When fishing in winter, one of the most important devices is an ice screw. Today in stores there is a huge selection of different ice drills, both manual and electric ice drills, with two and three blades, with right and left threads. But today we will talk about a rather rare species: a ring ice drill or, as it is also called, a “ring ice drill,” which is not popular among fishermen. It’s completely in vain, since it has a number of advantages over auger ice screws.
We have already discussed which ice screw is better to choose in this article. Now let’s take a closer look at a rare type of ice auger - the ring auger.
Conditions for proper operation of the ring ice auger:
Due to the fact that the rod in the ring ice drill is shifted from the center by the radius of the ring, the stop handle should be located on an imaginary line passing through the center of the ring.
If this condition is not met, then the rod on which the ring is attached breaks the ice glass ahead of time and complicates the process of drilling the hole.
The continuation line of the cutting edge of the knife should pass through the center of the ring.
— the knife mount is made in such a way that it is possible to change the length of the extension of the cutting part beyond the plane of the ring.
— the angle of “attack” (cutting angle) should be 40-50 degrees. The cutting angle varies depending on the structure of the ice (loose or dense ice, wet or brittle).
Let's narrow down the topic and clarify the choice
So what kind of ice drill screwdriver should we choose to make a hole in a short period of time and not even break a sweat?
Naturally, a household screwdriver with a voltage of 12V is of little use for such work since it does not have sufficient torque, which should be in the range of 50 - 80 Nm.
The choice should be made on an 18-volt screwdriver or its more professional cousin at 36 volts.
Which screwdriver battery to choose?
Since in winter the temperature rarely rises above zero, and even not in all regions, the battery bears a great responsibility in terms of survivability in the cold.
There are three main types of batteries:
- Nickel metal hydride (Ni-Mh);
- Nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd);
- Lithium-ion (Li-Ion).
The most common are lithium-ion, which have undeniable advantages such as increased capacity, low self-discharge and low maintenance.
However, the operating temperature range is worse than that of nickel-cadmium from -20 to +60. Recommended operating temperature is +20.
Nickel-cadmium is more resistant to low temperatures, operating range is from -50 to +40. Another advantage is the ability to store it in a discharged state, which cannot be said about lithium-ion. And this is already a serious application for choice.
A nickel-metal hydride battery has a lot of advantages, such as lighter weight, increased energy intensity, and a small “memory effect,” but at a temperature of -10 it will quickly discharge, which will greatly upset its owner who is planning to drill dozens of holes.
It is also necessary to pay attention to the capacity of the batteries so that it is enough not for a couple of holes, but for a couple of dozen, and this capacity starts from 2.5 ampere hours, preferably 3 Ah.
Important part, ice auger adapter
An adapter for an ice auger with a screwdriver can be bought at any fishing store, it will cost around 500 rubles, and its design is not so complicated, I think if you show the picture to any mechanic, he will make it for you cheaper and of no worse quality.
Adapter drawing for ice auger
But if there is a great desire to make an adapter with your own hands, then it is enough to take a thick-walled tube or rod. A regular bit will fit under the shank for a screwdriver.
By welding, connect one to the other, of course maintaining alignment. It is not difficult to drill a hole on the side to connect the adapter to the ice screw.
Or you can make an adapter with a thread for installation instead of a cartridge, as shown in the video. Perhaps this is the best option.
Advantages
- One of the advantages of a ring ice drill is that it drills a glass in the ice along the diameter of the ring. Less energy is wasted when drilling due to the fact that there is no need to destroy this ice cylinder, while when drilling with auger ice screws you put additional effort into destroying this glass.
- After drilling a hole, you do not need to make up and down movements to pump water (to clear the hole of ice), here you just need to lift the ring a little and pull the ice cylinder out of the hole.
- The edges of the hole are smooth. Because of this, the fishing line does not cling to the edges of the hole, reducing the likelihood of the fishing line breaking.
- The cutting edge away from the ice is sharpened, and the cutting plane always remains straight. While in classic ice screws it’s the other way around. The convenience is that if you change the sharpening angle of the knife when sharpening, there is nothing to worry about, since the cutting angle will not change.
Requirements for screwdriver parameters
The choice of a screwdriver for an ice drill is based on the tasks facing it, namely to work well and for a long time:
Tips for fisherman: 18-volt cordless screwdriver for ice auger - What to choose for fishing
Next, you have to decide what kind of battery is needed so that after a few minutes your screwdriver does not turn into an unnecessary unit, uselessly dragged around a pond. Basically, fishermen settle on three types of batteries:
As practice has shown, most often fishermen prefer nickel-cadmium batteries. Despite their weight, they cope with the main responsibility of a good ice drill - to break through any ice, regardless of severe frosts. And this, you see, is an important factor in winter fishing.
