auger drill question

I know this topic has been beaten to death but I’m going to ask and it’s a little out of season bear with me. Looking to buy an auger drill set up. I’m going to get the clam drill plate. My question is….looking to buy the dewalt xr hammer drill or the Milwaukee fuel hammer drill both would have the 4.0amp batterys. Need pros and cons of both for drilling holes and how thick of ice has everyone been able to go threw and number of holes drilled with each. Yes I know it depends on the charge and thickness of ice on how many holes you will get. Any other info would be great as well.

Just this last season i started using a nils 8inch auger with my drill. The drill is a ridgid drill with the same 4.0amp batteries and i do have to say i love it. It is really nice for anywhere around 10 inches of ice. i could get 20-30 holes with one battery. Once the ice gets over 20 inches it drops fast. maybe only 5-10 per battery on a good day. The biggest challenge is to keep the batteries warm. If they do get cold you’re better off drilling by hand. I cannot say much about the drills you are asking about but for an auger to attach it to the nils is a great choice.

The Milwaukee fuel hammer drill is the way to go! Late ice last season we took a trip to Ely, MN and fished with members of the UPL. They had The Milwaukee fuel hammer brush-less combo 4amp batteries w/ 6″ standard Clam drill and others in the group were using 8″ SM Lazer and Clam 8″ edge gas augers. The drill plate did not skip a beat keeping up with the gas augers helping us drill out massive grid patterns in search of basin crappies. We burned through 1 gallon of gas with two augers in a 2 day trip to show how many holes were drilled. The hammer electric drill never even had a ‘hicup’. I currently have the Milwaukee standard drill with brushes which can easily be burned out with that many holes and thickness of ice, but I am upgrading to the Brush-less hammer next year for sure and would recommend you do the same!

Why not just buy an ion?

I have an eight inch NILS convertible with an eight inch extension and Fuel 18 without Calm plate which I used last season. Most ice I drilled was 28-29 inches, but fifteen holes with no problem. Had half battery life left when I finished drilling. That’s without warming the batteries. Last winter did not get that cold though so not the best test. Earlier in the year, I did 35 straight holes in 12 inches of ice before it finally told me it was tired. So impressed I will be selling my hand NILs this fall. Also bought the Fuel 18 power hand saw. Sold my gas auger last year and will never go back. Just my experience and no bull or do I get compensated from either.

I bought the Clam Drill Plate when it first came out and used it an entire season. My review… The trigger assembly is just tricky to get set right since it has to depress the drill trigger. I could never get it set quite right…up/down and every other way to make it flawless. It would never keep the drill constantly running when drilling holes. The drill would always stop, giggle the assembly for the drill to begin running again. I ran both the DeWalt 700 and 900 series drill with this assembly. Great idea but lacks a good trigger assembly.

I bought the plate primarily over concerns with binding in the ice. I’ve heard many stories about guys with just electric drills getting bound and the drill twisting your wrist… Ouch! Since I could never get the Clam Drill Plate trigger assembly to work perfectly, I gave up and went directly to the drill. I’m running a 20v Dewalt DCD985 Brushless Hammerdrill with a 6″ Laser Auger. Once you add the side handle, you end up holding it more like a gas auger. I’ve never had it bind to the point where it’ll twist my wrist.

I keep several 3.0Ah and 1.5Ah batteries on hand. I can drill around 40 holes in 12″ of ice on nice days. The only issue with the lithium batteries is that severe cold affects them. If they get to cold, they don’t last as long and I get reduced down to 20-25 holes. To combat that in really cold weather, I take a hand warmer or two and rubber band them to the side/bottom of the battery. It’s easy to pop the battery off and throw it in your parka pockets.

I would not spend the money on the Clam Drill plate. Put the extra money towards a good Milwaukee or DeWalt drill. You will not go wrong with either brand. But definitely consider a Brushless Hammerdrill with the Side Handle and stay away from the compact (700) series.

As a side note… I had concerns with using the Strikemaster Electric Ice Drill Adapter for fear that if the chuck opens slightly while drilling… down the hole goes the auger. By calling the Clam parts department, you can buy just the “Motor Shaft Adapter” for $5. Pop the chuck off, thread on the adapter, and you than just attach the auger like you do on any gas auger. A threaded design like this is something that Strikemaster should consider for their adapter.

