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IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: TNT5859 on Dec 20, 2018, 07:16 PM
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I am not sure if this has been discussed. I have just put together my clam plate with a Ridgid octane drill to a 7 in Mora. There seems to be a lot of wobble? Does anyone know why this would happen? Thanks guys!
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There are several areas on your set up to cause this..
First thing I'd do is check the shaft on the plate for run out..
Is it wobbly because the Mora (or any auger bit) is inevitably off balance, and your just holding it up in the air and running it?
<°)))>{
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Thank you for a quick reply!! I am not sure what you mean by "run out". Yes, it wobbles when I just run it in air.
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I have that set up but with Milwaukee. Yes theirs a wobble, that's normal. Use it, works great.
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My fuel/clam/mora has no wobble. On either the 6" or 8" augers.
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Could the fuel have the same torque at a lower RPM? I’ve got the octane setup and there’s a lot of wobble, to the point where it walks on the ice if you don’t put down pressure to start the hole. Once it bites the ice the wobbles gone n it cuts through the ice w ease.
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I am not sure if this has been discussed. I have just put together my clam plate with a Ridgid octane drill to a 7 in Mora. There seems to be a lot of wobble? Does anyone know why this would happen? Thanks guys!
Most likely your auger is bent. I have 4 hand augers and 2 of them wobble like crazy on the clam plate and two are smooth as can be.
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They are not perfectly balanced, they will wobble a little bit, normal, use it. Does not scoot or anything. Have yet to see one that does not have a little “play”
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What's wobbling? The auger?
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I think you'll find that the problem is the marriage of the Ridgid Octane and the Clam plate. The drill just doesn't align with the plate like the Milwaukee Fuel does. I have both drills
and have used both boring holes with a 7" Nero. In fact the problem goes well beyond wobble and actually creates more of a "stirring" motion. That effect is greatly reduced using
the Milwaukee which gives a truer alignment. I took the drill off the Clam yesterday and screwed it directly to the Nero with a Kovac adaptor, and with the drill's auxiliary handle was
able to drill straight and true (and fast). It ain't the auger that's the issue, it's the plate tied to that particular drill. Anybody need a Clam plate?
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I posted last year about the wobble in my plate, seems like a lot of others had the same thing. This year I change augers from the mora to the k-drill, big difference. No wobble at all detected drilling, I dont think I would even need the plate with the k-drill. Big difference when you break through the end of the hole too, alot smooother.
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I think you'll find that the problem is the marriage of the Ridgid Octane and the Clam plate. The drill just doesn't align with the plate like the Milwaukee Fuel does. I have both drills
and have used both boring holes with a 7" Nero. In fact the problem goes well beyond wobble and actually creates more of a "stirring" motion. That effect is greatly reduced using
the Milwaukee which gives a truer alignment. I took the drill off the Clam yesterday and screwed it directly to the Nero with a Kovac adaptor, and with the drill's auxiliary handle was
able to drill straight and true (and fast). It ain't the auger that's the issue, it's the plate tied to that particular drill. Anybody need a Clam plate?
I think you are dead on with this. I have only used mine 3 times now and my Ridgid drills way better without the clam plate. I am taking mine off today as well. Anyone need another clam plate?
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I think you are dead on with this. I have only used mine 3 times now and my Ridgid drills way better without the clam plate. I am taking mine off today as well. Anyone need another clam plate?
oh great.ive got a ridgid on clam plate with extension.i didn't want to break the handle off the drill running a 8' but I will if I have to.my setup doesn't wobble much in the air but I haven't had any ice to cut either.theres a lot of play in the clam plate bearing and chuck area.not tight tolerances.but the setup probably needs some slop here and there or stuff will break or shear.
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oh great.ive got a ridgid on clam plate with extension.i didn't want to break the handle off the drill running a 8' but I will if I have to.my setup doesn't wobble much in the air but I haven't had any ice to cut either.theres a lot of play in the clam plate bearing and chuck area.not tight tolerances.but the setup probably needs some slop here and there or stuff will break or shear.
If it doesn’t wobble like crazy you’ll be all set then. The little bit of wobble happens with my lazer and fuel drill too, my plate is a gen2 though and the chuck had to be taken off the drill.
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mine also has about one inch of wobble with only a clam extension on it. every thing is tight. probably will not be using it. i think i can still get my money back.
done. dicks sports has a 60 day return policy. they emailed a shipping label to ship it back free of charge.
there have been several users ditching this plate because of the auger not being able to stay plumb on ice and making one blade work harder than the other.
you might want to do the same doc.
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mine also has about one inch of wobble with only a clam extension on it. every thing is tight. probably will not be using it. i think i can still get my money back.
returning extension or plate?lol
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plate only.
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mine also has about one inch of wobble with only a clam extension on it. every thing is tight. probably will not be using it. i think i can still get my money back.
done. dicks sports has a 60 day return policy. they emailed a shipping label to ship it back free of charge.
there have been several users ditching this plate because of the auger not being able to stay plumb on ice and making one blade work harder than the other.
you might want to do the same doc.
what auger are you using? I'm concerned using a Mora, or really any shaver style blades, without the plate due to the blades grabbing at the bottom of the hole. Last year someone posted a seriously injured thumb, wrist and shoulder because their auger grabbed the ice and that 1200/1300lbs of torque broke the handle (believe they are mostly plastic on the fuel. the ridgid's seems quite strong) and then left one of his arms useless. I think I'd only go without the clam plate with a nils or K-drill. I typically have some less experienced fisherman that come out so I don't want anyone getting hurt. I don't think the wobble would matter as much if you are using an auger with some type of centering point.
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mine also has about one inch of wobble with only a clam extension on it. every thing is tight. probably will not be using it. i think i can still get my money back.
done. dicks sports has a 60 day return policy. they emailed a shipping label to ship it back free of charge.
there have been several users ditching this plate because of the auger not being able to stay plumb on ice and making one blade work harder than the other.
you might want to do the same doc.
im going to stick with it and see how it cuts.mines not too wobbly with or without the extension.i pretty much have to run the plate now with a 8” mora because i either ripped a tendon or sprained my wrist.i timed a hookset while the boat just started moving right into a log and my wrist buckled.
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If your drill is properly mounted in the plate, there's nothing to cause a wobble other than the actual shaft. I can't see how that could be bent, its lathed and then hardened... If your drill doesn't wobble with the auger, then it wobbles when you put it on the clam plate, I would say it was incorrectly mounted... but that's just my opinion. I have yet to see a clam plate that wobbled that wasn't a slightly bent auger. including my own! Like i said, I have two augers that wobble (a more and a lazer) and two that are smooth as butter (mora and lazer). Strangely (not really) the two that wobble are ones I have previously used the drill adapter on without a clam plate, my guess is that the torque and not holding the drill completely straight through the whole hole drilling bent the shaft just a tiny amount. Clam plate should keep that from happening.
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it has that much wobble with just clams extension on the plate. i haven't bothered including an auger because theirs no ice. i could, but i really don't like the plate because of the weight of it and needing to make have a decent trigger pull and now all the people who have them are ditching them and some are just not bothering with it and cutting 8" holes.
the milwaukee issue was their aux. handle was breaking their gear case on the tab on the same side as the handle is on. they since have redesigned it. those using their last years and prior design should use/keep using the plate of some kind.
i bought the plate because i was worried about it breaking at the same location with the ridgid octane, but because ridgid, milwaukee and ryobi have the same parent company they know not to put out out inferior products that can hurt some one due to poor quality. that's why they redesigned the fuel for this year and forward and clearing the poorly designed fuel.
after seeing folks running it with out and folks running it with and having issues, i know it's not for me to use on the octane drill. i have no ice to check it out any further.
my kovac icemaster 2 adapter has slop in it, but that's not the same thing we are talking about here. even tho the slop remains, it does not affect the cut like these wobbling plates have been.
the wobble in the plate is a fixed wobble that will not be removed by putting it on some thing. i already tested it putting the extension tip between my shoes and it made the entire plate move up and down from side to side at least one inch.
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mine also has about one inch of wobble with only a clam extension on it. every thing is tight. probably will not be using it. i think i can still get my money back.
done. dicks sports has a 60 day return policy. they emailed a shipping label to ship it back free of charge.
there have been several users ditching this plate because of the auger not being able to stay plumb on ice and making one blade work harder than the other.
you might want to do the same doc.
I took the auger off mine and just left the Clam Extension on it. Ran the drill and saw over an inch wobble in mine. I tried ajusting the the drill to the plate many different ways including where the light stayed on and still it has that much wobble. The Ridgid drills are just not made to work with that Plate. I was happy without the plate and will be again.
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I don't get how so many people have wobble issues....doesn't the plate have bearings in it to prevent runout? Wish I could see one in person to find out what's going on...sounds like a stacking of tolerances is to blame with adapters and shafts...
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I don't get how so many people have wobble issues....doesn't the plate have bearings in it to prevent runout? Wish I could see one in person to find out what's going on...sounds like a stacking of tolerances is to blame with adapters and shafts...
The shaft going through the bearings has a lot of slop. I can wiggle the shaft on my Clam plate with out anything on it and get almost 1/4" slop.
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The shaft going through the bearings has a lot of slop. I can wiggle the shaft on my Clam plate with out anything on it and get almost 1/4" slop.
I emailed Clam a few days ago, regarding the "slop". This is the response I was given
"There will be a little play in the conversion kit seen where the shaft runs through the bearing block, but this is nothing to be concerned with. When drilling holes through the ice it will perform just fine! Thanks and have a nice weekend!"
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I emailed Clam a few days ago, regarding the "slop". This is the response I was given
"There will be a little play in the conversion kit seen where the shaft runs through the bearing block, but this is nothing to be concerned with. When drilling holes through the ice it will perform just fine! Thanks and have a nice weekend!"
. FWIW, on mine there is virtually no play at all. Had the opportunity to put a Milwaukee fuel and a ridgid octane drill on it and with both of them the short quicktatch extension ran true. So maybe different production runs of the plate have different play?
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It will work just fine! These are not precision parts nor do they need to be. unless your auger/shaft is actually bent, once you get the thing started on the ice that wobble isn’t even felt. Just make sure you get started slow until you know how your auger bites into the ice.
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Anyone with wobble issues might try switching around their extension 180 degrees, and their bit, you might find a magic combination. With an extension, there's actually six different ways you can put it together. One of those ways is probably going to be better than others..
<°)))>{
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It will work just fine! These are not precision parts nor do they need to be unless your auger/shaft is actually bent, once you get the thing started on the ice that wobble isn’t even felt. Just make sure you get started slow until you know how your auger bites into the ice.
I had mine out 2 times and the wobble turns into a dangerous thing. My auger would never go threw straight. I would have to say they is some Clam Plates that are a lot worst then others. Mine is one of the worst. Those bearings are the worst I have even seen. If it was on a car like that you would be on the side of the road cursing.
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Anyone with wobble issues might try switching around their extension 180 degrees, and their bit, you might find a magic combination. With an extension, there's actually six different ways you can put it together. One of those ways is probably going to be better than others..
<°)))>{
I worked on mine yesterday trying all kinds of different ways. No go.
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I have not got to use my ridgid octane and clam plate yet but i think the tad bit of wobble is less dangerous than running my 8” mora with just the drill and handle if it binds up.and it will bind up..it does hand drilling.now running my 5” i wouldnt use the plate.
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Sounds like they have way too open of tolerances, and I can see how that can be an issue on augers that don't self-center that well. I plan on getting a plate myself when my Ridgid drill comes in. If extensions or connections are too loose, I'll just make my own. I plan on using my Ion auger so we will see.
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r these problems you all are having with the newer octane ridgid drill. i have a ridgid from a few years ago the 780in/pounds and have it paired on the plate with an extension and have run it a few years and no problem. was going to pull the trigger on the new drill and up to an 8" but decided my 7" lazer hand auger hole was enough. think i might just get the 9.0 batteries and be done with it.
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r these problems you all are having with the newer octane ridgid drill. i have a ridgid from a few years ago the 780in/pounds and have it paired on the plate with an extension and have run it a few years and no problem. was going to pull the trigger on the new drill and up to an 8" but decided my 7" lazer hand auger hole was enough. think i might just get the 9.0 batteries and be done with it.
The Octane and the 700 "# both have the problem.
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Wobble acceptable? Not for this cat... @)
That would make be crazy.
