Electric Auger Attachment, Electric Auger Attachment

Hi,

I need some advice please.

I just bought a house, new boat and new SUV for the new boat so my spending $ is zapped at the moment. My summer will be sweet but my bank account drained faster than Niagara falls.

Therefore I went cheap with a ice tent (Junk) and hand auger to try Ice Fishing (first time ever) and going cheap seems to have bit me again.

After work today I went down to the lake walked 500+m out and started cranking, I was absolutely destroyed drilling through 14+" of ice. I got soaked, froze my $$% off and left after only an hour. O.K. maybe -30 wind chill does that but still. Yes I replaced the blades but it still took forever and I decided never again because this is for the Yonge pups and not this old man.

I was googling those electric drill attachment's just so I can keep going out for an hour or two each evening.

Am I still just going down the cheap path and it's a waste?

Should I call it until I can power up to a gas auger or will this help me to get out a few more times this year?

Thank you

We got the manual auger and the drill adapter for it, absolutely love it; highly recommend… and I’m a young-ish pup that went at it the old fashion way the first year (and didn’t find it too bad hand-bombing the holes) until we got the drill out when I realized manual augers are unnecessarily onerous. You won’t regret it - you don’t need the plate drill adapter thingy, just the bit between the drill and head of the auger. Make sure you get the plastic round attachment bigger than the diameter of your auger in case the chuck opens up, don’t want to lose your auger down the hole, cheers.

Depends on your definition of cheap. Fin-bore III is a great auger. Shouldn’t take more than a minute through that much ice. Cheaper and the batteries are never dead or cold. Don’t have extra weight or stuff to drag around. The problem is if you want multiple holes in quick succession, or damage the blades even the slightest, it can then become a chore. Depends on your needs.

"Make sure you get the plastic round attachment bigger than the diameter of your auger in case the chuck opens up, don’t want to lose your auger down the hole, cheers."

Fasten a frisbee at the top of your auger.

If you don't want to spend more money, I would suggest that you make sure your drill has enough power and that your batteries are good enough to withstand ice and the amount of holes you want to drill. Trust me, the worst thing is to have to buy a new drill because you burned it out (happened to me last year). That would be your first thing to check.

Drill is certainly the way to go though. I am fortunate to have received a very good drill for Xmas and got myself the Strikemaster auger bit. Sold my gas auger. My sleigh is way lighter and it is so easy to use.

Gas auger is great, but it’s bulky and heavy to lug around. I bought a drill adapter for $20, drilled a hole in a Frisbee and put that on my gas auger bit secured by a clamp. The frisbee is larger than my 8 inch auger to prevent losing it down the hole should my drill chuck come lose. I have an underpowered brushless dewalt, only 550 in/ lb torque. It drills through the ice no problem. It’s quiet, doesn’t stink up my hut and the drill was with me anyways for ice anchors. Just my two cents.

Will an 18volt drill turn a 6 in auged?

Of course. But you need a drill with enough torque. Get one with at least 700 inch-lb, for example Milwaukee M18 (yes 18V) FUEL Model Number 2804-20 or 2704-20 which has max 1,200 in-lb torque, paired with a Milwaukee M18 5.0 amp, 8.0 amp or even 9.0 amp battery

for a 6" auger you don't need a high torque drill. I used a small dewalt with the 6" no problem. i tried with an 8" and barley made one hole. I now have a bigger dewalt brushless that has around a 1000 inch pound of torque, can't remember exactly and I now get about 16 holes with a 5amp battery. I stole one of my sons soft insulted lunch bags and put extra batteries in it to help keep warm. If you need to buy new drill the milwakee fire seems to be the way to go from all I have heard. I have all dewalt equipment so I will keep using dewalt. I lost an auger down the hole once, the nut holding the safety bar came loose and I didn't notice and of course the chuck loosened off too. I got lucky local store happened to have the same auger without handle sold to me for cheap.

I went out and bought a "good" drill the best I could find at home depot and then the attachment.

I can get one hole done in 15" and a second part way through so it does get me set up but.....

My finally conclusion is that it's better than manually drilling a hole but if I could do it all again I would just go with a gas auger and be done with it.

After this year I'm going to mount this hand auger in my office as a reminder of what being cheap gets you.

I wouldn't get rid of my gas auger ever, but further testing on the drill option this year has shown that a proper hammer drill with an extreme cold capable battery really makes the difference....

We were out this past weekend, 5 guys. drilled sat sun and monday (about 4 hours each day) if i had to guess, 35-40 8" holes thru 17-20". Dewalt drill, (not sure the exact model) and buddy had the flexvolt 12AH. The battery was out in the elements the whole time, and did die near the end on monday on 1 charge from back home. It was pretty fricken cold and I was definitely impressed/shocked it kept going. We had the 10" gas along as backup and did some holes with it too at the start, the drill is just no fuss. If the battery was kept warm longer it probably wouldn't have died. As mentioned get a good drill I think his was maybe a 981?? that rings a bell. and a ring so if she goes she don't go thru the hole.

This post has been edited by Sev on Jan 25, 2022 - 07:50 am