Author Topic: Clam Power Drive Gear Box  (Read 7741 times)

Offline defiant1

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Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« on: Oct 06, 2020, 01:59 PM »
Does anyone have any insight on the new Clam Power Drive Gear Box?  Trying to determine if it would be beneficial to replace the gearbox on my Clam Drill Adapter plate.

https://shop.clamoutdoors.com/power-drive-gear-box.html

Offline Mancaveburnett

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #1 on: Oct 06, 2020, 02:10 PM »
I have the clam plate, personally I wouldnt see the need for it unless your drill was getting bogged down. My milwaukee has no problem. If your constantly drilling through really thick ice and drilling a ton of holes it may make your drill and batteries have a little longer lifespan. At this point ice fishing is gaining in popularity and the products are coming fast to keep that profit train coming lol.

Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #2 on: Oct 06, 2020, 02:38 PM »
If you plan on going a 10 inch auger then the Gear Box may be for you . Maybe if your drill is a little underpowered the Gear Box may be for you. The new 10" ION appears to be a composite design with shaver/Mora blades this may help if ION/Eskimo ever make the 10" auger drill unit in a pistol bit offering.  ServiceMaster dosent appear to be offering a 10" LiteFlight this season . But if you want to turn a 10" steel auger this would certainly help if it works as advertised .
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Offline defiant1

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #3 on: Oct 06, 2020, 03:45 PM »
I have the clam plate, personally I wouldnt see the need for it unless your drill was getting bogged down. My milwaukee has no problem. If your constantly drilling through really thick ice and drilling a ton of holes it may make your drill and batteries have a little longer lifespan. At this point ice fishing is gaining in popularity and the products are coming fast to keep that profit train coming lol.

My K-drill seems to make the Milwaukee drill (mounted on the Clam Plate) work harder than needed.  But, I might need a new drill, so that could be a possibility as well. 

Offline Monticatgeek

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #4 on: Oct 06, 2020, 06:33 PM »
Does anyone have any insight on the new Clam Power Drive Gear Box?  Trying to determine if it would be beneficial to replace the gearbox on my Clam Drill Adapter plate.

https://shop.clamoutdoors.com/power-drive-gear-box.html

If you have one of the first gear boxes that Clam put out then you may want to switch it out for the new one. the old gear boxes had issues and this new one is a way better design and is built a lot beefier then the original ones were. only down side to the new one is it will be slow so don't expect to win any drilling contests with it. what it does offer is a lot more torque so you have the ability to turn up to a 10 inch bit with it. personal I would only use it with a 8 inch bit but 10 will turn with it too. I will be replacing the original gear box I have with one of these new one and will pair it with  8 inch hand auger bit. only plan to use it if I chase northern and channel catfish otherwise I run a 6 inch on a plate with no gear box for everything else. updating your drill will help too. look at either a Dewalt 995/996 or one of the Millwaukee fuel drills with the 1200 inch pounds. these are the recommended drills for the plate.
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Offline Gunflint

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #5 on: Oct 06, 2020, 06:39 PM »
If you have one of the first gear boxes that Clam put out then you may want to switch it out for the new one. the old gear boxes had issues and this new one is a way better design and is built a lot beefier then the original ones were. only down side to the new one is it will be slow so don't expect to win any drilling contests with it. what it does offer is a lot more torque so you have the ability to turn up to a 10 inch bit with it. personal I would only use it with a 8 inch bit but 10 will turn with it too. I will be replacing the original gear box I have with one of these new one and will pair it with  8 inch hand auger bit. only plan to use it if I chase northern and channel catfish otherwise I run a 6 inch on a plate with no gear box for everything else. updating your drill will help too. look at either a Dewalt 995/996 or one of the Millwaukee fuel drills with the 1200 inch pounds. these are the recommended drills for the plate.