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r these problems you all are having with the newer octane ridgid drill. i have a ridgid from a few years ago the 780in/pounds and have it paired on the plate with an extension and have run it a few years and no problem. was going to pull the trigger on the new drill and up to an 8" but decided my 7" lazer hand auger hole was enough. think i might just get the 9.0 batteries and be done with it.
im thinking its the clam plate that introduces the wobble.my octane 1300/clam plate with 8" mora doesn't wobble bad at all.but I have yet to cut a hole with it .
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The shaft in my clam plate is nice and tight without a drill or auger. You guys have the bushings in it right? My plate is new, bought on black friday.
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The shaft in my clam plate is nice and tight without a drill or auger. You guys have the bushings in it right? My plate is new, bought on black friday.
Only see one way the bearings go in. And they were already put in when I got it. Even with out the shaft I can wiggle the bearings around.
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Only see one way the bearings go in. And they were already put in when I got it. Even with out the shaft I can wiggle the bearings around.
anyway to get your bearing out, maybe put a shim in the bearing holder or race to try to tighten it? Can you tell if your inner bearing is turning around where the shaft is or the whole bearing turning inside its holder?
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Can someone explain why people think its the drill and not the plate? The drill spins...the plate should also spin, but not have play or wobble. The only way the drill would cause the wobble is if the drill itself has slop when spinning....which I find extremely hard to believe.
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Someone needs to post a video showing the wobble and all connections.
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Can someone explain why people think its the drill and not the plate? The drill spins...the plate should also spin, but not have play or wobble. The only way the drill would cause the wobble is if the drill itself has slop when spinning....which I find extremely hard to believe.
Matt:
EXACTLY. Your's is the first response that sees the real problem.
The original ClamPlate had a 1" BallBearing in a enclosed housing along with an adapter with a real good tight fit with the bearing. The originals had a 1/2-20 (then 9/16-18) input thread with a 18mm output. NOT 1 COMPLAINT FROM USERS.
The latest ClamPlate has a 17mm (.669 diameter) bearing in a housing. The thru-shaft and housing look and feel like Ray or Stevie machined them.
36" down the shaft there's about 2.00 inches of wobble. CLAM-PLATE BE DAMNED.
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Matt:
EXACTLY. Your's is the first response that sees the real problem.
The original ClamPlate had a 1" BallBearing in a enclosed housing along with an adapter with a real good tight fit with the bearing. The originals had a 1/2-20 (then 9/16-18) input thread with a 18mm output. NOT 1 COMPLAINT FROM USERS.
The latest ClamPlate has a 17mm (.669 diameter) bearing in a housing. The thru-shaft and housing look and feel like Ray or Stevie machined them.
36" down the shaft there's about 2.00 inches of wobble. CLAM-PLATE BE DAMNED.
Thanks for the info on the size bearing they downsized to. Sounds just about like anything else made these days. If it sells good lets cheap out on it and see what happens. I am contacting Dicks after the holiday and get it sent back.
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not sure why some think the drill is causing wobble. if you remove the drill you can see the wobble or side to side motion the shaft has as you spin it slowly. if you put in a drill bit and your drill is wobbling the bit, then you need to return your drill.
as i already said mine has a wobble, it's not sloppy. it acts like a bent shaft. the drill has nothing to do with the plate shaft wobble. i can see it wobble with out the drill and spinning it with my hands.
when you add the clam's 18 inch extension it amplifies the wobble big time because the extension fits tight.
if it were sloppy/loose like the icemaster 2 then it wouldn't be a problem, the sloppiness/looseness would allow the wobble to be contained there instead of transfer it to the end of the extension.
i can see it looks bent or turned so it has a bend in it. if it is straight, then the bearing has issues like bad race(s). when you add the clam's 18 inch extension it amplifies the wobble big time because the extension fits tight. if it were sloppy/loose like the icemaster 2 then it wouldn't be a problem, the sloppiness/looseness would allow the wobble to be contained there instead of transfer it to the end of the extension.
specs in inches
bearing is not a sealed bearing and number the is 6303Z
outside bearing :1.785
inside bearing : .069
shaft diameter to auger : .664
shaft length : 6
(https://i.postimg.cc/9RL8Xqq3/screenshot-111.png) (http://postimg.cc/9RL8Xqq3) (https://i.postimg.cc/rdQC52yx/screenshot-112.png) (http://postimg.cc/rdQC52yx) (https://i.postimg.cc/JGX2W0Kn/screenshot-113.png) (http://postimg.cc/JGX2W0Kn) (https://i.postimg.cc/F7bVZLDj/screenshot-114.png) (http://postimg.cc/F7bVZLDj)
http://www.skf-bearing.cc/KOYO-bearings/KOYO_6303Z_27042.html
http://www.skf-bearing.cc/NSK-bearings/NSK_6303Z_17309.html
i have videos too. never uploaded them before.
ido has a thread how the plate is not to be used with any thing over a 6 inch hand auger. it's called headaches with clam plate. i bought mine for an 8 inch lazer. the 6 inch lazers don't need a plate at all.
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3300 described my plate pretty good.no slop but drill/auger attachment seems bent.
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while holding the bearing housing in one hand and spinning the shaft with the other hand, the bearing feels very rough. i noticed they didn't bother to grease them. they wiped clear lube over both sides of the bearing.
the shaft has a rough surface like it's pitted, more so where the inner race rides.
i do have wobble with only the shaft in the drill and when i add the clam 18 inch extension it has over an inch of wobble. i intended on using the extension full time because it is 4 position adjustable length.
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If you don't have a real tight fit between the output of the clam plate and either the extension or your auger you will get wobble. Because as you tighten up the screw it will pull the id tight to one side, giving wobble. (Watch what happens when you loosely tighten it versus really cranking down). I eliminated almost all the wobble on my clam extension by putting a single wrap of scotch tape over the male part coming out of the clam plate and then assembling. Makes all the difference in the world. As someone pointed out, the tolerances aren't very good with the mating diameters on the various parts.
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while holding the bearing housing in one hand and spinning the shaft with the other hand, the bearing feels very rough. i noticed they didn't bother to grease them. they wiped clear lube over both sides of the bearing.
I realize one should NOT have to replace brand new parts, however this bearing can be replaced with a sealed, pre-lubed, ball bearing for about 6 bucks on line.
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yep thanks. i have done that with mower front wheels and bikes. using detroit bearing company in kalamazoo. seems like it should use a thrust bearing.
clam extension to clam plate shaft i.d. : .728
after two rows of tape on clam plate shaft o.d. : .716
the scotch tape trick helped a lot on the extension wobble. i had to use two layers. thanks for that tip! wrapped it so the tape was about 1/2 up from the top of the extension and went two rows down and around. it might take three layers.
it may be usable now.
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yep thanks. i have done that with mower front wheels and bikes. using detroit bearing company in kalamazoo. seems like it should use a thrust bearing.
clam extension to clam plate shaft i.d. : .728
after two rows of tape on clam plate shaft o.d. : .716
the scotch tape trick helped a lot on the extension wobble. i had to use two layers. thanks for that tip! wrapped it so the tape was about 1/2 up from the top of the extension and went two rows down and around. it might take three layers.
it may be usable now.
Go as tight as you can. You wouldn't believe what .005 runout looks like over 36 or 48"!
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I think its the Rigid drill/chuck.... I have never had problems like this with the Milwaukee drills. I would be curious to see a video of these "wobble issues" I usually get a slight wobble usually in the Mora auger that is not detectable when drilling ice. When assembling the plate, after the adapter, C clip and spacer are installed through the plate, I always engage the Clam adapter completely into the drill chuck and tighten, the drill stays on the plate for the entire assembly from this point, then I loosely bolt on the vertical bracket, then the U-bolt snug, and then snug the bracket down and check to make sure im not binding anywhere and tighten all bolts by hand. In my assembly process the drill is the 2nd thing that gets installed. I feel like this is the best way to ensure proper alignment to the drill spindle/chuck...
I'm not even sure how the directions say to do it... I have not read them since the gen 1 plate that required drill chuck removal. I also swap out some metal washers in the linkage for composite fiber type washers, it helps to tighten up the whole assembly and it doesn't seem to freeze up as bad. I have been building augers on the plates since they first became available, probably assembled 30-40, I assembled 5 more this year with 0 issues.
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I was just about to ask if anyone had problems with another brand of drill ? dewalt or milwaukee or makita ?
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I think its the Rigid drill/chuck.... I have never had problems like this with the Milwaukee drills. I would be curious to see a video of these "wobble issues" I usually get a slight wobble usually in the Mora auger that is not detectable when drilling ice. When assembling the plate, after the adapter, C clip and spacer are installed through the plate, I always engage the Clam adapter completely into the drill chuck and tighten, the drill stays on the plate for the entire assembly from this point, then I loosely bolt on the vertical bracket, then the U-bolt snug, and then snug the bracket down and check to make sure im not binding anywhere and tighten all bolts by hand. In my assembly process the drill is the 2nd thing that gets installed. I feel like this is the best way to ensure proper alignment to the drill spindle/chuck...
Yep, pretty much , just like the directions. The stub shaft goes thru the bearing as the primary locator. The drill chuck is tightened to the stub shaft to locate the drill. The vertical plate, u-bolt and mounting bolts are all located and tightened in such a manner as to not move the drill chuck out of alignment with the stub shaft. Any binding or misalignment is boing to cause issues.
I suspect with some brands/or models of drills. It may be impossible to prevent binding or misalignment due to design constraints. For example the vertical plate may not mate up to any area on the drill handle that will allow the u-bolt to be tightened, without torqueing the drill body out of vertical alignment. One may have to get creative and cut/fit some custom shims to allow every thing to be tightened properly.
If one wanted to get real fancy, the drill handle could be "bedded" to the vertical plate forming a custom pocket for the drill handle.
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I think its the Rigid drill/chuck.... I have never had problems like this with the Milwaukee drills. I would be curious to see a video of these "wobble issues" I usually get a slight wobble usually in the Mora auger that is not detectable when drilling ice. When assembling the plate, after the adapter, C clip and spacer are installed through the plate, I always engage the Clam adapter completely into the drill chuck and tighten, the drill stays on the plate for the entire assembly from this point, then I loosely bolt on the vertical bracket, then the U-bolt snug, and then snug the bracket down and check to make sure im not binding anywhere and tighten all bolts by hand. In my assembly process the drill is the 2nd thing that gets installed. I feel like this is the best way to ensure proper alignment to the drill spindle/chuck...
I'm not even sure how the directions say to do it... I have not read them since the gen 1 plate that required drill chuck removal. I also swap out some metal washers in the linkage for composite fiber type washers, it helps to tighten up the whole assembly and it doesn't seem to freeze up as bad. I have been building augers on the plates since they first became available, probably assembled 30-40, I assembled 5 more this year with 0 issues.
not sure why some think the drill is causing wobble. if you remove the drill you can see the wobble or side to side motion the shaft has as you spin it slowly. if you put in a drill bit and your drill is wobbling the bit, then you need to return your drill.
as i already said mine has a wobble, it's not sloppy. it acts like a bent shaft. the drill has nothing to do with the plate shaft wobble. i can see it wobble with out the drill and spinning it with my hands.
when you add the clam's 18 inch extension it amplifies the wobble big time because the extension fits tight.
if it were sloppy/loose like the icemaster 2 then it wouldn't be a problem, the sloppiness/looseness would allow the wobble to be contained there instead of transfer it to the end of the extension.
i can see it looks bent or turned so it has a bend in it. if it is straight, then the bearing has issues like bad race(s). when you add the clam's 18 inch extension it amplifies the wobble big time because the extension fits tight. if it were sloppy/loose like the icemaster 2 then it wouldn't be a problem, the sloppiness/looseness would allow the wobble to be contained there instead of transfer it to the end of the extension.
specs in inches
bearing is not a sealed bearing and number the is 6303Z
outside bearing :1.785
inside bearing : .069
shaft diameter to auger : .664
shaft length : 6
(https://i.postimg.cc/9RL8Xqq3/screenshot-111.png) (http://postimg.cc/9RL8Xqq3) (https://i.postimg.cc/rdQC52yx/screenshot-112.png) (http://postimg.cc/rdQC52yx) (https://i.postimg.cc/JGX2W0Kn/screenshot-113.png) (http://postimg.cc/JGX2W0Kn) (https://i.postimg.cc/F7bVZLDj/screenshot-114.png) (http://postimg.cc/F7bVZLDj)
http://www.skf-bearing.cc/KOYO-bearings/KOYO_6303Z_27042.html
http://www.skf-bearing.cc/NSK-bearings/NSK_6303Z_17309.html
i have videos too. never uploaded them before.
ido has a thread how the plate is not to be used with any thing over a 6 inch hand auger. it's called headaches with clam plate. i bought mine for an 8 inch lazer. the 6 inch lazers don't need a plate at all.
