Convert Hand Auger via Hand Drill Question

[masoct3]

I thought there was a topic on this as I performed a search.

I was just wondering if I can get people's opinion on electric drill hand auger adapter to use on the ICE.

Specifically:

-Experience, true amount of holes over 10 inches

-Brand of a good drill adapter

Thank you so much,

[dairyman]

first off-----what type of auger are you going to use. If it's the older mora then you will need a special adapter that will work with the threaded head of the auger. 6 inch is the recommended size for the hand drill adapter,you'll get a lot more holes

[hunt3r]

i cant speak for that much ice yet but with 3 to 4 inches i got atleast 50 holes with a 8 inch strikemaster. and if you can weld or have a buddy that can its really easy to make with some conduit and a socket adapter for a drill i think it was a 3/8.......you dont even really need to make a good weld just get them to stick, and make a tether cuz everyone says the bit will loosen eventually

[masoct3]

first off-----what type of auger are you going to use. If it's the older mora then you will need a special adapter that will work with the threaded head of the auger. 6 inch is the recommended size for the hand drill adapter,you'll get a lot more holes

I will be using the Strikemaster Lazer Hand Auger. Never been used before. Purchased this year. Had a subpar auger last 2 years (my third year of ice fishing now) and 24 inches of ice is so hard. Anyways, yes, a 6 inch Lazer. I was hoping it could even just help the thick ice I run into. I use a 20v Black & Decker Driver/Drill up to 1/2 inch. Lithion battery.

Do you have any recommendations of brands or where to find them?

Thanks!

[masoct3]

I definitely would be hitting those holes myself in 4 inches of ice

[dairyman]

you can pick up a cheap one at any L&M Fleet supply stores

[masoct3]

you can pick up a cheap one at any L&M Fleet supply stores

The only problem is that I live in Minneapolis

[masoct3]

So, the FF had the nim-rod auger adapter. I had it for a day and returned it. Why? Because there is no safety harness in case the auger bit comes loose some how out of the chuck. It would just go down the hole with me holding a stupid drill.

So, I went to the big "C" and bought Ice Master's Auger Drill adapter. Why? Because there is a safety harness that straps around the drill and built into a piece below the wingnut connection, see below. (It is a one inch adapter, compared to the 12" ones like the Nim Ric).

Ice Master Link

In sumary, I have a Strikemaster Lazer Hand Auger and will use this for situations I could run into, depending on the part of the season.

Thanks again.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I think I would have bought an old usd power auger before I dropped that much money into a hand, electric drill, auger adapter

[masoct3]

I think I would have bought an old usd power auger before I dropped that much money into a hand, electric drill, auger adapter

It's terrible that I have two herniated disks as well.

Lazer-$80

Adapter-$27

Already had drill and use drill very frequently.

Well, it works for me.

[CoreyS]

Kluge adaptors work very nice and they have a t-bar to prevent your auger going down the hole. I've only seen them on Ice Fishing Todays web site. They are $45.00.

[Mike Walerak]

I use Nimrod attachments without a problem. Nimrod also makes a safty deal that looks like a screwdriver handle fitted onto a collar and goes onto the attachement itself. It works well. I drill 5" and 6" holes with my 18V drill through thin ice. I can drill about 20-30 holes before the battery dies. My brother drills 8" holes with his 20V drill without a problem.

The only reason I use the drill setup is to cut weight when hiking into refuges. Any other time it is the power auger.

mw

[hydro]

I used mine for the first time today and it worked perfect. I made the adaptor patterned after the Ice Master product and fitted it to my old Mora 7" drill. It works best on the slowest speed possible and instead of pushing down I found it worked better to actually hold the drill up to prevent snagging when breaking through. I drilled about 10 holes in 6" of ice with no noticable drain on the battery. Oh, BTW, the drill is the new Hitachi 18V brushless 1/2" model.

[masoct3]

Yeah, that is pretty much it. I see the same reason of using the nim-rod as well, but its nice to see a safety rope connected the drill.

[srlaskey]

I connected a 14.4 dewalt to a 6" strikemaster lazer. I get about 8 holes per ni-cd battery in 20-22" of ice. I got a lithium-ion battery last year, and that will cut about 14 holes per charge. When cutting thru ice less than 12", you can cut a ton of holes before the two batteries quit.

[panski master]

I went the same route but instead of a 14 volt drill I went with a gas powered drill. The drill itself only weighs 10lbs. and with the lazer 7 inch I'm guessing it weighs 16lbs. I have a echo drill but tananka also makes them. I've been really happy with the performance so far and with it being so light drilling 20-30 is not tiresome. The gas drills are pretty expensive ($500) so I found a used one and paid $100 for it. So now I have a super light weight gas powered auger! If your a panfish man like me this is something you may want to look into. Yes you do have to mix gas and oil but I think that far outweighs the 14 volt (with limited holes) and drilling with any other gas auger out there. I have probaly drilled 250 holes with it already and the auger adapter has not come loose in the drill chuck. For extra caution I took a piece of thick plastic 8 inches long and drilled a center hole through to slide it on the auger shaft just in case the auger would come loose.

[SkunkedAgain]

I used to use my 18v DeWalt drill with my 8" Lazer. I don't remember where I bought the adapter, but haven't used it in years. I found that the drill worked well for the first couple of holes but unless you kept the battery warm, it would lose power. Granted I was cutting through a 12"+ of ice. What I really didn't like was not having an easy ability to switch back to the hand auger. Pulling the adapter off and putting the hand attachment back on in the cold was a PITA. I find that hang augering a hole is a great way to warm up when cold.

I eventually bought a 6" Nils so now cutting through 24" of ice is a breeze.