slow cutting kdrill

[ran7ger]

 so i tried my kdrill out for the first time on a 2704 m18 fuel and it seemed to take alot longer to get through than it did with my swede-bore, sure didn't bite into the ice the same.   it was nice and smooth and broke through smooth but i think i'll be back to the trusty swede-bore once there's +30".  anyone else feel the same?

[Deal Ninja]

The K-Drill’s best quality is its weight.  Beyond that, there are far better choices if you don’t mind carrying a few extra pounds.  I was as a huge proponent of the K-Drill until I actuallly used it.  Not so much now.   You sacrifice a lot for the light weight.

DN

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Was the drill set right? I've seen a K drill keep up with a nils. Suprised it cut slow.

[RyanW]

I’ve never really understood the k-drill. I don’t see why it has all that flighting if you have to constantly clear the hole with auger. Which is something I’ve never really seen advocated professionally until I saw the k-drill demonstrations. Every time I see someone clearing the ice chips with the k-drill then slamming the auger back into the ice I can hear those poor blades screaming for mercy. Even when I’m hand drilling through 24” of ice I’ve never cleared the hole of ice chips and have never experienced a problem doing so.

If weight reduction is your goal, just using a drill setup will accomplish that in spades pretty much regardless of auger bit. Having said all that, I’m looking forward to attaching my 8” Lazer to the M18 Fuel I got over the summer.

[ran7ger]

 i'm just a gear junky and wanted to try it.  pretty expensive experiment if it doesn't work out.  drill is set right, i've had a hand drill on a m18 fuel since the first one came out.  currently have a gen1 m18 fuel with a original clam plate and 8" swedebore and the 8" kdrill paired with the new m18 fuel.

  anyone try using shims to increase the attack angle?

[Ice Scratcher]

I've never seen a fast kdrill, I've seen them do better than average, but not fast in any way...

They seem to do a lot of tire spinning, which is how they're designed, to work in the rpm range of drills, without overloading them by allowing that slip...

An 8" Mora is lighter just under 4lbs, and actually 8"...

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[potatoe]

Do you have the drill in the correct gear, you probably do but that does change the cutting

[iceman10]

K-drill has chipper blades meant for opening  old holes which a mora can’t do , it’s also designed not to catch as you break through drilling the hole & punches though a clean hole( aka no sharp edges around the hole ). I have used the laser on my Milwaukee and you better have a tight gripe on your drill as it will catch on a break through . I for one love the weight & the free blade sharpening for life . Not trying to start a pee match just stating some facts as I have used mora & laser set ups . Nils blades were just too expensive & hard to find around here so I ruled it out , this will be the 3 year on the K-Dill

[eriksat1]

My 8” k-drill and m18 drills about 1” per second which is fine with me. How fast do you really need? When the ice is real thick my jiffy model 30 is faster but at 24 Lbs lighter I have no problem.

[wax_worm]

K-drill has chipper blades meant for opening  old holes which a mora can’t do , it’s also designed not to catch as you break through drilling the hole & punches though a clean hole( aka no sharp edges around the hole ). I have used the laser on my Milwaukee and you better have a tight gripe on your drill as it will catch on a break through . I for one love the weight & the free blade sharpening for life . Not trying to start a pee match just stating some facts as I have used mora & laser set ups . Nils blades were just too expensive & hard to find around here so I ruled it out , this will be the 3 year on the K-Dill

I hear this all the time about lazer's catching on the break thru.  I have 2 lazers one old, one newer(3 years old) and have put both on my Milwaukee and never have issues with anything catching on the break thru.  Not sure if people are putting too much or not enough downward pressure on the auger or what, but it is not an issue for me and never has been.  Maybe the difference is I always keep sharp blades on my Lazers.  I will change them a couple times a year if it is a good ice year.

[Drift Dodger]

I have a new 8" K-Drill on a DeWalt 996. It's fantastic for drilling new holes as well as re-opening holes, certainly much lighter and more convenient than any of my Jiffys. Like the Jiffys it cuts smoothly with no binding and reasonably fast on its own weight, but not super-fast. There is really no need to apply much extra down-force (except maybe racing against someone else) but that makes it very aggressive ... really digs in hard and cuts quicker, but you better be hanging on tight!

I've also used a 6" Mora with the DeWalt. It cuts smooth and fast, but definitely NOT for re-drilling holes! For simply drilling new holes all the time in clean ice then a Swede-Bore/Mora or other shaving blade may be a better option than the K-Drill.

By the way, the 8" K-Drill creates a 7 1/4" diameter hole. I didn't measure the diameter of the hole made by the 6" Mora.

[Ice Scratcher]

In this video, I think a gear box would help, Milwaukee drill seems to really be working...

Kdrill...

https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=349521.0

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[kondan]

If you're not putting a little pressure down on the kdrill, it will just spin. The kdrill shines in breaking old holes and being light, that's about it.

[ran7ger]

 thanks guys, more than anything i just wanted to be sure something wasn't out of whack with the blades.  i'll use the swedebore fishing other lakes and the kdrill for drilling out old holes in my permy which is mostly what i bought it for.  really like the light weight and it sure doesn't sting bare fingers like a metal auger!

[Mrpike1973]

The Kdrill is not as fast as some light yes love mine. Any strikemaster auger especially the lazer binds at the bottom of the hole twisted my wrists twice never again. I wish it was better for you. I think we all feel like if we cant get a hole one in 2 seconds we have a junkie auger. Remember the spoon augers I think we have come a long way.