Battery capacity is not the last thing when choosing a screwdriver. It should not be less than 2.5-3 Ah in order to have time to drill several dozen holes before the battery is completely discharged.
How to choose a battery?
Drilling a hole
If you start drilling a hole like an ice auger, then you are unlikely to be able to do it or it will require a lot of effort. In order to drill a hole with a ring ice drill, its ring is placed at an angle to the ice surface and the rod to which the ring is attached is lightly pressed with your foot. Several revolutions are made so that the ring can stick into the ice, and then the bar is leveled, making the axis of rotation perpendicular to the ice.
When catching large fish, it is often necessary to drill a hole in order to get the fish out from under the ice. You all know how difficult and sometimes almost impossible it is to drill overlapping holes with a conventional auger ice drill. There will be no problems when drilling intersecting holes with a ring drill; moreover, you won’t even put in more effort than when drilling one hole.
A ring ice auger is much quieter than auger augers, so it doesn’t scare away fish as much
Purpose, designs, features of adapters
The purpose of the described device is to transfer rotation from a power tool to an ice drill. Many industrially manufactured adapters are made with a handle to more securely hold the tool during use. Adapter designs vary. The simplest adapter is a metal sleeve, one end is fixed to the ice auger auger, and the other has a hexagonal shank for fixation in the chuck of a power tool. With this design, a safety washer (or plate) is often used, which prevents the auger part of the drill from going under the ice if the shank suddenly jumps out of the chuck.
A slightly more complex adapter for an ice drill for a screwdriver, for example, the ASh-400 model, designed for Barnaul Tonar drills, is actually the same simple adapter. On one side, the device is attached to the auger part of the drill, on the other, it has a hexagon for mounting in a screwdriver chuck. The difference is the presence of a handle, which not only allows you to hold the entire structure while drilling, but also acts as a limiting element that helps you not to lose the auger if the hexagon suddenly slips out of the chuck. The price of this adapter is 900–1000 rubles.
Using the device requires a few simple steps:
- The bolt connecting the two parts of the drill is unscrewed.
- Instead of the upper part of the drill with handles, an adapter is mounted to the auger.
- The hexagonal shank is clamped into the chuck of a screwdriver (or impact wrench).
The electrically driven ice auger is ready for use. After use or if you need to switch back to manual drilling, dismantle the adapter in the reverse order. For Tonar ice drills, the ASh-800 adapter is also available, the main difference of which is the ability to adjust the drilling depth (which may be useful for northern regions, where the ice thickness is often greater than the auger part of the ice drill). The price of this model is practically no different from the cost of the ASh-400 adapter. For ice drills of the Iceberg series, an adapter ASh-05 is produced, the fundamental difference of which is the diameter of the output shaft, equal to 22 mm.
Read also: Current stabilizer on mc34063
The Icebite adapter, which uses a planetary gearbox, increases torque by 3.2 times. The device weighs less than one and a half kilograms including handles. Using adapters, it can be mounted on almost any type of modern ice drills - Heinola, Rapala, Lazer, Nero, Mora, Leningrad or Tonar. The gearbox housing and elements are metal. The most important thing is that the adapter with a gear allows you to use household screwdrivers for drilling ice, and almost everyone has this tool today. The price of such a device is 4.5-4.8 thousand rubles.
The use of a reduction gear turns out to be simpler and, as a result, more accessible. The rotation speed of the screw, of course, decreases, but the load on the tool also decreases. Due to the increase in torque, it remains possible to use screwdrivers that are not of the highest power, and the design of the gearbox itself is simpler. The geometric dimensions of the gearbox will not allow the ice auger to fall under the ice. You can assemble this kind of adapter for an ice drill for a screwdriver yourself, but they are also available for sale. The price of a gear reducer equipped with handles for holding during operation is 3–3.5 thousand rubles.
Making a motor drill from a trimmer is much easier than it might seem at first glance. All work can be done independently using available materials by purchasing a certain number of spare parts. Let's study the procedure for making a unit at home in more detail.
About the gearbox
There are four types of gearboxes:
- With shaft rotating clockwise
- With factory shaft, counterclockwise rotating
- Reversible
- Planar
All of them are good, especially in specific situations. But when assembling a homemade motor drill for household work, it is better to take a factory reversible gearbox.
If the drill gets stuck rotating in one direction, then by changing the direction of rotation on this gearbox, it can be easily removed.
