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.

[Ishmel]

Thanks hydro, I've been using an adapter for my dewalt xrp cordless, but am concerned about frying the thing or stripping out the gears. I thought the plate adapter might take some stress off the drill, but maybe it's not needed. For the cost of the drill and plate, I'm almost to the cost of an ion, so I will consider going that direction.

[Smoker]

Ions are going fast. One store was sold out and the other [GM] only had 2 left plus the display. I was going to wait till next week to get mine but decided to get it today.

[aanderud]

Thanks hydro, I've been using an adapter for my dewalt xrp cordless, but am concerned about frying the thing or stripping out the gears. I thought the plate adapter might take some stress off the drill

I don't think the clam plate has anything that physically takes stress off the drill (no gear reduction, no clutch to disengage at some particular torque level, or anything like that). I think if anything the clam plate is probably harder on the drill because the wider handles on it allow the user to easily hold it and thus utilize more of the drill's available torque than they would be able to do if holding the drill directly.

[Brad B]

the large bearing on the bottom of the plate takes some of the stress off the drill but to what degree has not been stated.

[Moose]

I like my Drill plate and small auger. I use an older Dewalt 18v and find it works out well. I drill maybe 10-15 holes an outing and use 1 battery in ice under 12" and 2 in ice over 12". I love the portability of the plate combo but need to gt an extension as the ice get's thicker. The combo come apart and stores easily in my car for the runs up north.

[amateurfishing]

I have the full clam with extension and 6 inch auger with dewalt 980 model 20v 3 ah batteries. U can easily drill 40-60 holes on 1 battery. The weight of the plate is nothing. Super easy to put in sled. I have actually used this on every outing of mine this season cept one particulary because ice depth has remained constant (12") by me for quite a while. Only had gas auger out once and that was due to sub zero temps when I thought battery may be affected. Absolutely hands down one of my best major purchases in past 2 years, im a runner and gunner.