[eriksat1]

Are you guys seriously saying that you think drilling one inch per second of ice is slow?

[DTro]

A sharp shaver blade will ALWAYS cut faster than a chipper blade.  The payback you get from losing the speed on the KDrill is being able to overcome sandy/dirty ice, opening old holes, overlapping holes, clean break through and free lifetime sharpening.  YMMV, but in my experience with shaver blades you will probably be getting new blades every 2-3 years and in some cases more often than that.  The cost will add up for sure, especially with a Nils. and don't forget if you ding up a shaver blade, youk might not be able to cut any holes no matter how hard you try, so you best have a backup.

I've actually seen better than 1" per second on my tests with the KDrill.  Last year I was doing 15" of ice in 11 seconds with DeWalt 996.  But again, a sharp shaver will be even faster than that.

[KinnickResident]

Are you guys seriously saying that you think drilling one inch per second of ice is slow?

That's ridiculously slow.

I hole hop a lot and it's nothing for me to drill 100 holes in a day. In 2 feet of ice that's 40 minutes of drilling per day at that speed.

A Strikemaster LazerMag drills a 24" hole in 6 seconds, and the 40V Lithium isn't much less than that. I haven't been on thick enough ice yet to time it but with the holes I drilled this past weekend I couldn't tell much of a difference in speed.

[Ice Scratcher]

A sharp shaver blade will ALWAYS cut faster than a chipper blade.  The payback you get from losing the speed on the KDrill is being able to overcome sandy/dirty ice, opening old holes, overlapping holes, clean break through and free lifetime sharpening.  YMMV, but in my experience with shaver blades you will probably be getting new blades every 2-3 years and in some cases more often than that.  The cost will add up for sure, especially with a Nils. and don't forget if you ding up a shaver blade, youk might not be able to cut any holes no matter how hard you try, so you best have a backup.

Chippers do cut dull better than shavers cut dull for sure..

Well put, except in thirty years, I've never bought auger blades or been stranded by any Mora.. I've always sharpened my blades...

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[6x6]

As stat d previously.  I get a little quicker that 1" per second with my kdrill.  For me, it's a no brainer.  Free lifetime sharpening, not as fragile as a shaver blade (relatively speaking), huge weight savings, and better performance opening old holes and overlapping holes.  To each their own I guess. 

[hnd]

if my kdrill is 2 seconds a hole slower, and i drill 50 holes a day, we are talking less than 2 minutes of time.

15 seconds vs 1 minute is one thing,

15 seconds vs 17 seconds is a whole nother. 

i've used jiffy's, eskimos, kdrill/milwaukee, strikemasters, hand drills of every kind.   as long as i'm not laboring to lean on and force it to cut, blades are fine, etc, most mechanical augers are within acceptable and usable parameters timewise.

[52isntbigenough]

Auger speed arguments = boat speed arguments. If you like what you're running and they perform to your expectations, does it really matter?

[sunniewally]

You got that right! they sky  won't fall if it takes a little longer. still beats the hell out of those spoon augers by hand, which we thought were a gift from heaven. Uncle had a swedish 4" one that was actually pretty sweet.  the 8" cheap ones, not so much!

[eriksat1]

Sounds like some guys spend more time drilling holes than fishing. I doubt that I have ever drilled 50 holes in one day. I would guess 20 - 25 holes a day would be a lot for me on average. I normally know where to fish, and spend most of my time catching fish. I have done some main lake basin exploring but I am usually not the only one drilling holes.

[adksmitty]

just tried my 8in kdrill connected to my clam conversion plate using the ridged brushless drill. It was about 20deg. out . And was about 8in of black ice. As I was drilling the drill would stop and felt like it was taking a long time to cut one hole . As I got to my 3rd hole my battery went dead . Wow . this was very disappointing. I switched to my back up battery , both are the better ones to 18volt. I was able to get 2 more holes again before the 2nd battery went dead to. I put the battery in my pocket and seemed to warm them up . and was able to punch out another 2 holes. But did not have this problem last year when I had it hook to my 6in finbore . That had no problems cutting holes and could cut many off one battery. 
Just thinking the kdrill is not worth the money .Keeps stopping many times while cutting . Whats up with this. Should I RETURN IT ?

[Papa Sly]

A sharp shaver blade will ALWAYS cut faster than a chipper blade.  The payback you get from losing the speed on the KDrill is being able to overcome sandy/dirty ice, opening old holes, overlapping holes, clean break through and free lifetime sharpening.  YMMV, but in my experience with shaver blades you will probably be getting new blades every 2-3 years and in some cases more often than that.  The cost will add up for sure, especially with a Nils. and don't forget if you ding up a shaver blade, youk might not be able to cut any holes no matter how hard you try, so you best have a backup.

I've actually seen better than 1" per second on my tests with the KDrill.  Last year I was doing 15" of ice in 11 seconds with DeWalt 996.  But again, a sharp shaver will be even faster than that.

I just watched that video and it sure wasn't a clean break through! That would drive me crazy alone...I'll stick with my Ion.

[DTro]

Which video?  Are you talking about my KDrill video? If so... Which hole didn't break clean?   It's like butter. 

[Ice Scratcher]

Which video?  Are you talking about my KDrill video? If so... Which hole didn't break clean?   It's like butter. 

Probably this one...

https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=349521.0

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[motocross269]

I have a 6 inch K drill and I love it....Can't comment on the 8 inch but for jumping around Perch and Panfish fishing I haven't used anything better than this setup....

[hnd]

Probably this one...

https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=349521.0

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thats user error right there.  that was horrible.