Drill/Auger Combination

I’ve had a number of requests to explain the Drill/Auger set up I use, so here it goes.

I’ve done a lot of trial and error to get to this point, so I was hoping to save some fellow IDOers some time and money.

I went into this with the mindset that a drill will never out preform my Ion… I was wrong and sold my Ion.
I also thought there was no way a drill can have enough power to keep up with the demands of a hole hoping fisherman… I was wrong.
Lastly, I thought I will always need my gas auger for the days I need a lot of 8″ holes… Again I was wrong, now I’m looking to sell it.

After buying and selling more items than I care to admit I’ve settled on this setup. This year I’ve drilled many many 8” holes continuously in 24”+ of ice with no problem. Last year I used this combination in 30″+. The speed and power at which this setup cuts has really impressed me.

Drill
For the drill I use a Dewalt DCD996. I’m sure there are other great drills out there too. The Octane that was mention here also looks interesting.

Edit: I use 5AH batteries. They seem to be a good balance between cost, weight and run time. I can get through most days with one battery. I punched 60 8″ holes on Red this year with one battery. I heard as the batteries age they have less run time so next year I may need two batteries a day? At only $50-$60 a piece I figured I can just get a couple more.

Auger Bit
For the auger I’ve been using Laser hand auger bits. I’ve used 8” 7” 6” and 5” bits. They all work great and drill very fast. The 8” laser is twice as fast as the KDrill in 24” of ice for a comparison and a fraction of the price.

Adapter
The adapter was probably the toughest item to find. The adapters were either too short, poorly made, no disk to prevent it from dropping down the hole and no adjustability unless you added another adapter. I would have needed 3 or 4 items to piece together one adapter, so I decided to design this part myself. I hate adding and removing extensions in the cold, so I incorporated all of these into one adapter. My adapter has 16” of height adjustment, works on all hand augers with an 18mm shaft ID (nearly all of them), it has a UHMW plastic disk and I had the adapter zinc platted. I’m not in the business to make and sell these, but if someone wanted one or wanted to know how to make one just let me know. Over the past few hours my phone has been going crazy so it looks like I will be selling these. PM or text me if you want to be added to the list. Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

This setup allows me to switch between bits or adjust the drill height longer or shorter in seconds. It’s just so nice to be able to drill 8″ holes in a wheel house and then go hole hop with the same tool without any noticeable sacrafices.

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Joe Scegura wrote:

The adapter was probably the toughest item to find. The adapters were either too short, poorly made,

That looks like a nice adapter you created. Off the shelf, the Kovac ice master adapter is the only commercially available that I’ve found to hold up to heavy use while chucked to a drill. It has a strap that goes over the drill so doesn’t need the disk. I destroyed a couple of others this season moving away from my older clam plate setups that remove the chuck.

The only other point I will make is that if you can find the 6.3″ lazer lite, the strikemaster synthetic drills, they have the ability to add a power point. That’s a nice addition on a drill setup.

That is a sweet adapter/extension. I will be placing a special order for one.
None on the market that are anything like this

How does your drill handle the 8 inch Lazer bit? I’ve heard from some that they catch bad at the bottom of the hole and others say if you pull up slightly they break through with no issues.

I have a 6 inch Nils on my Fuel that does awesome, but would like an 8 inch hole for in the permanent shack and for bigger fish.

______________ wrote:

Kovac ice master adapter is the only commercially available that I’ve found to hold up to heavy use

I agree with that, they look solid. The issue for me was adding extensions, I just wanted it to be all in one and easy. The strap is not a bad idea at all. My buddy said the one he bought was wrapping up on him at times so I just wanted to skip all that and make something that fit all my needs with no hassle.

Bearcat89 wrote:

That is a sweet adapter/extension. I will be placing a special order for one.
None on the market that are anything like this

Nice talking with you Bearcat. I’ll put together an extension for you this week. I hope you like it as much as I do.

I have the same drill with a 6” strike master hand on a clam plate. I like the feel of traditional auger in my hands as apposed to the plastic drill handle. Yes, it adds a couple pounds but I think it eases the job of the drill a little bit too.
Last year I would go through both of my 5ah batteries somewhat regularly in a day of fishing so this year I found a stellar deal of 2 9ah’s on Amazon. Now I never run out.

