New Solo Lazer Mag Owner…..I know…..

So this is a 2 part question. Recently my dad gave me his Solo Lazer Mag since he switched to the electric drill conversion kit. This drill is a 2011 or 2012 right around that age and ever since he’s owned it and it continues obviously now she really grips at the end of the hole to the point if you’re new to using it you could dislocate your shoulder now I’ve heard this could be the pitch of the auger itself? Could it be blades? The auger tears through the ice until you get to the end of the hole and you almost have to “feather” it. Any ideas on that?

Next question…this last weekend I was out fishing the cities (it was warm and gorgeous) got the SM started up and ripped like 15 holes. After sitting for awhile (maybe 30 min or so) went to drill another set of holes and about half way down when drilling a hole (10″ or so) it started to bog down almost to the point of dying. The auger never had a problem starting, it was just having problems while cutting holes under load. I then noticed black “sludge” on the gas tank (course the exhaust points right at the gas tank) and once started the auger would spin. I thought the sludge was gear lube from grabbing so hard, but started researching and am kinda wondering whats going on. I let the auger sit for awhile and obviously got upset, after sitting I started it back up and started drilling again and probably drilled another 20 holes over the course of the weekend with no issues.

Throw me your ideas/thoughts…..I love this auger………especially since I got it for free

My dad never changed the plug? Never got a carb tune-up? In the manual it says to shut off between drilling holes? Too much gas in the tank?

What’s the mixure of oil to fuel you are using? By your description you could be running it too rich which will cause it to bog down and could be the black sludge you are seeing. When you are running it, are you seeing a fair amount of black smoke coming out? I have a lazer pro and have no issues at the bottom of the hole which is a 3hp, but the 2.5hp shouldn’t have any problems either.

Brian- I’ve owned this same auger, for 3 plus years never had and issues with it grabbing as it penetrates last ice. As far as bogging issues don’t know where you located but d-rock landscaping and or h20 outfitters in big lake would be a great place to make a phone call to and can address all of your issues…Kent

It’s not uncommon for 2 strokes to run poorly at one extreme of the temperature scale. Your carb is probably set to run too rich in warm weather.

As for the bottom of the hole deal, mine grabs pretty hard at the bottom also. I find sharp blades and minimal down pressure help a lot. Make sure the blade bolts are tight.

I run nothing but synthetic oil (Amsoil Sabre) at roughly 70 to 1 and I also add a little seafoam as well. As others have said you maybe running too heavy of an oil mixture.

As far as grabbing at the bottom of the hole, make sure you are not pushing down on the auger and that the blades are sharp. Mine will grab a little when the blades start to dull a little. You will get the hang of feathering it at the bottom after a little use.

As others have noted above the grabbing at the bottom of the hole is caused by something being off with your blades/pitch. I will echo what has already been said and if that doesn’t help a quick trip to a service center to get the blade pitch checked would be my next recommendation.

As far as the bogging down after drilling several holes it sounds like what could have happened was condensation in the fuel breather line which was cutting off its air. If it ever happens again try opening the fuel cap and if that fixes the problem you will want to clean and dry the hose and small foam filter at the end once you get home.

Will

I had the grabbing issue and found that one of the blades had loosened, I defrosted to melt off all the ice and tightened the blade bolts and cured the problem. I am also getting the black slug coming out the exhaust and believe I may have mixed the fuel too rich.

I always use premium fuel and mix a little rich

When is the last time new/sharp blades went on your SM?

If I was a betting man I would guess it’s either a long time or never. Had the same issue catching at the bottom with my older Mag Express. Magically cleared up as soon as I put a new set on.

I havent replaced the blades yet and my dad never did, thing is he had this problem right from the get go when he first got the auger, while cutting holes the blades are super sharp (no downward pressure put on the auger)

Also I mix one little container of SM oil to 1 gallon of gas

Thanks for all the ideas

D-rock is great, If you need service head there without question. Your problem with the bottom hole grab is common, be sure to use little to NO pressure when cutting holes especially at the bottom. As for the cutting out issue, I would look to Drock to rebuild the carb and do a full tune up, It is around $60-75 I believe.

Will Roseberg wrote:

As far as the bogging down after drilling several holes it sounds like what could have happened was condensation in the fuel breather line which was cutting off its air. If it ever happens again try opening the fuel cap and if that fixes the problem you will want to clean and dry the hose and small foam filter at the end once you get home.

Will

How would one fix this? Simply dry it out in a warm spot?

My new Jiffy 4 stroke stopped working Saturday AM 2 miles out on Leech had to run back (and miss primetime bite) and grab my dad’s SM Honda lite and used that the remainder of trip but same thing, would dog out every once in a while on holes, he said it never did that before. That morning everything had frozen condensation on it, thick.