I think you are dead on with this. I have only used mine 3 times now and my Ridgid drills way better without the clam plate. I am taking mine off today as well. Anyone need another clam plate?
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I just bought the plate for my K drill... it does have a slight wobble but nothing out of the ordinary. While some of you look for the perfect ice drill... I'll go fishing. :-)
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I just bought the plate for my K drill... it does have a slight wobble but nothing out of the ordinary. While some of you look for the perfect ice drill... I'll go fishing. :-)
Has nothing to do with what auger you are using. Has nothing to do with what drill you are using. It is some bad clam plates that is the problem.
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I just bought the plate for my K drill... it does have a slight wobble but nothing out of the ordinary. While some of you look for the perfect ice drill... I'll go fishing. :-)
. Not like a car tire that needs balanced, like u said just go fishing !! Wish I could, might head north !!
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Has nothing to do with what auger you are using. Has nothing to do with what drill you are using. It is some bad clam plates that is the problem.
Exactly.
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Has nothing to do with what auger you are using. Has nothing to do with what drill you are using. It is some bad clam plates that is the problem.
Thats strange. Like i said several times already, my NEW plate wobbles (shakes/vibrates) with two of my hand augers and the other two are absolutely 100% smooth as butter. The two smooth ones have never been used with a drill, the two wobblers i used on the drill before the plate.
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My plate/drill is new and so is the 8” mora auger.wobbles a little bit.going to run it.sounds like a double edge sword situation.run plate with some wobble or strip or break the handle of the drill.lol
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Thats strange. Like i said several times already, my NEW plate wobbles (shakes/vibrates) with two of my hand augers and the other two are absolutely 100% smooth as butter. The two smooth ones have never been used with a drill, the two wobblers i used on the drill before the plate.
So are they all being used with the same Plate and extension? Which 2 Wobble and which 2 do not?
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Thats strange. Like i said several times already, my NEW plate wobbles (shakes/vibrates) with two of my hand augers and the other two are absolutely 100% smooth as butter. The two smooth ones have never been used with a drill, the two wobblers i used on the drill before the plate.
Clearly this is an ID/OD variation between augers. I had to make an attachment for a mora to use on my Ion. If the diameters of all the augers are the same, then its the adapters used.
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Guess I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m not getting this wobble with my ridgid octane, strike master extension, and 8” mora. Everything is tight.
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So are they all being used with the same Plate and extension? Which 2 Wobble and which 2 do not?
Id have to double check to be sure but ai think mora 5" and mora 7" wobble. Lazer 6" and mora 8" are smooth. I know for a fact the mora 5" wobbles because i thought there was something wrong with my plate when i assembled it, figured id try the 6 and see if it makes a difference and its night and day. With and without clam adapter.
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Aluminum Tape for duct work. Tough stuff...that can help tolerance issues. I am considering having a new shaft machi ed. Mine clearly isn't true. I sent clam video...agreed it had wobble but wasnt excessive enough and "it isn't a precision piece of gear". In the video it was only the plate running with no auger andnit was clearly visible. I also am running a 6" nils convertible (orange) auger. Nils replace the auger shaft...bent from the factory. So now I am down to tolerance stacking between clam plate, auger adapter and auger, hence the aluminun tape. I paid 64 bucks for the clam plate and will be highly cautious or avoid clam products...Not worth it. For the record my Dad has an older clam plate and runs a 4 and a 6 inch laser super smooth...Probably Just going to run my Nils off the drill...almost Zero wobble that way.
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Still waiting for a wobble video!
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Still waiting for a wobble video!
I would give you one but I took the drill off the plate and will not use it again that way. So no I wont waste my time putting it back on when I know I wont use it.
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I would give you one but I took the drill off the plate and will not use it again that way. So no I wont waste my time putting it back on when I know I wont use it.
Send it to me, I'll make a video once my Ridgid comes in.
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Sure $60 Plus Shipping. Just Pm me your address.
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Sure $60 Plus Shipping. Just Pm me your address.
I swear I just saw them going for $50 just days ago and now they're $67..I'll give you 40 for yours, since it's clearly defective. @)
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I swear I just saw them going for $50 just days ago and now they're $67..I'll give you 40 for yours, since it's clearly defective. @)
I'll bid $25 including shipping.
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I'll bid $25 including shipping.
You can't bid 25 if I started at 40!
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You can't bid 25 if I started at 40!
Sure I can,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I just did. ;D
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The Milwaukee/Mora/Clamplate has been a home run for myself and dozens of other guys I have personally assembled them for. I still say its the Rigid drill/chuck.... something is binding. I haven't found one Clam plate yet thats the wobble culprit on any of the Milwaukee's/Mora/Clamplate augers I have built. There is always a learning curve when something new comes along. There is NO WAY I would ever run a 1000+ in/lb drill on a shaver type auger without a plate. History repeats itself and heres one to ponder.... Some of the early gas augers only had 1 side handle to hold on to it with, you won't find ANY modern gassers that dont have 2 sturdy points to hang on to and steady yourself and the auger while drilling, why do you suppose that is??? Its not about how tough, macho or "I know how to run a cordless drill" you are..... these new brushless drills ARE NOT TOYS. For those that are too smart not to respect a power tool there will be a number of wrenched/broken wrists, elbows and shoulders etc etc etc.... Let the learning curve begin.....
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The Milwaukee/Mora/Clamplate has been a home run for myself and dozens of other guys I have personally assembled them for. I still say its the Rigid drill/chuck.... something is binding. I haven't found one Clam plate yet thats the wobble culprit on any of the Milwaukee's/Mora/Clamplate augers I have built. There is always a learning curve when something new comes along. There is NO WAY I would ever run a 1000+ in/lb drill on a shaver type auger without a plate. History repeats itself and heres one to ponder.... Some of the early gas augers only had 1 side handle to hold on to it with, you won't find ANY modern gassers that dont have 2 sturdy points to hang on to and steady yourself and the auger while drilling, why do you suppose that is??? Its not about how tough, macho or "I know how to run a cordless drill" you are..... these new brushless drills ARE NOT TOYS. For those that are too smart not to respect a power tool there will be a number of wrenched/broken wrists, elbows and shoulders etc etc etc.... Let the learning curve begin.....
right on ill run a wobbly ridgid/clam plate before i tweak myself running a 8” mora that binds when hand drilling let alone running just the drill and handle.ive got a 1 armed bandit jiffy so i know sheet can happen.
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I swear I just saw them going for $50 just days ago and now they're $67..I'll give you 40 for yours, since it's clearly defective. @)
Since I have 2 bids. Which half of the plate do you want?
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right on ill run a wobbly ridgid/clam plate before i tweak myself running a 8” mora that binds when hand drilling let alone running just the drill and handle.ive got a 1 armed bandit jiffy so i know sheet can happen.
Right on! The old eskimos werent much safer! Pop that Rigid into high gear and you can have one too
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There may be an issue with the current stock of plates, or your just being too picky. People have been talking about some level of wobble since the plates came out, but they work fine.
Sure, you can use your auger without the plate, its just more ergonomic/safer with it. Just make sure to be very careful with it, as there is certainly a learning curve. don’t let others “just give it a try” without seeing how it’s done and with detailed instructions, especially if your auger can catch on breakthrough.
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Upon review of my clam plate and rigid drill combo I have come to a conclusion. My inspection found the bearing on the plate to have a little play in it. The shaft is fairly tight and tolerable of play. My conclusion is that it is just the bearing play. Maybe it's a cheaper bearing I do not know. Maybe you can buy a higher grade bearing, I am not. If it wears out I have a place local that will be able to find some thing better but until then it's going drill as is for me. That's just my take on this. Others may have a different issue but that is mine on my plate
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Even if the shaft was slightly loose in the bearing, that wouldnt CAUSE a wobble.. it would ALLOW a wobble. Something else has to be causing it... bent auger, drill not mounted straight, drilling at an angle, something has to make that shaft WANT to wobble for it to be ABLE to wobble. Does that make sense??? Unless the shaft in the clam plate is bent as well as having some bearing play, which I dont see how could be the case when they are lathe produced and hardened steel.
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Anyone that has a wobbler, can you do something when you get a chance.. can you unhook your drill support while leaving the shaft chucked in the drill. Then carefully squeeze the trigger making sure to not nut shot yourself. See if it still wobbles. If it still wobbles can you take the shaft out of the plate (with the C clip on top) and chuck it back in the drill and try again. I'm suspecting that as soon as you unhook the drill from supports the wobble will be gone. If it wobbles every time its either the clam shaft or the auger.
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Even if the shaft was slightly loose in the bearing, that wouldnt CAUSE a wobble.. it would ALLOW a wobble. Something else has to be causing it... bent auger, drill not mounted straight, drilling at an angle, something has to make that shaft WANT to wobble for it to be ABLE to wobble. Does that make sense??? Unless the shaft in the clam plate is bent as well as having some bearing play, which I dont see how could be the case when they are lathe produced and hardened steel.
That is all correct^
I think most of these wobbles are not wobbles, just wobbly wrists and arms..
When you spin an unbalanced bit that weighs pounds, it's going to shake the entire rig including the person running it. Nobody is strong enough to stop this action, because it's happening at the end of a four foot lever..
Also it seems to be coming from slop in the joints. Being exaggerated by inadvertantly jamming every next piece to the same side.
In other words..
Most of these rigs folks are complaining about, are wobbling as much as any washing machine in spin cycle with an unbalanced load..
<°)))>{
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Im over the wobble debate..im running it as soon as i can.i understand its not a machine tolerance piece of equipment.as long as it doesnt walk the bit all over, gets holes cut and keeps my wrist from tweaking its doing it $60 job.
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i have mine out of the plate and put it into the drill and ran it slowly, it wobbles.
i added the clam extension to the clam shaft that is not on the plate and it wobbles big time!!
installing it all back the plate has no change on the amount of wobble.
it has nothing to do with arms or wrists (that's crazy) or drill. the shaft is bent for certain. i have said it many times now that i turned the shaft by hand it is bent and wobbles when you turn it with any thing.
i might give clam a call and see if they care to send a straight one. just because mine is for sale on the for sale board i wouln't want the next owner to get hurt from an auger walking into a boot ;)
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That is all correct^
I think most of these wobbles are not wobbles, just wobbly wrists and arms..
When you spin an unbalanced bit that weighs pounds, it's going to shake the entire rig including the person running it. Nobody is strong enough to stop this action, because it's happening at the end of a four foot lever..
Also it seems to be coming from slop in the joints. Being exaggerated by inadvertantly jamming every next piece to the same side.
In other words..
Most of these rigs folks are complaining about, are wobbling as much as any washing machine in spin cycle with an unbalanced load..
<°)))>{
Exactly, so the clam plate is not CAUSING the wobble like people are wanting to think. The wobble is most likely there, your arm just absorbs it.. but when you attach it to the plate, your arms no longer absorb it and you feel/see the wobble. A bent auger is most likely causing it. I have two of them here that do it.... and two that are smooth as butter. I'm guessing the torque from the drill on the auger when drilling at an angle without the plate has bent the auger shafts in my case.
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i have mine out of the plate and put it into the drill and ran it slowly, it wobbles.
i added the clam extension to the clam shaft that is not on the plate and it wobbles big time!!
installing it all back the plate has no change on the amount of wobble.
it has nothing to do with arms or wrists (that's crazy) or drill. the shaft is bent for certain. i have said it many times now that i turned the shaft by hand it is bent and wobbles when you turn it with any thing.
i might give clam a call and see if they care to send a straight one. just because mine is for sale on the for sale board i wouln't want the next owner to get hurt from an auger walking into a boot ;)
As dumb as it sounds, have you tried another drill? I had a drill once that had a bent chuck. Couldnt see or tell it until you drilled a hole in metal, it made a slightly oblong hole. That was the first drill I tried on the auger and it wobbled like crazy (essentially a 4' long bit on the end). Bought a new drill ($50 ryobi p251) and its smooth as butter.
