

No, you are clueless. Wind chill has nothing to do with how wind causes anything to freeze faster. You are making up definitions to suit your own purpose.

Wind-chill or windchill, (popularly wind chill factor) is the perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air.

take your own advise and educate yourself.

done.

[Ice Scratcher]

just gonna say this last thing then I'm not gonna waste time any more.

No, you are clueless. Wind chill has nothing to do with how wind causes anything to freeze faster. You are making up definitions to suit your own purpose.

Wind-chill or windchill, (popularly wind chill factor) is the perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air.

take your own advise and educate yourself.

done.

So your oatmeal on your spoon won't cool down faster when you blow on it either I guess...

Might as well throw out my fans to, they don't cool me down any faster either...

<°)))>{

[Agronomist_at_IA]

just gonna say this last thing then I'm not gonna waste time any more.

No, you are clueless. Wind chill has nothing to do with how wind causes anything to freeze faster. You are making up definitions to suit your own purpose.

Wind-chill or windchill, (popularly wind chill factor) is the perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air.

take your own advise and educate yourself.

done.

The only one wasting time, is you arguing an undefendable point. While it is a bit different for inanimate objects or other things since they don't create heat like the human body, there is still a cooling factor which is even faster if the object doesn't create heat. Don't believe me here is a quote on it.

wind chill, the cooling effect of wind and temperature combined, expressed in terms of the effect produced by a lower, windless temperature, also called wind chill factor, wind chill temperature, wind chill equivalent temperature, wind chill index, wind chill equivalent index, and wind chill temperature index. Wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin. Under windless conditions air provides an invisible blanket around the skin. As wind speed increases, this layer of heated air is carried away from the body at an accelerated rate, forcing the body either to work harder to generate more heat or cool down. If the actual air temperature is −5°F;(−21°C;) with a 20 mph (32 km/hr) wind, the wind chill temperature is −29°F;(−34°C;). Because wind chill is based the removal of heat from the human body, it does not reflect the increased rate of heat loss for inanimate objects such as automobile radiators under the same conditions but they also experience a faster heat loss with increasing winds.

Wow....so if an object doesn't produce heat like the human body, it actually experiences heat loss even faster!

[Shack man Shoney]

HANG ON!!!!! Im popping popcorn now.....

[conservationist]

HANG ON!!!!! Im popping popcorn now.....

SERIOUSLY, GUYS.
No one else cares who got the better grade in Chem 102.

This thread is about drills and augers.
I just picked up a brushless DeWalt drill from Home Depot  $119.
Their '7-series'... (DCD777)
Also picked up a 2-pack of 3 amp/HR batteries.
The drill I bought puts out 300 UNit Watts Out (UWO).
 The XR version shoves 360 UWO (http://www.dewalt.com/dewalt-dna/featured-articles/what-torque-really-means)
I'll be using a 7" Mora auger.
So, think it's enough oomph for Minnesota ice
Thanks in advance.