I run an 8” Lazer on my Milwaukee Fuel. Handles it like a champ. The breakthrough issues people talk about aren’t as dramatic as some people may claim. Not in my experience anyways and I’ve been using my drill setup for 3 seasons now (the Lazer was used by hand for 5 seasons prior). I also use a Clam Plate but before the plate I ran the 8” Lazer with just the Fuels auxiliary handle and it still drilled like a champ. Which leads me to my next point:

The breakthrough, for me, is rather subtle. It just feels like slightly more resistance with a little pull then it pops through. The Clam Plate helps a lot with that subtlety. When I used the auxiliary handle, I hand to pay close attention to everything that was happening when drilling a hole just out of personal safety (that’s mostly just my mentality). Although still completely doable with just the drill handle, the breakthrough (and over all handling) was much more cumbersome than with the Plate. The weight of my setup is 17.3 pounds (8” Lazer, M18 Fuel w/ 5ah battery, Clam Plate w/ Clam Extension). I find that weight is a good weight to just let the setup do its thing. I don’t push down, just keep it stable. The plate also makes it easier to drill a more perpendicular hole because you have a better platform to create that perpendicular hole, which does effect how the auger breaks through.

Slightly lifting before breakthrough does help though and after a few holes you get the hang of where the bottom of the ice is and it becomes second nature but it’s not the end of the world of you don’t. The plate may not be necessary but the few times that breakthrough is tough, and it jerks the whole setup, I’m glad I have the Plate to hang on to and not just a modern version of the one-armed-bandit.

curleytail wrote:

How does your drill handle the 8 inch Lazer bit? I’ve heard from some that they catch bad at the bottom of the hole and others say if you pull up slightly they break through with no issues.

I have a 6 inch Nils on my Fuel that does awesome, but would like an 8 inch hole for in the permanent shack and for bigger fish.

I thought the 8″ bit would give the auger a work out but there is very little resistance at all. In fact that’s one of the first things people are surprised by. They expect all this torque and there is very little at all, so turning the 8″ is a non issue.

Just an FYI the last one of my friends that had a Milwaukee just switched to the Dewalt. He broke two handles off his Milwaukee with his KDrill. In their opinion “the Dewalt is just so much more of a drill”. I feel a little bad because I’m the one that recommended he get that setup a couple years ago. I guess you live and you learn.

Charlie W wrote:

I have the same drill with a 6” strike master hand on a clam plate.

I use my drill to clean the slush from my holes in the wheel house, crank up my house, and use it for tasks around the house, so it was important for me to have the drill not attached to the clam plate.

I also like how much smaller the set up is without the clam plate. Drilling holes in the house was tough with the Ion so going with a plain drill worked much better for me. The Clam plate looks like a solid option though if you don’t have the concerns I did.

That absolutely makes sense to me. The wheelhouse is something I have not thought of, that’s for sure.

I’ve been using a 6″ and 8″ Nils and a 6″ K-drill with my DCD996 for the last two years and i’m incredibly impressed with the setups. I actually sold my Nils/Tanaka…the one thing I said I would never do…

I do still have a propane Jiffy, but who knows for how much longer…

I need an adapter and hand auger now. It would work great for fishing the red river up here. Light and I don’t drill many holes when I’m on the river and it’d be nice to stay quite when I’m drilling in only a few feet of water. I’ve got the expensive parts already!

That adapter is genius. Is that something you were able to make yourself or did you have it made?

Thanks Ben, I designed and made it myself. I have access to a lathe and a Bridgeport so it wasn’t too bad for me. Average guy it might be tough.

I had some friends that wanted one so I made a bunch of them. They weren’t super cheap to make but I wanted it to be nice, hence the machined parts and zinc platting. If you want one let me know.

404 ERROR wrote:

I’ve been using a 6″ and 8″ Nils and a 6″ K-drill with my DCD996 for the last two years and i’m incredibly impressed with the setups. I actually sold my Nils/Tanaka…the one thing I said I would never do…

I do still have a propane Jiffy, but who knows for how much longer…

I’ll let you try out Joe’s creation when we go to the rainy. I have a good feeling you will be impressed with my 50 dollar strikemaster bit compared to the 250 dollar k drill.
The adapter and extension all in 1 is a genius idea and I’m excited for it to come in the mail.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have a good feeling you will be impressed with my 50 dollar strikemaster bit compared to the 250 dollar k drill.

