Clam auger drill plate

[papadarv]

Clam sells a auger drill plate to attach one of the 18+volt drills to an auger. I have a Dewalt 18v 3/8" drill and like to know if anyone has or is using one of these drill plates. I'm thinking it might be a good tool to pop a 4" or 5" hole looking for fish instead of the larger 10 incher. I have a 10" auger I use to drill fishing holes but it does take a bit of effort to drill a bunch of search holes.

I see clam just announced a new plate redesigned so you no longer need to remove the drill chuck.

http://clamoutdoors.com/store/clam/augers/drill-auger-conversion-kit.html

I do plan to stop by their Stat Fair office/booth at the Northwest corner of Lee Ave. & Cooper St. Just looking for some hands on experience and the size auger you use.

Edited August 23, 2015 by papadarv

[monstermoose78]

It is slick I have seen a few of them in action I am thinking of using my 7 inch lazer hand auger. If my I can find it at my dad's. 

[papadarv]

Great Moose, I'm thinking 4" but they are hard to find so maybe 5". I see a couple on Craigslist under $25. If anyone around the metro area that has an old 5 incher, that's ready to be trashed, with or without blades let me know.

[monstermoose78]

Any one out there tried using 7 or 8 inch auger on Drill Plate. Can someone out there share how many holes you can cut with a 6 inch auger? 

Any put a 20 volt drill on it yet?

 

[nengervang]

Number of holes is dependent on your specific drill and battery. Using a Dewalt 20v DCD995, I avg 40-50 holes per battery with a Nils 6" bit.  The drill plate gives you a better grip for drilling, but for portability, I don't even use the drill plate. Just tighten/clamp the Nils trekker directly into the drill chuck.  The drill plate is good for Strikemaster drill bits.

[tinker]

I have a Clam plate with a 18 v  Milwaukee all fuel drill and love it. I use a 8 in Nils and also a 6 in Mora . I do just as you say,drill the smaller hole locate fish and then cut with the bigger blade.

I have cut as many as 16 - 20 holes with the 8 inch  in aprox 3 ft ice before having to change a battery. With the 6 in its well over 30 holes. As a matter of fact my fishing partner thinks its a trolling motor !!!

I have 3 - 4 amp batteries that I carry in an insulated bag . If it is really cold I'll slip in a hand  warmer. I  quite frankly have not had a  problem due to  cold batteries. My Clam is the type you have to remove the drill chuck . I understand Clam now has one that connects right to the drill. I have tried my Dewalt 18 v with the lower amp batteries and wasn't impressed.  FYI  Ridgid suppose to have one great drill on the market now.

Happy drilling.

 Tinker

[hydro]

To the OP, you may need more drill power than a 3/8" unit. I have heard that the smaller drills tend to burn up due to the heavy load from the ice auger. You want a drill that produces at least 550 in/lbs of torque and has 4 AH batteries. The more torque capacity, the more able the drill is to dissipate the heat. FYI, the Milwaukee M18 Fuel 1/2" hammer drill unit generates 720 in/lbs of torque and has performed well. (I just bought one for this winter) In the past I have used a Hitachi 1/2" drill that generated 660 in/lbs and it was able to drill 32 7" holes in 18" of ice, at about 10 degrees, with one 4 AH battery. Works rather well. I have not used my gas auger for 3 years. Take a look at the video, -17 degrees and 32" of ice. about 13 holes per battery that day.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVwVD61Wb1c

[monstermoose78]

Any of you use the car chargers for your batteries when you are fishing?

[papadarv]

Any of you use the car chargers for your batteries when you are fishing?

 

Being this is Clam Auger Drill plate thread I am guessing you mean your drill batteries. If so the answer is DO NOT use your car charger.

Drill batteries are Nickel Cadmium, somewhere between 14 Volt to 20 Volt. Common car chargers are 6 Volt or 12 Volt. In addition NiCad uses a much smaller charge current, usually not to exceed 1.5 amps. Most common car chargers output 2 amps and up.

If you referring to you 12V Aqua View / Vexilar sealed type battery, they are only charged at 100ma to 500ma. Putting a battery directly or car charger to one of these could cause an explosion as both of these will output way too high a current for these small sealed 12V battery.