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What I am saying is the only wobble in mine is the bearing it's self. It is not enough for me to change anything. I said others may be something else but my observation was the bearing it's self is loose in it's own housing but it's so little that I am not going to worry about it
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kevin, i did say turning it by hand has the same affect as with the drill, i did go ahead and use a different drill i use all of the time and it does the same exact thing. it is bent for certain.
yes there is play or slop or looseness in the bearing and shaft to bearing, but that is ok. adding length to the bent shaft amplifies the amount of wobble or movement from the the bent shaft.
i have no idea on those who have decided to quit using theirs is because of the same bent shaft issue clam is putting out. i will capture their bar code for reference.
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If you have an actual bent shaft within the plate, that is a defective product and not normal.. I would demand a warranty replacement from clam. Can't judge the whole system on a defective product! I really really doubt most of these wobbles are due to the same issue you have.. Im guessing most are like mine and just a bent auger.. way easier to find an auger that is not perfectly straight than a defective shaft in the clam plate.
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Anyone that has a wobbler, can you do something when you get a chance.. can you unhook your drill support while leaving the shaft chucked in the drill. Then carefully squeeze the trigger making sure to not nut shot yourself. See if it still wobbles. If it still wobbles can you take the shaft out of the plate (with the C clip on top) and chuck it back in the drill and try again. I'm suspecting that as soon as you unhook the drill from supports the wobble will be gone. If it wobbles every time its either the clam shaft or the auger.
Here you go. I took the shaft out of the clam plate and mounted it to the drill As you can see it wobbles a lot and you can feel it while holding the drill. SO I tried it with out the clam Extension and it spins smooth. I then took the Clam Extension and ran it on a table and found the extension is bent. IT had to come this way because it always wobbled badly. I am going to contact Clam and see what they will do for me. I will try and send them the video I am uploading to Youtube. &feature=youtu.be
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You can see the bend between the first and second hole from the drill end. Looks like the shaft from clam plate is smooth like you say. Absolutely warranty that extension! I have a clam extension also, still sitting in the box. I dont mind bending over a little on the thin ice and the shorter auger fits in my sleds better.
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Here you go. I took the shaft out of the clam plate and mounted it to the drill As you can see it wobbles a lot and you can feel it while holding the drill. SO I tried it with out the clam Extension and it spins smooth. I then took the Clam Extension and ran it on a table and found the extension is bent. IT had to come this way because it always wobbled badly. I am going to contact Clam and see what they will do for me. I will try and send them the video I am uploading to Youtube. &feature=youtu.be
Yeah, extension or auger shaft is bent in that video, not the top side..
<°)))>{
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Also I looked at the extension some more and found they welded the long shaft on at an angle. THe longest part is nice and smooth running across a table but the shorter part wobbles.
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Its the extension... Did you tighten the wing bolt down really tight?
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Its the extension... Did you tighten the wing bolt down really tight?
Yes in fact I put some tape on there to make it tighter. I also found out that if I move the extension down farther on the plate shaft I can get it to spin smooth. I will do another video of that.
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Extension moved down without the Set wingnut. &feature=youtu.be
Ran it slow so you can see no wobble.
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OK, so since I am someone that wants things to work I ordered the Ice Master(Thank you 3300)GOt it today and I attached it to the clam extension. No wobble at all. It must be the shaft on the clam plate and not the extension or it is because the plate shaft goes in further than the Ice master does. Whatever it is I got it to work for me now and the Clam plate is going to be returned.. Never needed it before but thought I would give it a try.
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Chinese Parts
Chinese Tolerances
Do you expect any better from the Kings of Chinese Ice fishing junk?
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Chinese Parts
Chinese Tolerances
Do you expect any better from the Kings of Chinese Ice fishing junk?
Not me. No matter how much they improve they are years behind.
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Lefty is your shaft inside the clam plate solid silver color or heat treated golden/rainbow color?
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Lefty is your shaft inside the clam plate solid silver color or heat treated golden/rainbow color?
I would call it solid silver. It has a little tint to it but not Golden. After all the testing I have done,it has something to do with the extension shaft
and if you put the shaft from the plate into it between these two points marked in red you get the wobble. If I put the extension on barely I have no wobble. As as you know the plate shft has to go in pretty far to line up the holes.
(https://i.postimg.cc/vD44hZr7/clam-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/vD44hZr7)
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kev wants to know color of shaft that the chuck grabs. should be goldish/green like mine is.
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kev wants to know color of shaft that the chuck grabs. should be goldish/green like mine is.
Just a slight tint to it. Looks like oil to me.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PpgvZgRn/IMG-3631.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PpgvZgRn)
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Here's how mine looks when spinning. Very little runout.
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Doesn't work.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n13LLWG3yR8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n13LLWG3yR8)
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Just a slight tint to it. Looks like oil to me.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PpgvZgRn/IMG-3631.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PpgvZgRn)
Ok thats correct. Some went out a couple years ago without hardened shafts and they bent causing wobble, thought maybe you got one.. couldnt tell from your video.
Hook the auger straight to the plate and see if it wobbles, be an easy test to see if its the extension i guess.
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Here's how mine looks when spinning. Very little runout.
says "this video is not available."
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Should work now
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that's about what mine has until I put my auger on.my new 8" mora auger may be bent a little.leftys extension has to be bent for sure that's 100 times worse than my setup.
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That's with a gear box. It shakes because it's off balance, but cuts perfect...
<°)))>{
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That extension looks like it was made by a couple of 8 year olds. Thats the problem...
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Here you go. I took the shaft out of the clam plate and mounted it to the drill As you can see it wobbles a lot and you can feel it while holding the drill. SO I tried it with out the clam Extension and it spins smooth. I then took the Clam Extension and ran it on a table and found the extension is bent. IT had to come this way because it always wobbled badly. I am going to contact Clam and see what they will do for me. I will try and send them the video I am uploading to Youtube. &feature=youtu.be
mine looks likes lefty's.
clam watched his video while i was on the phone with them. he said it is how it should look and go drill some holes. i told him lefty tried drilling holes with it and it wouldn't cut right and then he blamed not catting right on his auger. so clam corp is worthless.
i told him mine has a measurable bend to it and he said take a phone video and email it. this means they don't trust me.
he could have dropped a new output shaft in the mail for me instead of saying it's all good. i asked about the trigger mod with the spring and he said he did it to his was all i got out them fixing their trigger.
Phone: 1-800-ICE-FISH
Fax: 763-231-4121
Email: [email protected]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n13LLWG3yR8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n13LLWG3yR8)
looks perfect! too bad ours isn't any thing like that.
so two totally different video's of this thing and the bent shaft version video is how it's supposed to look according to customer service at clam corp.
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The crazy thing is the extension works great with the Kovak adapter but not while hooked to the Clam Plate. I will go out and get my Auger and attach it to the plate directly. OK I connected the auger direct to the clam plate and it wobbles all over the place also. SO now I guess I have to blame the clam plate. I have an email into Clam to see what they say. May never hear back from them.
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mine looks likes lefty's.
clam watched his video while i was on the phone with them. he said it is how it should look and go drill some holes. i told him lefty tried drilling holes with it and it wouldn't cut right and then he blamed not catting right on his auger. so clam corp is worthless.
i told him mine has a measurable bend to it and he said take a phone video and email it. this means they don't trust me.
he could have dropped a new output shaft in the mail for me instead of saying it's all good. i asked about the trigger mod with the spring and he said he did it to his was all i got out them fixing their trigger.
Phone: 1-800-ICE-FISH
Fax: 763-231-4121
Email: [email protected]
looks perfect! too bad ours isn't any thing like that.
so two totally different video's of this thing and the bent shaft version video is how it's supposed to look according to customer service at clam corp.
Wish I had a plate and extension. I would take it to work and find out EXACTLY how crapty it was, down to .0001" and then ask what they allow for tolerances and runout on the extensions before telling them what I got, lol.
That is frustrating 3300. Can you get your money back and just get a new plate and extension?
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The more I mess with mine the more I am convinced that the adaptor that goes through the bearing is bent. I can see it wobble with/without the extension and the auger. I get clam says it's ok to have some play, but I don't think it should be bent.
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Thanks for the update 3300. I still haven't heard back from them and now I don't expect to since they said it is my augers fault.
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The crazy thing is the extension works great with the Kovak adapter but not while hooked to the Clam Plate. I will go out and get my Auger and attach it to the plate directly. OK I connected the auger direct to the clam plate and it wobbles all over the place also. SO now I guess I have to blame the clam plate. I have an email into Clam to see what they say. May never hear back from them.
If the inside diameters and outside diameters arent fit SNUG, when you tighten the wing nut, you're essentially "bending" the extension where the two meet.
Think of it this way, put a pencil in an empty toilet paper roll - the pencil will NOT stand up straight because of all the extra room. Now if that toilet paper roll was just baaaaarely big enough for the pencil , it'll be much, much straighter.
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I personally will never buy another clam product. I was going to contact Dicks but I don't have the box anymore because I just don't save boxes when I think I am good to go. Not sure what to do with the plate now.
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Thanks for the update 3300. I still haven't heard back from them and now I don't expect to since they said it is my augers fault.
I didn't get a lick of customer support from clam on those nintinol titaniums bobbers a few years back when the indicators went limp in the cold.i ended up throwing them in the garbage.clam never offered to replace them even tho they used the wrong titanium on the batch of indicators I got.
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wow page 5!
no problem lefty. he said it's all normal when he played your video several times (i could hear your drill running on his end of the phone call and he said he gets bashers every time at this time of the year) and just go cut holes with it. i knew then i wasn't getting any where with him.
i think the bend is where the the sides are ground on the shaft to hold the chuck as if it was offset before grinding them. maybe their jig is offset and they don't know or their cnc specs are off.
some thing is messed up for certain besides their attitude.
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I think we are all experiencing the same issue. I have also tried to contact Clam with no luck.
Has anyone had ice to try to see if in fact it does cut?
This is very frustrating, I have been looking to add this to the aresonal for some time and when I finally pull the trigger and have to worry if it will cut when I am out there or not. I guess I will make sure I have the Handel for the auger with me when I try. I know that will work!
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3300, I tried everything I could today to make it run smooth. The only time it ran smooth is when I had the extension just barely on the plate shaft. Not anywhere near where the holes line up. I was just trying to get them to send me a new shaft if they would. I was just on their site looking to see if I could buy one but that was a no go either. When I first had this problem I remembered about the Kovak Ice Master and bought one. It came today and with it attached to the Extension it runs smooth. I ran my setup all last year with no problems. I will run it from now on with out the Clam plate.
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I think we are all experiencing the same issue. I have also tried to contact Clam with no luck.
Has anyone had ice to try to see if in fact it does cut?
This is very frustrating, I have been looking to add this to the aresonal for some time and when I finally pull the trigger and have to worry if it will cut when I am out there or not. I guess I will make sure I have the Handel for the auger with me when I try. I know that will work!
I tried cutting ice 2 times and only cut 10 holes because of the wobble. More like someone else stated, It is stirring the auger.
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I tried cutting ice 2 times and only cut 10 holes because of the wobble. More like someone else stated, It is stirring the auger.
Dang, mine looks like yours did in the video. If only they would just rectify the problem and send the part that isn't correct!
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Yeah I wont ever use the plate again. I may have ruined my blades with all the wobble. At least I have 2 more sets for it.
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It just isn't right though. We paid for a product that is suppose to work a certain way and it's not. They should make this right. They are suppose to be a reputable company.
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oh no i just bought a new one on a great deal to use this weekend. think i'll bring my first gen that i can trust.
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oh no i just bought a new one on a great deal to use this weekend. think i'll bring my first gen that i can trust.
If you try it, please let us know how you make out with it.
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I think someone better send them an email with the link to this thread so they can see how many thousand views their bad product and lack of support will get.
Fwiw my buddy had a non hardened one that twisted like a twizzler the first time he used it. I sent an email to clam and they sent me a new hardened adaptor shaft right away. This was two seasons ago i think.
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sorry about your blades lefty. try calling dicks sports and explain what is going on. the only reason to need the box is for resale. tell them it is damaged/bent shaft and causing damages to your auger right from the box. it might be worse than you think, it may have bent the auger where it holds the blades.
they should have no reason to try to resell it.
thinking they want to keep their customers and it might bring in new ones from them stepping up.