Very helpful and informative response.  Thank you!
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Offline Monticatgeek

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #6 on: Oct 06, 2020, 06:45 PM »
the new gear box is a 3.6 to 1 gear ration so it is slow turning but has good torque.
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Offline ran7ger

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #7 on: Oct 07, 2020, 02:03 PM »
My K-drill seems to make the Milwaukee drill (mounted on the Clam Plate) work harder than needed.  [/quote

 I agree 100%. Kdrill only gets used when I'm too lazy to move the permy and need to reopen old holes.  Mora is way easier on batteries.

Offline defiant1

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #8 on: Oct 07, 2020, 03:06 PM »
My K-drill seems to make the Milwaukee drill (mounted on the Clam Plate) work harder than needed. 
[/quote

 I agree 100%. Kdrill only gets used when I'm too lazy to move the permy and need to reopen old holes.  Mora is way easier on batteries.

Kdrill does great in wheel house for sure.  I ordered a PistolBit 8" for hole hopping.  Hopefully, that will do the trick, trying to determine if I am going to mount it to a Clam Plate or not.

Offline DTro

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #9 on: Oct 07, 2020, 03:47 PM »
I ran a steel 10" ION on a Ridgid Octane most of last year with no issues.  In fact it was actually really easy.  The composite offering this year will be cake.   No they won't be offering it in Pistol Bit, but a simple adapter fixes that.

Just sayin....

Offline ran7ger

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #10 on: Oct 07, 2020, 07:32 PM »
i never had issues before getting the plate but i wouldn't go without one now.  pretty much the only clam product i have and would recommend.

Offline IceAddict87

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #11 on: Oct 07, 2020, 07:43 PM »
If I still had my kdrill i would say its a must. I have always had a clam plate on my drill setup. The kdrill had tendency to catch at the bottom of the hole or even part way down. This was mostly fixed when i got a 9ah battery for it. Had to buy a new drill this year because my chuck was cracked and upon further inspection i found that the drill housing was cracked almost in two! Got a lite flite last year it cuts vey smooth and doesn’t catch on the bottom of the hole.I might end up getting this to try on my setup, maybe help make my new drill last more than a few years.

Offline mushroom_capd_1

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #12 on: Oct 10, 2020, 09:46 PM »
If you plan on going a 10 inch auger then the Gear Box may be for you . Maybe if your drill is a little underpowered the Gear Box may be for you. The new 10" ION appears to be a composite design with shaver/Mora blades this may help if ION/Eskimo ever make the 10" auger drill unit in a pistol bit offering.  ServiceMaster dosent appear to be offering a 10" LiteFlight this season . But if you want to turn a 10" steel auger this would certainly help if it works as advertised .
Great point! This is what is listed on Clam's site as far as specs for the gearbox...   
Planetary gearbox has 3.6:1 gear ratio
Bolts to all 2nd generation Clam Drill Plates (with 4 bolts)
Output shaft is 18MM, adapts to most hand augers
Input shaft works with all ˝” chucks
Weighs 1.5 pounds
Enables users to drill both 8 and 10” holes with a drill plate and most industrial cordless drills
...I'm I right in assuming an adapter of some sort would be needed as most ten inch auger bits would be a larger size then the output shaft?`

Offline Monticatgeek

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #13 on: Oct 11, 2020, 02:53 AM »
Great point! This is what is listed on Clam's site as far as specs for the gearbox...   
Planetary gearbox has 3.6:1 gear ratio
Bolts to all 2nd generation Clam Drill Plates (with 4 bolts)
Output shaft is 18MM, adapts to most hand augers
Input shaft works with all ˝” chucks
Weighs 1.5 pounds
Enables users to drill both 8 and 10” holes with a drill plate and most industrial cordless drills
...I'm I right in assuming an adapter of some sort would be needed as most ten inch auger bits would be a larger size then the output shaft?`

if you were to run a 8 or 10 inch auger from a gas auger you would need this adapter :

https://shop.clamoutdoors.com/k-drill-power-auger-adapter-for-conversion-kit.html
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Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #14 on: Oct 11, 2020, 07:32 AM »
For those with the older plate  ..it can work for you too..with a couple new holes and a spacer

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Offline glenwyo

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #15 on: Oct 13, 2020, 09:28 PM »
Kdrill does great in wheel house for sure.  I ordered a PistolBit 8" for hole hopping.  Hopefully, that will do the trick, trying to determine if I am going to mount it to a Clam Plate or not.
You shouldn't need the Clam plate for the Pistol bit. I used an 8 inch Pistol bit last season without a Clam plate and it cut very smooth. Never had it hang up once on break through while cutting a couple hundred holes.