If you really need to charge one of your small batteries on the ice, buy one of the cheap Dc to Ac converters, the kind you plug into a cig. Lighter socket. It converts the 12 volts DC to 110 Volt AC. Than plug the manufacture provided charger into the converter.

If you’re at home, just use the manufacture recommended charger that came with your drill or Aqua View.

[monstermoose78]

A charger for the drill batteries that plugs into your truck is what I meant. 

I want to see if anyone used one and how well they worked before I buy one

[papadarv]

OK I understand, a decent one will run about $130.

I would still go with one of the 12v DC to 110v AC converters. 150 watts AC (1.32) amps about $30, 300 watt (2.7 amp) $40 both will have enough power to run your normal AC charger. Or go with the 750 watt (6.8 amp) at $65. The Truck DC drill battery charger limits you to ONLY charging the drill battery. The converter also gives you AC to run almost anything you desire off the truck battery. Just keep the engine running.  They are easy to find, Travel Center, Auto shop, Walmart etc. I traveled a lot and used them all the time. They work really well  and I always have a couple with me.

Just a thought

[MN BassFisher]

I purchased the Dewalt 20V Brushless Kit (DCD990M2) recently, have a new Clam plate on order and am going to be using a new 6" Strikemaster Lazer hand auger bit. The kit comes with (2) 4Ah Li-Ion batteries and I hope to buy (2) 5Ah batteries and I will be stocked for the season! 

[TBWayne]

The new clam plate requires a 1/2 inch chuck 

[monstermoose78]

I purchased the Dewalt 20V Brushless Kit (DCD990M2) recently, have a new Clam plate on order and am going to be using a new 6" Strikemaster Lazer hand auger bit. The kit comes with (2) 4Ah Li-Ion batteries and I hope to buy (2) 5Ah batteries and I will be stocked for the season! 

I got the DCD985 with two-3 Ah batteries and am looking the 5Ah batteries as well. I ordered the drill plate and clams hand auger/

[tinker]

Monstermoose78

You are going to love this set up . Depending on the size of your auger and how many holes you normally drill  I would suggest trying the 3amp batteries before spending the extra cash . You might be surprised .

[hydro]

I agree on the 3 AH batteries. Give them a try before dumping lots of money on the 5 AH batteries. 

Also, what you will find with any cordless drill/auger combo is that it is not a tool for the "Run and Gun" 100 holes per day style of fishing. You will need to think a bit about where you fish and where to drill holes. The primary reason for this is not that you will not have the battery power to punch lots of holes, but rather that the drill motor will heat up as you drill, requiring a cool down time between holes or groups of holes. As the drill motor runs under load it creates heat and warms up. There is a fan in the drill to reduce this heat build up, but it is not designed be enough for continuous use. If you do not allow some cool down time, you will burn up any drill motor, no matter how robust the marketing may have presented it's capability.Keep this in mind and watch for the heating as you drill. Once you smell hot electrical insulation, it may be too late.

[MN BassFisher]

I watched half of the Ultimate Panfish League members last year use the Drill Plate for running and gunning and very few of them reported Drill problems. That's a good thing to keep in mind though as I just purchased a DeWalt 20V for my Drill Plate this year.

[tinker]

That's a great point hydro although I have never had problems with my Milwaukee it is something to keep in mind. The battery drills do generate a surprising amount of power and that's why I like the Clam Plate as it helps stabilize you when you are drilling . I use my drills for everything I can, as a matter of fact I have just made an adapter to operate the winch on my boat trailer . I will be field testing it soon and if I don't break an arm I'll post the results.

[hydro]

I thought I would post the heat issue as I have both seen and heard of drills that were not quite powerful enough giving up on the job. Granted, most of them were not the 1/2" heavy duty Milwaukee, DeWalt etc. products and probably did not have the ability to generate the torque under load necessary to accomplish the task. 

[monstermoose78]

I am excited to use it and report how works out for me. 

[papadarv]

Got a 5" StrikeMaster bit, waiting for plate and some ice. Primary use plan is hole hoping looking for crappie-gills & Walleye. Will report after first time out also.

