Ion auger vs. clam drill conversion

[Ishmel]

Has anyone tried the clam drill conversion? Opinions vs the ion auger? Sorry if this was posted before, I searched as was surprised to come up empty.

[BartmanMN]

Not sure if you used the search on the left hand side or the top. The search on the left is much better. Try that one and you should find many posts on both the ion and Clam drill plate

[hydro]

I'll weigh in here with a bit of electrical stuff. The Ion Auger uses a 40V 3 AH battery whereas a cordless drill on the Clam Plate is most likely 18 or 20V and 3 or 4 AH capacity. Now, to drill a hole in ice it takes "Work" or energy over time to remove the ice. Since electrical energy doing work is expressed as Watts, and Watts are Volts times Amps, the math is straightforward. Multiply the battery voltage times the battery amp/hour capacity and you get watt/hours or work over time. I am ignoring heat and resistance losses here to not sweat the little stuff.

Assuming you are using a drill on the Clam Plate with shaver blades like the Ion blades, the work/time number should be directly proportional. The Ion auger should give 40V X 3 AH or 120Watt/hours of drilling. A cordless drill on the Clam Plate (Milwaukee Fuel-18V with 4 AH battery) would give you 72 Watt/hours. Therefore the Ion will drill more holes with the same diameter drill.

Check the overall weight of the two products, the assembled price, replacement battery costs, and make your decision.

[Ishmel]

Thanks for the replies. The left side search function worked much better, and I appreciate the help with the power question. I don't need to drill many holes so I might try the drill conversion.

[hydro]

Ishmel, I use the cordless drill conversion, but not the Clam Plate assembly. You can buy a converter at any of the big sporting stores or just look up "Ice Master" and you should find it. Advantage is without the plate it is lighter weight and easier to stow in the sled. The plate offers some extra rigidity to the drill shaft and bearings but you have to remove the chuck which is not easy to do. There's also that extra $80.00 cost factor for the plate in addition to the $250 or so for the cordless drill.

You will need a powerful drill. I run a Hitachi 18V with 660 inch pounds of torque and 3 AH batteries and it works great for me. A drill with less torque capacity will tend to overheat after several holes so be careful when shopping. Check out the new Chicago Pneumatic cordless tools. Physically the same as Milwaukee "Fuel", specs out better, and less $ to bring home.