Offline mushroom_capd_1

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #16 on: Oct 13, 2020, 11:42 PM »
If I still had my kdrill i would say its a must. I have always had a clam plate on my drill setup. The kdrill had tendency to catch at the bottom of the hole or even part way down. This was mostly fixed when i got a 9ah battery for it. Had to buy a new drill this year because my chuck was cracked and upon further inspection i found that the drill housing was cracked almost in two! Got a lite flite last year it cuts vey smooth and doesn’t catch on the bottom of the hole.I might end up getting this to try on my setup, maybe help make my new drill last more than a few years.
Same here. I just got a Pistol bit and I don't think I will set it up on the new gear box plate, but I have an old 8in. Lazer and 8.25 chipper bit I have thought about mounting on the plate for when the ice gets thicker here late in the season.

Offline Nick7543

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #17 on: Oct 15, 2020, 12:57 PM »
I need a little help to understand the point of the Clam gear box. Hear me out on this one.

I have 3 settings on my drill, I always drill on 1. Slowest speed, most torque. 450 rpm. If i add the gear box i will have more torque but way less rpm (125). I don't think this will be fast enough to drill holes.

If i set my drill to 2, my rpm will be 1300, but less torque. Adding the gear box will help increase the torque but slow the speed of the auger to 360 rpm.

My question is, are we accomplishing the same thing with extra steps by adding the Clam gear box?
 

Offline DR.SPECKLER

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #18 on: Oct 15, 2020, 01:17 PM »
I believe its for drillS with not enough torque to drill with 8 and 10” bits,plus its less work for any drill with the gear box.and its also for guys that want to use gas auger chipper bits.

Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #19 on: Oct 15, 2020, 01:22 PM »
For underpowered/under torqued drills and or bigger diameter auger and/or metal flighted augers ...basiclly saves on some wear and tear.
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Offline Arctic Addict

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #20 on: Oct 15, 2020, 07:37 PM »
The gear box is just a mechanical advantage which will improve torque.  This added torque is helpful for 8" or 10" bits and preserving battery life as the drill doesn't have to work as hard.  As far as 120 RPM not being enough to drill a hole, I beg to differ.  There are plenty of holes that have been drilled by hand at less than 120 RPM's.  A drill at 120 RPMs maybe slower than running higher RPMs but I wouldn't think it would be significant.
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Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #21 on: Jan 10, 2021, 08:17 AM »
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Offline straightShot

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #22 on: Jan 11, 2021, 06:35 AM »
It really slows it down, for sure, but it doesn't seem to add to much time to the whole process.  It's still faster than drilling by hand.

Offline bowski76

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #23 on: Jan 12, 2021, 07:29 AM »
I couldn't help myself and ordered one when I found it for $60 at Home Depot of all places.
Used it this weekend, it does really slow down the auger, but works just fine. Drilled about 25 holes with it and only lost 1 bar on my 5 amp Milwaukee battery. We only had 6 1/2" of ice so I'm not sure how much battery life the gear box saved.
I'll try it this season and see if it's worth it, I would think the box would be more helpful when there is a lot of ice.

Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #24 on: Jan 12, 2021, 07:33 AM »
Thinking ..bigger and/or heavy auger drill units .. ie:10 in steel ..maybe with a chipper blade ..under torqued drills may befit as well .
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Offline Gent83301

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Re: Clam Power Drive Gear Box
« Reply #25 on: Jan 27, 2021, 08:11 PM »
I picked up a clam plate with the power drive,  Plan on using it on either my mini nero 8" with an extension or on the pistol bit.   Should arrive tomorrow or Friday.  (just in time for hard-water saturday)

 



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