K-Drill, Clam Plate, something else?

[ItsmeitsmeitsJSG]

whats up guys, I'm finally stepping up and buying a real auger to replace my hand auger. Right now I'm thinking about a K-drill, Should I also get a clam plate? Or should I get something else. Im going smelting tomorrow so I dont have tons of time to do research for myself.

[MFallon]

I use an 8" kdrill with Milwalkee fuel and see no need for the clam plate. Works great.

[ItsmeitsmeitsJSG]

ment to post this on the general forum guys, sorry for the duplicate

[DU4LIFE]

I have a like new 8" strikemaster auger (solo engine) for sale. pm if interested . Starts easy, chews through the ice very fast. Only reason I'm selling is I purchased a 10" strikemaster . Located in Alton. 

[swnoel]

I have an 8"  K-Drill with a Milwaukee fuel drill and don't see any use for the clam plate. I also had the 4ah batteries and decided to buy a 9ah battery... go with the 9ah battery, it's night and day! If you don't already  have a drill capable of powering the drill , you might consider the Milwaukee Mud Mixer. It's built heavier than the drill and costs about the same. Just make sure you buy the 9ah battery! It's light and I no longer have a sore back from carrying my Jiffy at the end of the day!!

[SirCranksalot]

Do you think a Clam plate would be needed with a Ridgid drill with an aux handle?

[benny8]

For what it is worth, my brother and I bought the HT Mini Nero 6" auger. It came with a handle and a drill attachment. I already owned a Milwaukee Fuel 18v cordless drill. For 79 bucks, we headed out last Saturday for a test drive. I was very impressed. Less than 30 seconds to drill thru 2 feet of ice. We ended up drilling about 40 holes and used about a 1/4 battery(battery pack has a status button. 4 bars is full, we used one bar). Not sure if the battery will drop off quicker as it gets down, but thought that was pretty good thru 2' of ice. For the price, not to shabby. We shall see how it holds up as time goes on.

[swnoel]

Do you think a Clam plate would be needed with a Ridgid drill with an aux handle?

I would guess you'd be fine without the plate.

[dickbaker]

    benny,  where did you find two feet of ice?
Dick

[benny8]

  benny,  where did you find two feet of ice?
Dick

Small pond in the Lake Sunapee Region

[perch boy]

I have the K drill with the clam plate  and I like it. It will work alright with out it if you have the aux handle for your drill, however I found that the handle will at times loosen up and can be a pain in the butt. but that is just my opinion. The only thing I wish was that K drill made a little bigger size hole. They say it is an 8" hole but it is smaller than that.
PB

[SirCranksalot]

I have seen a post on here somewhere about an alternative to the Clam plate. I thought it was called Ice Buster but a search on that didn't find it.

[Flagrunner85]

I have seen a post on here somewhere about an alternative to the Clam plate. I thought it was called Ice Buster but a search on that didn't find it.

It’s an Ice Kicker. I believe the fellows name is Ron. He is out of PA. I think he makes either 2/3 different models. I have found his stuff for sale on eBay. I run with the ice kicker 2. It runs a 2:1 gear ratio so you are able to run a less powerful drill and still are able to run an 8” auger without worrying about burning out the motor.

[SirCranksalot]

Thx--I'll check it out

[jedhead]

X2 on the ice kicker, great set up!