[icemac33]

I love it. Home Depot will have their DeWalt 20V drills on sale for under $100 real soon if they don't already. I bought one just for this use and never take it off. Don't know how many holes I can drill on one charge but get quite a whole bunch in early ice on the backwaters with the smallest battery (I think it is a 1.5 amp). Keep a spare one  warm in my pocket just in case. Have had no problem later in the season too. Plan on getting a 4.0 amp battery this year and have bought the auger extension. Gonna try it in the permanent. Good luck.

[BoxMN]

Hey guys,

I wasn't really interested in this until my old SM Mag III had a carb death this fall. I can't seem to find a new carb for it, and not sure if a kit will fix it. So anyway...

Saw this stuff, and wondering if it is smarter to get this plate as I already have spare 18v Dewalts with 1/2" chuck, and batteries, and a good and sharp SM 8.25" chipper drill. The 8" drill is the question mark for me though. 

But, I only use it for drilling or redrilling holes in a perm shack, and only 5 of them. Maybe a few/half dozen tip up holes as well outside.But I have a newer working Lazer Pro as well for the hole hoping stuff, but it just stinks at redrilling.

So, could I reasonably expect to get about 10 holes drilled through 20" of ice with this using a 8.25" chipper drill? If so, the $60 for the plate is probably better than how ever much it will cost me to try and repair/replace the carb (that no longer is available).

Thanks for any info or suggestions!

[MN BassFisher]

I used mine over the weekend on about 5" of ice. I used the 7" Lazer bit as we were targeting Walleye. I'm excited to see how it rips with the 5: Lazer bit! It worked pretty well, got hung up on the final punch through the ice quite a few times but I just had to lift and finish it off. I punched 80 holes Saturday, most of them coming from 1 4ah battery. I bought this years model of the Drill Plate where you don't have to take the chuck off your drill. I had my chuck slip off the bit twice on Saturday which makes me a bit worried. I had to hand tighten it and continue on which wasn't a huge deal but I'm worried about stripping over time and I do not want to have to worry about this during tournaments. I think I'm going to search for last years model so I can have peace of mind.

[papadarv]

All battery drill chucks can be locked by turning them backward one click after they are tight. May help with your loose chuck.

[MN BassFisher]

56 minutes ago, papadarv said:

All battery drill chucks can be locked by turning them backward one click after they are tight. May help with your loose chuck.

Is that right? I'll have to give that a try!

[Brad B]

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 4:13:48, BoxMN said:

 

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 4:13:48, BoxMN said:

Hey guys,

I wasn't really interested in this until my old SM Mag III had a carb death this fall. I can't seem to find a new carb for it, and not sure if a kit will fix it. So anyway...

Saw this stuff, and wondering if it is smarter to get this plate as I already have spare 18v Dewalts with 1/2" chuck, and batteries, and a good and sharp SM 8.25" chipper drill. The 8" drill is the question mark for me though.

But, I only use it for drilling or redrilling holes in a perm shack, and only 5 of them. Maybe a few/half dozen tip up holes as well outside.But I have a newer working Lazer Pro as well for the hole hoping stuff, but it just stinks at redrilling.

So, could I reasonably expect to get about 10 holes drilled through 20" of ice with this using a 8.25" chipper drill? If so, the $60 for the plate is probably better than how ever much it will cost me to try and repair/replace the carb (that no longer is available).

Thanks for any info or suggestions!

the 8.25" auger from your power auger will not fit on the plate as the shaft diameter on the plate is made for the use of hand augers only on the plate. the plate was designed to be used with a 6 inch hand auger for best results. people  have used 7 inch and even  a few 8 inch hand augers on the plate but it is not recommended as it will burn the drill out faster. Like was said already a lot of the UPL guys run the plate and they have even went to using a  5 inch auger. these guys would not be running them if they didn't work. I have been running mine going on the third season (that is once we get ice this year) now. I just got a second plate and set that up with a 5 inch auger. plan to use that when scouting the lake out.  they are probably one of the best things designed since the flip over fish trap it self. last year I only used the gas auger once and that was only because I was fishing northern on tip ups. everything was drilled with the plate and a 6 inch auger.

one word of advice is not to get the cheap $100 dewalt drills that home depot have. I made that mistake on my first plate. I got the dewalt 770 then burnt it up and had to up to a 995. stay away from the 700 dewalts and go with a 900 series if you go with a dewalt.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Brad B