Call Us
1-877-846-9997
Wish I had a plate and extension. I would take it to work and find out EXACTLY how crapty it was, down to .0001" and then ask what they allow for tolerances and runout on the extensions before telling them what I got, lol.
That is frustrating 3300. Can you get your money back and just get a new plate and extension?
yes, i have a return shipping label printed out sitting on their box for the plate. it's also for sale on the for sale board, but no one wants it (shocker). i could have went to buy more of them to try to find a straight one using my drill in my vehicle in their parking lot, but the brand or rather the lack of customer service and their attitude makes me sick.
the clam extension has sat in it's package for two years or longer because we haven't had a hard winter in years. i got it out just to see how this plate would feel for weight and balance. i have been trying to help fix the issue as i try when i see an issue on products we all use. some companies crave the input while others tell you where to put it. frabil dropped the ball and said return it. clam is saying it's all good, use it bent with 2 inches of run out that he saw on lefty's video. yet he said if it were bent it would cause major issues at the auger end.
there are a few people who think it is rigdid's fault that the clam plat shaft is bent and i am sticking with this to make sure there is no uncertainty that it has nothing to do with any drill manufacturer.
mine will go back on dicks sports dime and clam can damage it out then and lose more customers for not willing to step up and take care of this. maybe if enough people get hurt they might listen.
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Dicks doesnt resell returns anyways, they go to a warehouse and the mfg either requests a return or they just issue credit to the store. Then dicks sells returns by the truck load, i used to sell that stuff for a business. They bought returns for a penny on the dollar. and I sold them, the good stuff as open box and bad stuff as parts. They should not require a box... Just hop online and request a return or call customer service and explain its defective out of the box. They may just credit your card and say keep it, they did that with me twice for broken in shipment rods. Otherwise they will email you a RMA label and you just slap it on a box with the adapter in it.
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Contacted Dicks and they said to contact Clam. Looks like I am screwed. I did send Clam one more email and laid on the line. Told them to either refund my money or replace the defective product. I guess I will see tomorrow if they even respond.
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I will send one as well.
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So I spent a lot of time messing around with my setup today trying to reduce/eliminate the wobble. I am using a new Ridgid Octane hammer drill with a 2 year old Clam plate and Clam extension with a 7” Mora auger. I tried multiple kinds of tape trying to find the tightest fit while still being able to disassemble if necessary. I found that 2 wraps of electric tape was the best for reducing the wobble. It is not perfect, but much better than before and I plan to try it on the ice tomorrow.
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So I spent a lot of time messing around with my setup today trying to reduce/eliminate the wobble. I am using a new Ridgid Octane hammer drill with a 2 year old Clam plate and Clam extension with a 7” Mora auger. I tried multiple kinds of tape trying to find the tightest fit while still being able to disassemble if necessary. I found that 2 wraps of electric tape was the best for reducing the wobble. It is not perfect, but much better than before and I plan to try it on the ice tomorrow.
Thank you. Please let us know and good luck! That is the same exact set up I intend to use. Wobble permitting of course.
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Contacted Dicks and they said to contact Clam. Looks like I am screwed. I did send Clam one more email and laid on the line. Told them to either refund my money or replace the defective product. I guess I will see tomorrow if they even respond.
keep calling until you get an rma with a prepaid shipping label. they have a 60 day return policy. just tell them you want a refund. don't say the box is gone. put it in any box and send it back. all they need is your order number.
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keep calling until you get an rma with a prepaid shipping label. they have a 60 day return policy. just tell them you want a refund. don't say the box is gone. put it in any box and send it back. all they need is your order number.
Yeah I think I will. I know how to hound people into submission. I once got a job that way. LOL
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Got my Return shipping label from Dicks and got the plate boxed up. When UPS opens it is on it's way back. Clam never contacted me on it.
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Got my Return shipping label from Dicks and got the plate boxed up. When UPS opens it is on it's way back. Clam never contacted me on it.
Do you need the box?
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Do you need the box?
I wont show you the terrible job I did re-boxing it but it is pretty bad. The return Shipping label just says "Three simple steps can make all the difference: use a corrugated box, provide internal protection such as bubble wrapping, and close your container securely."
I used a huge box and cut it down so it is as small as possible.
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I wont show you the terrible job I did re-boxing it but it is pretty bad. The return Shipping label just says "Three simple steps can make all the difference: use a corrugated box, provide internal protection such as bubble wrapping, and close your container securely."
I used a huge box and cut it down so it is as small as possible.
ok great, did you take it apart?
What adapter would you guys suggest with a 7 inch Mora and the Ridgid Octane? obviously now I will have to put the handle on the drill.
Thanks for everything guys!
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ok great, did you take it apart?
What adapter would you guys suggest with a 7 inch Mora and the Ridgid Octane? obviously now I will have to put the handle on the drill.
Thanks for everything guys!
Yes I took the u-bolt off and took out the screws to the upright and the trigger. Took out the Shaft and put these things in 2 zip lock bags. Everything sat pretty flat about 3 inches tall. I used my 7" Nero all last winter with just the drill handle. It worked great. I did buy the Kovack Ice Master adapter to attach to the auger this time around. This should work well for your Mora.
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3300. I checked the Nero Blades and where it is welded to the flight. I don't see any stress cracks on the welds anywhere. So I don't think it damaged anything. The Nero part that the blades hook to is very heavy duty so if anything the shaft of the auger would probably bend.
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Ive ran the kovac icemaster adapter for 6 years but with a 5” lazer and a cheap porter cable drill.my concern with a 8” mora and drill handle is either broken drill handle or my wrist with the 1300 in pound octane and large diameter auger.guess ill run it if the clam plate doesn’t work.
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DR.SPECKLER, Hopefully my problem isn't wide spread. After drilling a few holes you will know. Be careful because it made my auger walk around.
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DR.SPECKLER, Hopefully my problem isn't wide spread. After drilling a few holes you will know. Be careful because it made my auger walk around.
right.i didnt even want the clam plate due to bulk and weight but safety came to mind running a 8” mora with just the drill and side handle.hope the drill is built good and those handles dont snap off.im really not sold on a drill/auger setup reading all this.but im all in now i guess.lol
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What adapter would you guys suggest with a 7 inch Mora and the Ridgid Octane? obviously now I will have to put the handle on the drill.
Thanks for everything guys!
This one will get you some adjustable height ...add a Frisbee or bucket lid ..EZPZ
https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/657283-hi-tech-fishing-12-power-ice-auger-adapter-shaft.html
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I'll need to back up Lefty on this one. I pulled my Ridgid Octane off the Clam plate and attached a Kovac IceMaster adaptor and then went straight to the flite section of a 7" Nero, no extension. It's a stubby little rig, only comes up to about mid-thigh at the handles but it drills fast and smooth and it's the lightest power rig on the ice. Oddly enough, I was running a Milwaukee Fuel last year with this same Clam plate and was spinning an 8" Blue Nils and an 8" LazerMag. Wobble was never an issue. Then I went to an Octane drill with a Nero auger and had nothing but problems. To me, the problem appears to be that the Octane's size and housing won't allow it to be mounted on the Clam plate in such a way to avoid an off center rotation which the Clam can't resist and is transmitted to the flites in the form of wobble. You'd think it would work but like my first two marriages, it just doesn't fit so good.
Stinky's marriage rule #1___ Keep a tight line and a loose drag.
Stinky's rule for finding a mate___ Guys, if you want to find a girl, learn to dance. Ladies, if you want to find a good guy, learn to fish.
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Been using my clam plate for 3 seasons now. It does wobble, especially with 7" and 8" augers. With my 6" lazer it wobbles minimally so I have been using that for the past 2 seasons. I did encounter 2 bent clam extension shafts(new out of package) but the 3rd one has been good. The idea is great but the final product could use more QC.
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Clam just got back to me. They said they couldn't view my Video I sent them. I let them know what I thought about that and a little more.
My Clam plate is on it's way back to Dicks.
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Lefty, I'll bet a dollar you don't get diddly back. Don't let the hate consume you. Nobody likes to take a hickey but I imagine you've survived worse in your life.
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Lefty, I'll bet a dollar you don't get diddly back. Don't let the hate consume you. Nobody likes to take a hickey but I imagine you've survived worse in your life.
Dicks took it back. Sent me out the Return shipping label and all.
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Man I was going to buy one. Not now! Is there an alternative?
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Man I was going to buy one. Not now! Is there an alternative?
HT has one that has handle bars. Not sure if anyone is selling it. Reeds had it in their catalog. https://www.amazon.com/HT-Enterprises-Drill-Adapter-EDPAK-6/dp/B07KBG84NF
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Or you could go this way. https://www.reedssports.com/ht-enterprises/ht-enterprises-e-drill-adaptor-w/14-inch-exte-320866?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvuG5m-zA3wIVBxBpCh3kZARGEAQYASABEgIybPD_BwE
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Well here is my take. I am running the Octane with the plate, Clam extension and a 8in Eskimo hand auger. It does wobble too, not sure how bad is to bad? I have cut about 30 holes through 8 to 10 inches of ice and it cuts so fast it is hard to believe. I don't notice the wobble when cutting a hole though, maybe it does but it is so fast I can't tell. The hard part is when it breaks through you better be holding on tight!! One thing is the bottom of the hole is not smooth but I think that is because of how fast it cuts.
So I don't think the wobble is that big of a deal for me, maybe I will think different by the end of the year?
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Well here is my take. I am running the Octane with the plate, Clam extension and a 8in Eskimo hand auger. It does wobble too, not sure how bad is to bad? I have cut about 30 holes through 8 to 10 inches of ice and it cuts so fast it is hard to believe. I don't notice the wobble when cutting a hole though, maybe it does but it is so fast I can't tell. The hard part is when it breaks through you better be holding on tight!! One thing is the bottom of the hole is not smooth but I think that is because of how fast it cuts.
So I don't think the wobble is that big of a deal for me, maybe I will think different by the end of the year?
. Just as about to go thru , lift slightly
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Well here is my take. I am running the Octane with the plate, Clam extension and a 8in Eskimo hand auger. It does wobble too, not sure how bad is to bad? I have cut about 30 holes through 8 to 10 inches of ice and it cuts so fast it is hard to believe. I don't notice the wobble when cutting a hole though, maybe it does but it is so fast I can't tell. The hard part is when it breaks through you better be holding on tight!! One thing is the bottom of the hole is not smooth but I think that is because of how fast it cuts.
So I don't think the wobble is that big of a deal for me, maybe I will think different by the end of the year?
I'm sure you got a good plate/Shaft. I tried drilling with mine through 10 holes and gave up because the wobble was so bad I was afraid it was going to bend the auger/blades or both. I have my auger attached to the Clam Extension now and hooked up to a Ice Master Kovack and the thing spins smooth in the air so I know it will drill good also. I never had any problems last year with just my Auger and the Nero Extension.
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right.i didnt even want the clam plate due to bulk and weight but safety came to mind running a 8” mora with just the drill and side handle.hope the drill is built good and those handles dont snap off.im really not sold on a drill/auger setup reading all this.but im all in now i guess.lol
K drill has none of these issues, smooth cut and break through with or without the clam plate, no need to worry about it walking or catching at the bottom of the hole. It is expensive and you sacrifice some speed (amount of holes drilled), and hole size (7.5 inch). Every auger has it's advantages and disadvantages, but the k wins for me hands down in the ease of use department. (I've tried mora, lazer, nils, and nero)
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Went out today and drilled some holes using the Extension and Kovak Ice Master. My Nero rips once again. Don't even know why I bought that stupid Clam Drill Plate.
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glad it didn't hurt your auger. the wobble or offset of the blade closest to the ice was having a hard time finding center and cutting evenly it sounds.
there is other conversation here about this almost cutting toes off and one person made a center point for his as a work around.
another person did get cut a foot and boot from it.
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glad it didn't hurt your auger. the wobble or offset of the blade closest to the ice was having a hard time finding center and cutting evenly it sounds.
there is other conversation here about this almost cutting toes off and one person made a center point for his as a work around.
another person did get cut a foot and boot from it.
Where'd you see that?
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Where'd you see that?