Seems pretty crappy that could shutdown an auger, at least the SM fought through it.

I had the same problem with the bottom of the hole from day one. I did not know better as it was my first auger. A buddy of mine used my auger and said what is wrong with your auger grabbing at the end of the hole. I took it to Strikemaster now H20 and they adjusted my pitch. It has been great ever since. Except the engine is a POS (Techcuseh)

It only bogged down for that little while. After letting it sit for a bit it started back up great and was running well the rest of the weekend, wondering if there was some build up of some sort. Hopefully it runs well this weekend as we are headed to Upper Red

-b-

I’m betting if you check for a made in stamp on the blades you’ll find China. The China blades are know for binding up at the bottom of a hole. I had a set of China blades on a Lazer and experienced the same issue. If they are China then get a new set of Sweden blades.

IMO it seems like both hand and power augers that the blades bolt onto the head catch at the bottom of the hole. When the leading cutting blade first breaks through the bottom of the hole there is ice in front of it that is a solid edge and the bolt heads that stick up hit that edge of ice and grab. That is why you need to lift it up or feather it at the bottom. If you had a auger with a cutting head instead of bolted on blades there is nothing to catch at the bottom of the hole. Just my .02 worth.

My dad gave me a new set of replacement blades for Christmas….maybe ill just throw them on for the heck of it….off to the garage to see what i have on there

As I’ve been thinking through things I thought of something when I came across another bottle of that SM oil. It says to add 1 bottle of oil to 1 gallon of premium gas. Now I cant remember if the fuel was premium or not, I know its fresh this year, but could something like that affect performance like I experienced? Again just wondering, if I have issues this weekend I’m going to call D-Rock, they arent far from me.

I’m also going to install these new blades and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for your input!!!

-b-

I have had my lazer pro since 2011, wit a 10″ drill unit. Worked great. But for most of the fishing I do, the 10″ is overkill, so I sold it and bought an 8″ lazer unit (as well as a 10.25″ chipper drill unit).

My first hole popped, it dropped me to my knees. It wasn’t really breaking through the ice, but rather continuing drilling down (I wasn’t able to pull the auger straight back out with the auger spinning). I wasn’t putting any pressure on the auger at all. After almost breaking my arm the 2nd time, I learned I had to pull up on the auger as I was getting close to the bottom and it worked great. My last trip out, I popped about 15 holes, then I realized my auger wasn’t drilling as fast. Shut it off and one of my blades was missing. Wtf. Found the blade, but didn’t have my wrench with me. So I’m wondering if this bottom issue was related to a loose blade. Never thought to check it, but will be doing so regularly now. And these aren’t the China blades either.

Were you able to see if the old ones were the China blades?

They are the stock Mora blades made in Sweden, I’m still going to put on the new blades tonight.

I’ve also encountered the blades loosening, I check them all the time along with the bolt that holds the auger to the power head.

-b-

I’m not sure if the non-premium gas will make a ton of difference for bogging down, but if you’re having issues I’d get rid of it and get some non-oxy premium gas. Also I’d recommend trying to find some Amsoil Sabre Pro instead of the strikemaster oil. I know it gets talked up a lot, but it seems to work much better and a lot less smoke on top of it. I’ve used it the whole time I’ve had my auger so hard to compare, but my buddy says his starts/runs much better since switching.

Does your drill have “Mora” on a sticker on it? When the Solos first came out, there were some that had Mora drills and others that had some other make, but I don’t remember what. The Mora ones are the good ones.
The other ones had problems with pitch being off and if you had one you could send it in to Strikemaster and they would send you back a Mora one. Not sure what they would do if you are in that boat after all this time has elapsed.

I wouldn’t run strikemaster oil in anything, I remember years back I purchased strikemaster “smokeless” oil and tried to drill some holes in my house! I had to stop, I had never seen 2 stroke smoke from an auger like that before! I have used Amsoil ever since, no smoke that i can really tell anymore.

Update….this past weekend we were on Upper Red (and yes the drive home on Sunday was very scary) I never got to change the blades on the auger ( i have to go buy an allen wrench set since my dad replaced one blades bolts with allen screws) I’ve gotten a lot better with feathering the auger at the bottom of the ice and my buddy who I went with also has a Lazer (older model) but he’s always had the same problem. As for the bogging, it happened once after drilling about 20 holes or so. I let the auger sit for 30-45min and it worked just fine the rest of the weekend. Still kind of weird…..this week before my Mille Lacs trip this coming weekend I’m going to change the blades and see if that helps with the grabbing.

-b-