Any downside to the poly auger bits?

The 2nd year I went to a Clam plate. No safety shield needed. The Lite flite is bolted to the CP shaft.

Coletrain27 wrote:

What’s the safety shield?

The frisbee disc thingy

I like to try new stuff every so often so ive ran the K drill in both 6 and 7.5″, the pistol in 6″ and 8″, the old strikemaster strike lite bit in 8″ and the Razr synthetic ultra from this year in 6″. Have run all of them on and off the clam plate. Was happy with all of them except the RAZR Synthetic. It would wedge itself in the hole and was hard to pull back out once it broke through. I took it on two trips, and broke the bottom two flightings on both trips.

Sent the RAZR in and they ended up getting me a refund and now im back to the 6″ pistol which is my favorite minus not having a center point. Smooth, Fast, and light.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Coletrain27 wrote:</div>
What’s the safety shield?

The frisbee disc thingy

I thought that was there in case the drill comes off the auger and it keeps the auger from falling down the hole

Coletrain27 wrote:

I thought that was there in case the drill comes off the auger and it keeps the auger from falling down the hole

MX1825 wrote:

The 2nd year I went to a Clam plate. No safety shield needed. The Lite flite is bolted to the CP shaft.

That’s what the shield is for. However, it’s should not be needed when the auger is BOLTED to the shaft that is driving the auger.

Coletrain27 wrote:

I thought that was there in case the drill comes off the auger and it keeps the auger from falling down the hole

Pretty sure that is what its for. A drill chuck is prone to loosening up. I remember when those drill things first came out and tons of guys were losing them down the hole because one brand didnt have them.

Gotcha. I guess I still have mine on and mine is bolted to my clam plate lol

Safety from going down the hole, I guess

Ha but it really does make tightening the chuck with gloves on a PITA. Gets in the way on the auger rack too.

My hilti chuck has never loosened up not even once. My old man’s Dewalt does every other time u use it.

Tell him to back the Dewalt off one click after tightening, that locks the chuck.

tswoboda wrote:

Tell him to back the Dewalt off one click after tightening, that locks the chuck.

This I didn’t know. I will pass the message. Thank you

There are some deep discounts out there if you are looking at just the auger or an entire new unit.

Brittman wrote:

There are some deep discounts out there if you are looking at just the auger or an entire new unit.

Where are you seeing the best ones? I haven’t really priced them out yet. Looking for the whole unit in a 40v

Bearcat89 wrote:

My hilti chuck has never loosened up not even once. My old man’s Dewalt does every other time u use it.

It’s not that the chuck loosens up, it’s that it sometimes doesn’t close on the three flat edges. It sometimes tightens on the ridges and slips over them when torqued. I tighten it by hand and then wiggle/twist it a little to be sure it’s seated right.

I will say I’ve almost lost that hex bolt that keeps the bit on a few times. That sucker loosens up quickly.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I will say I’ve almost lost that hex bolt that keeps the bit on a few times. That sucker loosens up quickly.

Electrical tape around it

Joes sporting goods has the lites flite for sale. 120 for the 6 inch and 140 for the 8 inch.

If you drill thru thick ice 36″+ with an 8″ lite flite and don’t peck it offen enough the top lite flite plastic edges will wear fast and actually fold down and stay there. It gets bad enougb that you need to replace them. Lots of holes on LOW in March can test any auger out.

Yes clean your hole with poly but as you don’t want to get it stuck like a metal bit, but the lighter flite makes this kind of a no brainer in the first place. I think having a heavy metal auger before was just more so just a lot of work to do so. Now not so much. A couple of lifts through thick ice is always a good idea.

If I bought one today it would be the ion steel. Not worth $150 more to save 4 lbs and I am sure of its durability. I still remember lugging around my gas augers and am more than happy with the weight savings the steel auger offers. When the time comes to buy one I may change my mind.

suzuki wrote:

If I bought one today it would be the ion steel. Not worth $150 more to save 4 lbs and I am sure of its durability. I still remember lugging around my gas augers and am more than happy with the weight savings the steel auger offers. When the time comes to buy one I may change my mind.

I thought the same thing. But after using one I’m not so sure. It was kinda mind blowing to walk around punching holes with such a light auger. Especially in snow where each step is a workout on its own.

I don’t know anything about this exact auger but it’s cheap might be worth looking into
https://www.reedssports.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/422493/s/jiffy-model-torch-8in-cordless-ice-drill-w-bag-4628-b/

Lite flite is also on sale

https://www.reedssports.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/353877/s/strikemaster-lite-flite-lazer-drill-unit-8-lfld-8-043253122211/

mahtofire the tape works but the blue loc-tite will do the job.

2nd year with my 8″. I find that the ONE SHOT hole skimmer is larger than the 8′ poly flyte and won’t fit in the hole. Never had that issue with my 8′ metal flyte.

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I have that same scoop and used it the other day for the first time and it worked fine with my lite flight…

Joes and now MFF have 20% – 25% of augers and the full units. Scheels is heavily discounting the auger, but the full units are still higher cost.

Most ice rods, rod combos and ice shelters also hitting sale prices right now.

I would expect heavy sales on most all ice fishing gear starting about now.