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=361580.msg3875029#msg3875029
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Where'd you see that?
do a member search for ice scratcher and pm him or read thru his posts. maybe he is reading this topic and will say some thing about it.
or follow hd's link to this
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=354423.msg3785625#msg3785625
same story with a different name. not too many people into it yet.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=363836.0
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do a member search for ice scratcher and pm him or read thru his posts. maybe he is reading this topic and will say some thing about it.
Yeah, if you run your auger like a dummy or a Polock, your fine. When you put them both together it hurts..
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I'm not going to blame a machine that only did what it's designed to do. Also accidentally starting off in speed 2, could get catastrophic.
<°)))>{
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Wow can't believe guys are having issues. My gen 2 plate with a Milwaukee 1200in lbs works great. Just a little grease in the bearing and good to go.
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Wow can't believe guys are having issues. My gen 2 plate with a Milwaukee 1200in lbs works great. Just a little grease in the bearing and good to go.
I think they had a run of bad plate shaft's. QC has and always would be first priority. But some people ASSUME sometimes. And we know what that means.
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I think they had a run of bad plate shaft's. QC has and always would be first priority. But some people ASSUME sometimes. And we know what that means.
Lol....clam and quality control have never been to great. My 1st voyager shack & clam plate are the only clam things that have been decent.......of course the shack was made before the investor group got ahold of clam.
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reading thru and keeping up with this thread because I just bought a ridgid drill and clam plate.i only see a few guys having some actual cutting problems and then the rest of us{me included} worried about wobble and not cutting ice with the plate and have not tried it yet.lol.when I get ice and try it,cutting a hole in ice then I will make a decision to ditch it or not.jmo
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Wow can't believe guys are having issues. My gen 2 plate with a Milwaukee 1200in lbs works great. Just a little grease in the bearing and good to go.
The gen 2 plate with that Fuel drill also worked dandy for me last year. This year with the Ridgid Octane it's a pure POS. Stick with what you've got which is an exceptional rig.
The auxilliary handle on the Octane drill is long enough and beefy enough that I was able to park the Clam plate and just run it through a Kovac with very gratifying results.
Sure wish I hadn't needed to go through all these spendy combinations to hit on the one that works for me. Story of my life.
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reading thru and keeping up with this thread because I just bought a ridgid drill and clam plate.i only see a few guys having some actual cutting problems and then the rest of us{me included} worried about wobble and not cutting ice with the plate and have not tried it yet.lol.when I get ice and try it,cutting a hole in ice then I will make a decision to ditch it or not.jmo
X2. I will give it a try if we ever have safe ice. I will, however have a back up with me if it doesn't work.
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X2. I will give it a try if we ever have safe ice. I will, however have a back up with me if it doesn't work.
right.just bring the handle to the auger is my plan.start out slow with the drill until it starts to cut.ive used a drill/auger for 6 years now but not with a 8” bit or clam plate.
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do a member search for ice scratcher and pm him or read thru his posts. maybe he is reading this topic and will say some thing about it.
or follow hd's link to this
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=354423.msg3785625#msg3785625
same story with a different name. not too many people into it yet.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=363836.0
Neither of those seem to be because of clam plate wobble (not saying there is no bent shaft problem, clearly there seems to be), but those 2 threads don't mention wobble at all. When you put a drill on an auger with shaver blades and no center point, it's gonna walk if you don't start slow, which happened to both of those guys, and another dude with the pistol bit earlier this year. I used my plate all last season with an m18 and k drill, no problems, didn't add grease either.
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Shaver blades want to walk, period. Using them with a power head is asking for trouble imo. Wobble issues are most likely from loose adapters. Drills shouldnt matter...if you don't center your drill, it shouldnt cause the clam plate spindle to runout unless the bearings are SO incredibly terrile. If that's the case, then clearly the bearings are bad and a warranty claim should be made.
I'm hoping to get my hands on a friends tomorrow so I can get a better look at whats going on and see if there is a quick fix.
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My clam plate (3-4 years old and doesn’t require chuck removal) has always had a decent wobble but it cuts great and doesn’t seem to increase blade wear. The extension to the shaft is the loose fitting that causes the wobble. Just got a new octane and it rips with my 6” lazer. 8” lazer arrived today and I’ll try it out on Monday.
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I used my Kdrill, Milwaukee, clam plate combo yesterday and was extremely happy! No wobble, cut through 7 inches of black ice like butter! And the fishing wasn't bad either! I guess you get what you pay for...
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Neither of those seem to be because of clam plate wobble (not saying there is no bent shaft problem, clearly there seems to be), but those 2 threads don't mention wobble at all. When you put a drill on an auger with shaver blades and no center point, it's gonna walk if you don't start slow, which happened to both of those guys, and another dude with the pistol bit earlier this year. I used my plate all last season with an m18 and k drill, no problems, didn't add grease either.
I also have the same setup. I believe there's more to these stories than we're being told...
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I used my Kdrill, Milwaukee, clam plate combo yesterday and was extremely happy! No wobble, cut through 7 inches of black ice like butter! And the fishing wasn't bad either! I guess you get what you pay for...
Why do so many people have trouble with reading comprehension?
"You get what you pay for" as he pats himself on the back for not understanding the issue is the Clam plate that he just bought....
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Why do so many people have trouble with reading comprehension?
"You get what you pay for" as he pats himself on the back for not understanding the issue is the Clam plate that he just bought....
I guess he assumes no one should have the same troubles if they own a Milwalkee and a Kdrill. Like they are the top of the line. My trouble was the clam plate only. With just the extension on it my drill vibrated in my hands. Ever try and hold something still that is vibrating? Yeah that bad.
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To give him a little credit, if he didnt read the last couple pages, at the beginning there was talk it was the rigid drills that were the issue... And i talked about how mine wobbles with certain strikemaster augers.
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He's literally posting in a thread titled "CLAM PLATE wobble issue?" where the third reply states the same issue with a Milwaukee and numerous other combinations of drill and auger with the only common theme being they're all attached to Clam plates and he somehow concludes that its price based. You can't make up that level of ignorance....
His first reply is on page 1, directly after a guy reports the same issue on a Fuel/Lazer combination.
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I have a dumb question, is the extension that seems to be the issues. Is the extension a necessary part or is it only needed to get through thick ice. I still use a gas auger and have thought about going this route. Are there any issues with the ht auger plate that is in the Reeds flyer?
Sorry if this has been answered before
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I have a dumb question, is the extension that seems to be the issues. Is the extension a necessary part or is it only needed to get through thick ice. I still use a gas auger and have thought about going this route. Are there any issues with the ht auger plate that is in the Reeds flyer?
Sorry if this has been answered before
Its just short without the extension, you will have to bend over to drill. I havent used my extension and not planning on it.. fits better in the sled being short and i dont mind bending over. Any ice over about 6" and i think you would want it for sure
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I have a dumb question, is the extension that seems to be the issues. Is the extension a necessary part or is it only needed to get through thick ice. I still use a gas auger and have thought about going this route. Are there any issues with the ht auger plate that is in the Reeds flyer?
Sorry if this has been answered before
Not a dumb question at all. I was asked once if I hooked just the auger to the clam plate without the extension if it still wobbled. I was curious and tried that as well. It wobbles horribly no matter how I hooked it up. No one is saying all clam plates do this but certainly there are a few that does. Mine was real bad. Mine got sent back to Dicks. It is scheduled to be back there on Monday.
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my advise is go to the store and bring your drill that works fine with out the plate and test the clam plate shaft with out assembling it into the plate. if you see it run true with out wobble or wave or run out then you found a keeper.
after looking at mine much closer, it appears as tho the machining done to the end where your drill chuck attaches is where the problem is. how ever it is done it is being done wrong.
the bend is where it looks like it is welded at that point and where the shaft becomes round. it looks like that section was welded to the round part crooked. not that it was welded, but looks like it was and is crooked at that location.
adding their extension to their plate amplifies the situation big time. adding tape to their plate's shaft helps with that amplification problem by taking up much needed slack, but does not make up for the bent shaft issue. the extension being tight to a bent shaft will amplify the movement of the bend.
you would think being they built these two parts to go together, they would make them fit correctly.
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my advise is go to the store and bring your drill that works fine with out the plate and test the clam plate shaft with out assembling it into the plate. if you see it run true with out wobble or wave or run out then you found a keeper.
after looking at mine much closer, it appears as tho the machining done to the end where your drill chuck attaches is where the problem is. how ever it is done it is being done wrong.
the bend is where it looks like it is welded at that point and where the shaft becomes round. it looks like that section was welded to the round part crooked. not that it was welded, but looks like it was and is crooked at that location.
adding their extension to their plate amplifies the situation big time. adding tape to their plate's shaft helps with that amplification problem by taking up much needed slack, but does not make up for the bent shaft issue. the extension being tight to a bent shaft will amplify the movement of the bend.
you would think being they built these two parts to go together, they would make them fit correctly.
If the clam plate shaft is not square, it would cause this issue, although I don't see how it could be that far out judging by the fact that it woud have been done on a cnc mill or live axis lathe for high productuon purposes, also meaning they would have a way to measure perpindicularity (squareness) and reject any bad ones. Can't imagine the shop they used to produce them was given such loose tolerances to get away with what people are seeing. I'm ordering one soon and will get hands on with one.
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after looking at mine much closer, it appears as tho the machining done to the end where your drill chuck attaches is where the problem is. how ever it is done it is being done wrong.
the bend is where it looks like it is welded at that point and where the shaft becomes round. it looks like that section was welded to the round part crooked. not that it was welded, but looks like it was and is crooked at that location.
I looked at that weld also on mine. It appears one side of the weld is much wider than the other. Thus making it out of round.
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By out of round while welding I mean like these 2 circles. One being the shaft and the other being the chuck connection. Mine was weld similar to this. Where you can see the inter circle wasn't centered.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sGX13pfR/shaft.png) (https://postimg.cc/sGX13pfR)
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By out of round while welding I mean like these 2 circles. One being the shaft and the other being the chuck connection. Mine was weld similar to this. Where you can see the inter circle wasn't centered.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sGX13pfR/shaft.png) (https://postimg.cc/sGX13pfR)
So then the fixture they used to weld them sucks. They're not concentric, which would also cause a wobble and make flat blade augers walk even more.
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I guess ive never really looked that close to mine, but the shaft is welded? I figured they would just lathe round stock to spec then cut/grind the drill chuck spot using a cnc. The production count cant be crazy high, seasonal product for northern 1/3 of the USA pretty much. Not like they are selling a million a year... heck maybe they are, i dont know.
No man likes their shaft bent
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I got to run my octane and clam plate today.works great!cut 35 holes in 6" of ice using a 8" mora and 3 bars left on battery.i didn't keep the battery warm either.cutting slow it wanted to walk around but if you just give it full power it chews a hole fast and didn't even feel any wobble.ran it with a extension and 8"mora.little rough on break thru but I just let the auger do its thing.cuts so fast no scoop is needed.
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The extension is clearly the cause of the wobble in my case. I'll try to find one locally that is less out of true.
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I guess ive never really looked that close to mine, but the shaft is welded? I figured they would just lathe round stock to spec then cut/grind the drill chuck spot using a cnc. The production count cant be crazy high, seasonal product for northern 1/3 of the USA pretty much. Not like they are selling a million a year... heck maybe they are, i dont know.
No man likes their shaft bent
I have not seen one of these shafts but it would only make sense that they are made as you describe. No need for the added production step of welding. Especially if the shaft is later heat treated. I'm not sure it needs heat treating if the right grade of steel is used in the first place.
It is quite easy to imagine sloppy machining resulting in the "flats" being cut out of centerline with the shaft.
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I got to run my octane and clam plate today.works great!cut 35 holes in 6" of ice using a 8" mora and 3 bars left on battery.i didn't keep the battery warm either.cutting slow it wanted to walk around but if you just give it full power it chews a hole fast and didn't even feel any wobble.ran it with a extension and 8"mora.little rough on break thru but I just let the auger do its thing.cuts so fast no scoop is needed.
that's cool! where did you find 6 inches of ice?
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I guess ive never really looked that close to mine, but the shaft is welded? I figured they would just lathe round stock to spec then cut/grind the drill chuck spot using a cnc. The production count cant be crazy high, seasonal product for northern 1/3 of the USA pretty much. Not like they are selling a million a year... heck maybe they are, i dont know.