I’m already impressed…nothing special except weight with the kdrill…

Where did you get the 18mm OD rod? It must be low carbon steel or something like that if you had it plated?

I am guessing the rod was ground down to fit into the chuck? Or am I looking at that wrong and you fit something into 18mm tubing? I like the setup.

I have been using a Kovac, but I added an adjustable Clam adapter. It works very well but with the current ice thickness, it’s now a smidge too short.

@pieeyed

Joe, have you or anyone you know compared an 8″ Mora against the 8″ Lazer?

I’m not in the business to make and sell these, but if someone wanted one or wanted to know how to make one just let me know. Over the past few hours my phone has been going crazy so it looks like I will be selling these. PM or text me if you want to be added to the list. Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

I wasn’t expecting that.

roottwo wrote:

Where did you get the 18mm OD rod? It must be low carbon steel or something like that if you had it plated?
I am guessing the rod was ground down to fit into the chuck? Or am I looking at that wrong and you fit something into 18mm tubing? I like the setup.

I have been using a Kovac, but I added an adjustable Clam adapter. It works very well but with the current ice thickness, it’s now a smidge too short.

I ordered the steel from Discount steel. I machined the end down with three flats to prevent it from slipping in the 1/2″ chuck.

tswoboda wrote:

Joe, have you or anyone you know compared an 8″ Mora against the 8″ Lazer?

Not side by side but I have used the mora and it worked great. My hunch is they will be fairly close in speed but the laser is more aggressive so it should be faster.

So what kind of price are we talking for these?

Your adapter looks fantastic! Please advise me how I can purchase one and what the price would be. I have a 6” Strikemaster Lazer. Thanks!

rjthehunter wrote:

So what kind of price are we talking for these?

You had to ask… I wasn’t originally planning on selling these so I have no idea… the material cost is close to $50 and that doesn’t include the time to: Cut, Turn, Machine, Cut, Drill, Debur, Wirebrush, Weld and then drop em off and pick them up from getting Zinc platted. If I was to get anything for my time I guess I’d need $75 for the complete adapter. I think I can do them for that especially if I can do a bunch at a time.

I definitely want one if you’d be able to ship it to Green Bay, WI.

Buddy VanSickle wrote:

Your adapter looks fantastic! Please advise me how I can purchase one and what the price would be. I have a 6” Strikemaster Lazer. Thanks!

You can text me your shipping info and I can advise you how to pay. Thanks

Text# 320-260-9056

Buddy VanSickle wrote:

I definitely want one if you’d be able to ship it to Green Bay, WI.

No problem, I’ll just do a flat rate of $10 to ship it.

Nice job, i like it, as a fellow engineer i can appreciate identifying the gaps in what is commercially available and design/building something to fit your exact needs. I switched to the clam plate this year only because my handle for my rigid drill started popping off, it clamps onto metal shoulders on the drill. Some of my less experienced buddies were using it and were not properly holding the handle so it popped off once which rolled the the shoulders a bit and now it pops off often. I was forced to used the clam plate and its ok, i just don’t like the extra weight, bulkiness and also it ties up your drill. I really wanted to use the drill for running hub screws into the ice but now that its tied up on the clam plate i can’t very easily. Great work.

85 bucks? Seems a little excessive to me for what it is. I mean, it only takes about 20 seconds to remove a drill from the Clam Plate. Goes back on just as easy and doesn’t cost a thing. Honestly though, for almost $90, I’d rather just buy a separate bare drill and not have to switch anything at all. Even less time dealing with gear. In fact, I’m doing that here soon and can’t wait.

I do understand making something that doesn’t exist and I’m happy it worked out for you. Necessity is the mother of invention. I’m a former cadd engineer myself. I just don’t see the practicality of this item. As a Clam Plate user, it’s going to take a lot more than bar stock and an industrial frisbee to make me switch just for convenience sake.

For what it’s worth, in the one season I didn’t use the Plate, I never had the drill chuck come loose or slip ever.