Now if only the water would turn hard soon!

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Clam Re-designed the drill last season making the plate were the U bolt and the trigger mechanism sits a few inches longer to be more universal to any size of drill. I would think this would fix any trigger alignment issues you had before. I have the original Drill plate also with the Standard 18V Milwaukee and have never had trigger issues. Keeping the trigger mech bolts slightly loose is key.

I still can’t for the life of me figure out why anybody would want to waste money on the drill plate? Just more money, weight, and bulk your adding to drill. Defeating the purpose of the whole thing!!!

I swapped to the Clam Drill Plate auger last year and never looked back. Its the ultimate light weight auger setup currently on the market. I currently own a barely used Honda Auger and have owned or used many others brands, Lazer Pro, Nils, Eskimo, Ion, Lithium lazer etc. Guys out on the ice will come over in awe and ask to see and test it out. Its quiet that you can fish your favorite secret pond without drawing any attention from the noise unlike a loud gas auger.

You can pair it up with hand lazer, kdrill, & even Nils bits. Depending on the size bit you choose it will weigh anywhere between 14lbs-18lbs. Because of the Clam plate its much more stable and safe then using just the drill with/adapter on a bit. Plus Clam claims the bearing on the plate helps the life of your drill from burning out.

My current favorite bit is the 7″ lazer hand auger paired with the clam plate & the Milwuakee M18 Fuel drill. I have drilled up to 30″ ice with little issues. As far battery life on 18″ of ice I could get up to 25 holes drilled before the battery runs out.

Drilled over a 1000+ holes last ice season, it was so efficient that I didnt even break in my brand new Honda gas auger. And it will drill an 8″ hole with ease as long as you dont drill 5 or more consecutive holes one after the other the drill wont over heat or shut off. With the 7″ bit I can drill consecutive holes non-stop no issues. I drilled 23-25 holes in 18″+ ice till my battery went out just to test it if the safety on my drill will kick in it never did.

One of the main issues is with the extension the bit isnt balanced. You can remedy this easily but just using electrical tape around the extension bar so that it fits snug on the bit so that it wont wobble. Also batteries are on the spendy side.

This ice season I dont plan to fire up any gas auger…

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I know I’m kinda late to the party on this subject, but I’ve used the Clam Drill Plate exclusively the last two seasons and I’m still in love. First season I paired it up with a DeWalt XR DCD985 20V, 16″ Auger Extension, Lazer 5″ (Panfish) Auger and Lazer 7″ (Walleye). I ran six 4Ah batteries all season with it. Tourney tested it with the Lazer 5″ and I times it saw 500 holes a day with about a 80-100 hole average all year. February that year on Mille Lacs with the 7″ Lazer I was still getting an average 38 holes per 4ah battery.

This last season I upgraded to the new DeWalt XR DCD990 20V Brushless. Still ran the 5″ Lazer for tourney’s but for Walleyes I went to an 8″ Mora Auger. Seem to get a few more holes with Blue Mora and really seemed to cut faster than the Lazer. My tournamnet partner also used the new 5Ah batteries from DeWalt. I’m not sure how many holes per battery but it seemed it took well past mid year before he would even run out before a day would end.

Each year I bet I put 5000 holes through each setup. Coming this season I’m planning on using the same setup as last year and we’ll see if the Drill still holds up. Can’t wait for ice!!

Lawrence

David Blais wrote:

Why not just buy an ion?

Exactly! spend a little more $$ and get something built specifically for the job, love mine, will never look back… The best time to buy them is early spring when the ice is starting to melt although some places have early season specials…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Exactly! spend a little more $$ and get something built specifically for the job, love mine, will never look back… The best time to buy them is early spring when the ice is starting to melt although some places have early season specials…

Because the ION doesn’t even come close to the performance of the DeWalt DCD990 XR and Clam Drill Plate. Plus replacement batteries are more affordable and can get anywhere. Granted I haven’t burned out of a battery yet!!

Milwaukee ups their game with the new M18 Fuel drill – Generation 2 and the ability to have a 6ah or even 9ah battery and 1,200 in lbs torque! This thing is gonna be a beast on the clam drill plate setup even with an 8″ bit.

Here’s a quick comparions of the old and new M18 Fuel drill:
http://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-m18-fuel-brushless-drills-2703-2704/

Wow, 9ah battery would be a game changer!!