No man likes their shaft bent
I'm sure they subcontracted the machined parts at some random shop somewhere that gave them the cheapest quote. All depends on the process engineer that came up with it. It's not that hard to keep a say ..005 tolerance when in a live lathe...the entire part sounds like it could be made from bar stock and then cut off. If the flats were done at then same time as the lathe work, there is no reason that the milled flats are off centerline. The spindle just rotates 120 degrees and they just come in with an endmill for each flat. Still trying to understand how some people have such bad wobble...! Parts are way too easy to make perfect for very cheap...
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I got to run my octane and clam plate today.works great!cut 35 holes in 6" of ice using a 8" mora and 3 bars left on battery.i didn't keep the battery warm either.cutting slow it wanted to walk around but if you just give it full power it chews a hole fast and didn't even feel any wobble.ran it with a extension and 8"mora.little rough on break thru but I just let the auger do its thing.cuts so fast no scoop is needed.
Glad you got out and you Plate is good.
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I'm sure they subcontracted the machined parts at some random shop ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,If the flats were done at then same time as the lathe work, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Parts are way too easy to make perfect for very cheap...
Too many SMALL shops still producing parts in a multistep process. They don't have a lathe capable of milling flats. They may just be throwing the part in a vise jaw with the shaft not square with the spindle.
If the shafts are being produced out of specs, no matter the process, it all boils down to lack of quality control on the part of Clam Corp.
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OK I have to admit, I am getting old and there is a chance I was remembering the Clam Extension and not the Shaft on the plate that I say out of round. I don't have the shaft anymore but I do have the extension and I have it hooked up to my Drill and a Kovac Adapter. It spins smooth that way.
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Are they made in China ?
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Just had to take my Fuel off my clam plate to remove bindings from skis so I can make a smitty sled (first world problem, my 2702-20 didn’t have the nuts to remove the screws)
Just notice the wobble on the clam plate. 3rd season with it, haven’t had any issues as of yet.
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YouTube if full of videos showing augers cutting well with wobble issues.. All makes..
<°)))>{
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i'm no machinist, but i used to help a double amputee (war time) grind/polish edm marks in molds for plastic injection. i see edm marks on the flats of the shaft. they run perpendicularly. these are the marks i used to have to remove. if this helps any one evaluate what might be going on.
the lines are very tiny and you see them when you catch the light on them just right.
to try to keep every one interested in this topic on the same page, here are two videos showing a clam plate and extension with wobble and one with with major wobble that made the user have to stop using it.
user had to quit using it and sent it back for refund. switching to kovac that has "float" in it removes any wobble under load so it is not transferred to the plate or drill.
what i, and i would think everyone would expect to have when spending, here is one that runs true.
you can all see a huge difference.
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Wobble that ain't working...
Wobbles that still work..
Don't forget to bring a chocolate chip cookie the size of a manhole cover..
Learn to be thankful for what most of us have..
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I finally got the chance to test my setup again after installing electric tape to my clam extension and plate shaft and it cut great. Yes, there is still a little wabble but I have no issues while drilling a hole. I currently have the extension at the shortest setting and the wobble is worse as I lengthen the extension but I do not believe I will have any issues cutting holes even with the extension at the longest setting.
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I finally got the chance to test my setup again after installing electric tape to my clam extension and plate shaft and it cut great. Yes, there is still a little wabble but I have no issues while drilling a hole. I currently have the extension at the shortest setting and the wobble is worse as I lengthen the extension but I do not believe I will have any issues cutting holes even with the extension at the longest setting.
Where did you put the electric tape?
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ALRIGHT ...
Went and picked up a clam plate today. Ridgid drill hasnt arrived yet so I set it up with a 20v craftsman to see how it spun. My 6" Ion fits pretty well on the shaft without any kind of adapter.
Auger spins fairly true, with no noticeable wobble at all. I DO however feel the "slop" when I wiggle the plates handles up and down. This seems to be the bearings, and has no affect on the actual turning of the auger. The metal piece that goes through the bearing has a pretty nice slip fit on mine. Diameter wise I would bet the OD/ID variations are well within tolerances. I'm tempted to pull the bearing housing apart to see exactly where the play is coming from, but like I said, the handle wobble has no affect on the auger spinning. That being said, sounds like the issue everyone is having has to do with their extensions. Even my Ion extension causes a little wobble.
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My plate has wobble with or without the extension but it doesn’t hinder cutting what so ever.im over the wobble concern.it just not made with super tight/precision tolerances.i like the plate so far.i can control the auger real nice at breakthru running the 8” mora.
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My plate has wobble with or without the extension but it doesn’t hinder cutting what so ever.im over the wobble concern.it just not made with super tight/precision tolerances.i like the plate so far.i can control the auger real nice at breakthru running the 8” mora.
So, does your shaft that your auger fits over wobble when you spin it? Or does it look like it's in a "fixed" crooked position? Mine has almost no wobble at all. When you slid the shaft into the bushing, did it feel like a nice tight fit, or did it just fall in?
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Mine feels tight and there is no play in the plate shaft or auger but can feel my plate and handles rock around while drilling ice or running in air.more like the chuck shaft is bent a tad but it’s cutting great and it drills straight holes.but i cant start out slow or my auger walks.i just hit the trigger fully and it pulls and cuts so easy.
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The handle wobbles because the auger cant wobble because the blades biting into the ice hold it relatively stationary. Sounds like the bearing is pressed in crooked. The way the clam plate is made makes it hard for the bearings to run perpindicular with the handles etc etc...
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Bikini ice fishing team? :o
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Well turned in enough cans. Got the clam plate coming.
Wobble wobble lol
Hoping it works out
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Well turned in enough cans. Got the clam plate coming.
Wobble wobble lol
Hoping it works out
Hoping you get a good one. The wobble shouldn't deter anyone from buying one just because mine was horrible.
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Still waiting for ice here, and can not wait to try it out. Any of you guys get a chance to try out the Clam plate with the Ridgid?
I did end of getting a hold of Clam and they assured me it would work on the ice and I have nothing to worry about. I sure hope this is true, but after reading some of your experiences I am weary.
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the drill you use has nothing to do with the plate/shaft wobble. other than the plate doesn't fit the drill.
i returned mine. didn't care for the phone call with clam and their attitude and calling us bashers while all we wanted was for them to make right on their product. i thought about trying more plates at stores until i found a straight one, but after thinking about and trying to get clam to step up and take care of it and they wouldn't just send a straight shaft, i decided enough was enough. to much effort and time for some thing not needed at all.
i also didn't appreciate how they treated lefty at all. anyone who reached out to them got shot down on this subject.
and then then the videos of their plate with their extension running perfectly straight as it should be and then lefty's and mine being a 2 inch wobble and them being ok with that. some thing is wrong with them. they are out of spec big time.
after talking with frank who sharpens nils (sponsor) here and he explained he doesn't even need the aux handle to turn 8 inch nils helped me decide and all of the videos of folks not using one for their 8" made it easier to make the right choice. i am stepping up from a 6 to 8 inch auger and had concern's at first and bought the plate.
it's just aggravation and money wasted and more bulk and weight and harder to protect the drill and battery sitting a drill on top of a plate. it is also not designed to work with drills that have pressure switches on the handle. then there is the trigger issue/mod they admitted to doing for themselves, but not for us was the icing on the cake. i took the time and effort to make the trigger decent. i took the parts off before boxing it back up to return it to dicks sports.
been using ridgid brand tools for plenty of years to know how to use them and the aux handle design is the same as all of their gen4 and up.
people are using the aux handle to fit opposite of the drill handle and liking it better than the 90 degree position. so it feels more like a power head auger set up.
best of luck if you keep yours. watch out if your auger bit walks.
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the drill you use has nothing to do with the plate/shaft wobble. other than the plate doesn't fit the drill.
i returned mine. didn't care for the phone call with clam and their attitude and calling us bashers while all we wanted was for them to make right on their product. i thought about trying more plates at stores until i found a straight one, but after thinking about and trying to get clam to step up and take care of it and they wouldn't just send a straight shaft, i decided enough was enough. to much effort and time for some thing not needed at all.
i also didn't appreciate how they treated lefty at all. anyone who reached out to them got shot down on this subject.
and then then the videos of their plate with their extension running perfectly straight as it should be and then lefty's and mine being a 2 inch wobble and them being ok with that. some thing is wrong with them. they are out of spec big time.
after talking with frank who sharpens nils (sponsor) here and he explained he doesn't even need the aux handle to turn 8 inch nils helped me decide and all of the videos of folks not using one for their 8" made it easier to make the right choice. i am stepping up from a 6 to 8 inch auger and had concern's at first and bought the plate.
it's just aggravation and money wasted and more bulk and weight and harder to protect the drill and battery sitting a drill on top of a plate. it is also not designed to work with drills that have pressure switches on the handle. then there is the trigger issue/mod they admitted to doing for themselves, but not for us was the icing on the cake. i took the time and effort to make the trigger decent. i took the parts off before boxing it back up to return it to dicks sports.
been using ridgid brand tools for plenty of years to know how to use them and the aux handle design is the same as all of their gen4 and up.
people are using the aux handle to fit opposite of the drill handle and liking it better than the 90 degree position. so it feels more like a power head auger set up.
best of luck if you keep yours. watch out if your auger bit walks.
The shaft on your clam plate was not straight? Trying to understand where your wobble comes from. Mine spins freely but I have no extension. Sounds like everyones extensions are to blame for the most part. Did you happen to record your wobble?
Wasnt the video that someone posted clearly showing the extension was bent?
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Thank you 3300
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The shaft on your clam plate was not straight? Trying to understand where your wobble comes from. Mine spins freely but I have no extension. Sounds like everyones extensions are to blame for the most part. Did you happen to record your wobble?
Wasnt the video that someone posted clearly showing the extension was bent?
didn't see a bent extension video. it wouldn't surprise me tho. i did see one with the extension run smooth as butter and i saw lefty's. mine was like lefty's as far as the extreme amount of wobble not like the one running smooth as butter with very little to no wobble.
i do have videos of it, both with and with out the extension. i did it with no plate and was directly in the chuck and used several drills to rule out the drill having wobble.
the shaft is bent and looks like it was done where they grind the flats for the chuck to hold it. as if their grinder or what ever was holding it was off set.
if you have wobble and want to find out where it comes from, i think you'll find it's in the way they ground the flats. the round part of the shaft was true. you can place it on a flat surface to see it or run it in a drill to see it.
adding some thing that fits tight to a bent shaft will only amplify the wobble affect and that's what you see in some of the videos. also, their extension is way to big inside diameter for their output shaft so the extension sits offset while on it. this would be a different wobble as the entire length of the extension should have the same amount of wobble and not just the tip of it.
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My clam plate is out of round too.
Used to be die maker, I can throw on dial indicator.
Don't think it's going to hurt performance. The shaft it self is not straight. Can see it. But the bearing itself had crap load of tolerance. Not is the weld. It's the bearing:races itself.
I used my square and adjusted drill to move the shaft straight as. Possible.
Went and drilled with 10 yr old lazer 8 inch. I don't see issues.
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i thought about swapping out the bearing with a sealed bearing from detroit ball bearing co, but the shaft was too far gone to take it to the next level.
the thing here is it will depend on what you bolt up to it if it wobbles enough to affect the cut or not. for those who like their plate, i would guess they do not use the clam extension or they have a straight shaft that allows them to be able to use it as intended.
if you go straight up auger, then you should be ok if the auger floats on the bent shaft like mine does on the kovac icemaster 2 as lefty found out. using their extension on it does not float at all. i wanted to keep their extension inside of my auger full time, but i could not. so i am back to what i know works for me.
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didn't see a bent extension video. it wouldn't surprise me tho. i did see one with the extension run smooth as butter and i saw lefty's. mine was like lefty's as far as the extreme amount of wobble not like the one running smooth as butter with very little to no wobble.
i do have videos of it, both with and with out the extension. i did it with no plate and was directly in the chuck and used several drills to rule out the drill having wobble.
the shaft is bent and looks like it was done where they grind the flats for the chuck to hold it. as if their grinder or what ever was holding it was off set.
if you have wobble and want to find out where it comes from, i think you'll find it's in the way they ground the flats. the round part of the shaft was true. you can place it on a flat surface to see it or run it in a drill to see it.
adding some thing that fits tight to a bent shaft will only amplify the wobble affect and that's what you see in some of the videos. also, their extension is way to big inside diameter for their output shaft so the extension sits offset while on it. this would be a different wobble as the entire length of the extension should have the same amount of wobble and not just the tip of it.
The flats are milled, and it would be really difficult to bend steel that badly in a mill or lathe. If it is in fact bent, clam needs to replace it. If the milled flats are not on center, it could cause runout, but the way the bearings work is that it would partislly eliminate runout from the top where the flats are. The issue has to be below the plate itself, where the bar is with the hole in it. That doesn't spin true when not hooked on to anything?
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Flats? Are we talking where drill chick grips?
The shaft is hardened and anodized. i tried drilling it.
Im sorry in production wise, i can see hogging off metal and being not perfectly straight. When you hardened a piece, the object takes different shape. Which to get it back to perfect, you need to leave stock(material) on to get that. Which is another process. If you want that much perfection your going to pay.
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Flats? Are we talking where drill chick grips?
The shaft is hardened and anodized. i tried drilling it.
Im sorry in production wise, i can see hogging off metal and being not perfectly straight. When you hardened a piece, the object takes different shape. Which to get it back to perfect, you need to leave stock(material) on to get that. Which is another process. If you want that much perfection your going to pay.
I doubt it's anodized. It would make no sense to anodize it, even if the manufacturer could, it doesn't work the same as aluminum anodizing. Waste of money if they did that.
My guess is it's heat treated and then sand blasted, which gives it that finished look. Heat treating in my experience for something this thick would not warp so bad that the naked eye could see how bent it is. I used to make dies and had to flame harden and oven harden the dies
The dies only ever moved maybe .0005".
A piece of paper is .003". Not saying whatever metal they're using is not unstable, just highly unlikely that it bent that much from heat treating.
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true that on sand blasting.
.0005? Ok?? To get that you need grinding! You can fart on it and it will move that much.
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true that on sand blasting.
.0005? Ok?? To get that you need grinding! You can fart on it and it will move that much.
I never had issues holding .0003-.0005 tolerances on things below 58 HRC. 58-62 was a little tricky. The difference between 58 and 60 sometimes felt like going from aluminum to chrome plating... The dies were for 25-100 ton forging presses so they were deinitely overtoleranced. If i still worked there I would bring the shaft right in and hit it with their material laser to find out what it was made of, then find out how hard it actually was. I'm guessing only 35ish HRC.
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I just used my Ion extension with an 8" Lazer on my clam plate. Wobbled pretty bad because the connections have too much slop. The 8" directly to the clam plate has almost no wobble. Guess I will make my own extension!
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Ive been running my octane/clam plate with 8” mora and cut about 75 holes so far.yeah it wobbles but it also cuts ice so dam fast.
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Ive been running my octane/clam plate with 8” mora and cut about 75 holes so far.yeah it wobbles but it also cuts ice so dam fast.
Do you have any trouble getting it started ( as far as auger walking) or does it start cutting right way?
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It just cuts.once in awhile if you start to slow it will walk.i just start another hole when it does.its best just to put drill to ice and pull the trigger fully auger grabs and shreds ice doing this.starting out slow does not work with my 8” mora.its the moras shaver blades that make it walk.that been my method so far.its walked maybe 5 times out of 75.i let other guys cut holes with it to.no problems.
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Good to hear. Thank you.
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Mine wobbles in air. Not dramatic imo
Using 8 inch lazer. No issues today did I don't how many holes. Worked awsome! Right when I was building my left arm up from hand drilling lol
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Mine wobbles in air. Not dramatic imo
Using 8 inch lazer. No issues today did I don't how many holes. Worked awsome! Right when I was building my left arm up from hand drilling lol
“Hand drilling”....is that what they call it now a days?...... ;D
I’ve had my clam plate since last year and there has always been a very slight wobble. I notice the wobble points on mine is where the bolt goes through to connect the clam shaft to the auger. There is just a little bit of play because the shaft is a smaller diameter than the inside of the auger tube. I got the clam extension for Christmas this year and used it today for the first time. I did notice a very slight walk but I just pulled the trigger and let her rip. Still worked great. Mind you I was only on 6” of ice but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary from what I remember from last season (sans extension).
It sucks that people are having issues with these things. Last season they seemed to a gift from above and this season the tone has changed significantly. After reading this thread I’m still not 100% sure what the actually issue is because I don’t seem to be having those issues. Is it the plate shaft or the the extensions? Bearings or tolerances? I don’t know. Just when I thought that clam actually had one quality consistent product they go and throw a wrench in the cogs.
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Sorry to hijack, but I have the same wobble issue, plus another, while testing it to cut 2ft of air at home. :) I havent drilled through ice with it yet, but I will tonight.
My primary concern is where the long part of trigger arm screws into the short part that has the small lever/plate pushes the drill. It wobbles here and it is not tight. I have about 1/8th inch space between the point where the two arms are connected. I tried to tighten and untighten them with no luck. Is this normal? TIA.
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Sorry to hijack, but I have the same wobble issue, plus another, while testing it to cut 2ft of air at home. :) I havent drilled through ice with it yet, but I will tonight.
My primary concern is where the long part of trigger arm screws into the short part that has the small lever/plate pushes the drill. It wobbles here and it is not tight. I have about 1/8th inch space between the point where the two arms are connected. I tried to tighten and untighten them with no luck. Is this normal? TIA.
Mine had the same gap, I found a rubber washer in the junk drawer and put it on there to tighten it up. Doubt it hurts anything, but I wanted it snug.
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could go to a hardware store and bring the bolt and find nylon washers to add to the shoulder of the bolt, but yes it is not built well.
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Thanks guys. I'm tempted to put the torch to the nylon nut just to get it off. I'd just buy another from the hardware store and replace it. I will agree, that it's not made well. Tolerances arent tight at all. Good thing I got it on sale.
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I just received a clam plate and after putting it together with the clam extension, there is almost no wobble when spinning it in the air. No auger yet to try in the ice.
I paired it with Ryobi drill. Is there any issue with putting the trigger actuator assembly in the same channel as the drill handle holder? It seems to activate the trigger perfectly that way. Otherwise I think the piece that contacts the trigger would be too long.
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Thats what i did.
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I just received a clam plate and after putting it together with the clam extension, there is almost no wobble when spinning it in the air. No auger yet to try in the ice.
I paired it with Ryobi drill. Is there any issue with putting the trigger actuator assembly in the same channel as the drill handle holder? It seems to activate the trigger perfectly that way. Otherwise I think the piece that contacts the trigger would be too long.
All drills are different, but with most brushless drills being short they need it in the same channel. I believe my ryobi p251 is the same but I would have to go look to be sure
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It just cuts.once in awhile if you start to slow it will walk.i just start another hole when it does.its best just to put drill to ice and pull the trigger fully auger grabs and shreds ice doing this.starting out slow does not work with my 8” mora.its the moras shaver blades that make it walk.that been my method so far.its walked maybe 5 times out of 75.i let other guys cut holes with it to.no problems.
Here's my sol'n to the walking prob I used the kind of screw used for furniture legs---machhine thread on one end to go in tapped hole, wood type thread on the other end to go into ice. Can make overlapping holes with this too.
(https://i.postimg.cc/K4Rqd2LG/auger.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/K4Rqd2LG)
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I just received a clam plate and after putting it together with the clam extension, there is almost no wobble when spinning it in the air. No auger yet to try in the ice.
I paired it with Ryobi drill. Is there any issue with putting the trigger actuator assembly in the same channel as the drill handle holder? It seems to activate the trigger perfectly that way. Otherwise I think the piece that contacts the trigger would be too long.
Thats what many people have done.
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I just received a clam plate and after putting it together with the clam extension, there is almost no wobble when spinning it in the air. No auger yet to try in the ice.
I paired it with Ryobi drill. Is there any issue with putting the trigger actuator assembly in the same channel as the drill handle holder? It seems to activate the trigger perfectly that way. Otherwise I think the piece that contacts the trigger would be too long.
That's the channel where I put my Ryobi. I did try it in the other one and couldn't get it to line up right. I'd still pay close attention to in the channel where you have it. That's where mine was when I busted the trigger on my first Ryobi. With the second one I watched more closely at how it made contact and it's been fine.
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Does anybody have a recommendation for a different auger extension besides the Clam one? I just ordered the Clam but after reading the thread I think that might have been a mistake...
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Does anybody have a recommendation for a different auger extension besides the Clam one? I just ordered the Clam but after reading the thread I think that might have been a mistake...
im running the clam extension with no problems.
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Clam here no problems
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Clam here no problems
Same here
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I haven't had any problems using the Clam extension.
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No problems with Gen 1 Clamplate and extension. Been using it for 4 yrs now.. I was wondering if the drill is not mounted properly to drill plate; causing wobble?
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My Clam Extension runs smooth without the Clam Plate. With the clam plate I had it had the worst wobble ever. I got rid of the Plate. Still waiting for my reimbursement.
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i took mine back too.
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Looks like about 10% unsatisfied, can’t please everyone !!
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Looks like about 10% unsatisfied, can’t please everyone !!
The vocal minority do not represent the quiet majority.
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The vocal minority do not represent the quiet majority.
Never wanted anyone else to get rid of theirs. It is just like anything made these days. There are a few really bad ones. My auger couldn't be any happier with out that wobbly clam plate I had. It had spun true I would be using it.
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The vocal minority do not represent the quiet majority.
Good point. People are more likely to share bad experiences versus good experiences. I feel bad for the few that have had issues with their Clam plates. Unfortunately not all products are made the same or the same standard year in year out
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Fuel 1200in/lb. gen 2 clam plate. 8in nils auger
No problems
I believe when the plate was designed it was designed around the milwaukee 725in lb brushless fuel drill at the time. Same goes for the k drill auger. If a guy wants a perfect fit....well go with what a basic design was built off of.
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Just got my plate and extension in the mail. Got it all put together and there was lot of play in the plate where the bearing is connected. Is this normal? My extension has a bend in it and was causing a wobble when I was using the drill so that is getting returned.
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Just got my plate and extension in the mail. Got it all put together and there was lot of play in the plate where the bearing is connected. Is this normal? My extension has a bend in it and was causing a wobble when I was using the drill so that is getting returned.
Before you return the Extension try it with the drill by itself. If it spin smooth it isn't the extension.
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I should clarify too that when the shaft is in the clam plate, it is not a snug fit. There is some play between the shaft and the bearing, I think that is what is causing my wobble issue. When I have everything else connected, it seems like the play in the plate gets much worse. When everything is connected, I can move the plate up and down about 1/4"-1/2" with the auger staying perfectly straight
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That sounds like a lot of play. But I would still try the extension with out the plate on the auger to see if it spins smooth. Or just go out and try to drill some holes the way it is. If it drill smooth your set. If not try with out the plate and see what happens.
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I should clarify too that when the shaft is in the clam plate, it is not a snug fit. There is some play between the shaft and the bearing, I think that is what is causing my wobble issue. When I have everything else connected, it seems like the play in the plate gets much worse. When everything is connected, I can move the plate up and down about 1/4"-1/2" with the auger staying perfectly straight
I just checked mine and it has a almost no play at all. Maybe 1/32"-1/16" at most.
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I just bought a clam plate and a 6 inch blue mora. The wobble issue did concern me, but with enough research on here I decided to try it. There is some wobble if you just hold it up and spin it. But on the ice you don't notice it. I think the auger is most likely not precision machined and balanced. My existing drill didnt really work so I bought a used Dewalt brushless drill. When I put it back together the wobble was horrible! I thought I had wasted my money. But after a day of thinking about it I took the auger off and rotated it 180 degrees so the bolt holes were opposite of where they were. My wobble went back to being "some" or minimal. Took it out to the ice for a test and I really like it. When drilling ice the wobble just goes away. I think the auger itself is unbalanced and causes the wobble. But it cuts ice like crazy! You could probably skip the clam plate and just spend the extra money for a drill with a side handle, but there are also reports of those breaking in some instances. I like my clam plate for now and I am glad I have it.
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Here's my sol'n to the walking prob I used the kind of screw used for furniture legs---machhine thread on one end to go in tapped hole, wood type thread on the other end to go into ice. Can make overlapping holes with this too.
(https://i.postimg.cc/K4Rqd2LG/auger.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/K4Rqd2LG)
So how did you get the bolt on it