Forum of the Sverdlovsk Regional Public Organization "League of Ural Fishermen"
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:51
In this topic, you can directly ask
- sharpening of ice auger knives of all manufacturers;
Dear anglers, we often receive questions about the repair of ice augers,
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:52
Many customers ask a question about the quality of knives for Mora ice screws.
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:54
Here, a little frost let go
Weather, class Fishermen absent
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:54
They brought the knives in
after sharpening.
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:56
Another pretty blockage has been repaired.
After resuscitation
There is a burr on the knives, which later after
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 08:57
They brought a copy here
After, they did not take pictures due to their appearance from others.
Nikolay66 »24 Jan 2013 09:22
With this drill, they drilled the bottom
Now we are trying to bring it to its original form.
Nikolay66 »22 Feb 2013 00:55
Freshly sharpened Rapala knives and a bent ice screw were tested today.
AlexLen »10 Mar 2013 19:40
August »09 Apr 2013 15:23
Nikolay66 »09 Apr 2013 16:32
Nikolay66 »09 Apr 2013 16:38
rust7439 12 Dec 2016 02:17
AlexLen »03 Feb 2017 14:30
You just need to call
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In the last decade, winter fishing anglers have acquired a rich selection of ice augers, both domestic and imported.But a real service department, designed to solve a considerable number of the standard set of problems arising during the operation of this fishing equipment, has not yet been created.
Probably for this reason, the editorial office receives a lot of calls, and also receives letters with questions regarding the restoration of the working capacity lost by the ice screw.
Perhaps this article will help to resolve a number of the most common problems, although the author once already considered a similar topic in the fishing periodicals.
Sooner or later, both domestic and imported ice screws begin to drill poorly in ice, regardless of what quality they originally had. But the duration of maintaining high parameters in the operation of the tool entirely depends on the conditions of its operation and the thoroughness of care for the cutting part of the ice auger.
It is bad when, after fishing, in the warmth, frozen water thaws on an ice drill, and the knives remain wet and rust until the next exit on the ice, while the thinnest part of the blade suffers, from which the knives become dull. The thawed ice screw should first be wiped with dry flannel, and then with a cloth slightly soaked in machine oil.
You can often see the following picture: a fisherman, as if confusing an ice drill with an ice drill, strikes it with knives on the ice with force, and then starts drilling. The bottom line is sad - hardened steel does not withstand shock loads, especially in frost, when it is most fragile, and ice is strong. The corners of the knives break off, and the drill, without significant vertical force, ceases to "bite" into the ice, works noisily, with a grinding noise, scaring the fish away.
A similar result, expressed in multiple micro-spalls at the cutting edge, is obtained when anglers, in an effort to speed up drilling, arbitrarily increase the cutting angle by placing shims under the knives on the side of the blade. Here you need some experience, gained over the years, otherwise, if the cutting angle is such that at a given air temperature, and therefore the strength of the ice, the permissible loads will be exceeded, small notches will appear on the edge of the sharp edge. The fact is that during drilling, an impact interaction occurs at an oblique angle of this edge with a layer of ice. If the angle is too steep, beyond the optimum, the steel begins to chip.
Conversely, if the ice is viscous, saturated with water, and drilling is under heavy stress, it is useful to reduce the cutting angle by installing shims under the back of the knives. For this purpose, it is convenient to use the halves of a safety razor, placing them one at a time, two, etc.
The so-called flat knives, which are unevenly loaded in the process of cutting ice along the length, have such a "sensitivity" to changes in operating conditions to a greater extent. The strongest loads are experienced by the weakest parts of the knives - their sharp angles directed downward and towards the axis around which the ice screw rotates. It is they who break off the ice, and the rest of them only "picks up" the ice stratum penetrated by microcracks.
In order to somehow increase the grip length of the flat knife with ice and thereby distribute the load along the cutting edge as much as possible, the anglers thought of a simple and original move. With light pressure, sliding a steel object along the inner surface of the knife blade, they slightly fill the cutting edge outward. This simple technique can even prolong the life of a "hooked" knife, but not with broken corners, for a while.
Such actions are much better than handicraft eyeliner in place with a diamond file, becauseamateur sharpening will ruin the cutting plane, and then the knife will have to be taken out for a long time. Do not sharpen knives on the emery wheel by hand. Even if they turn out to be perfectly flat and even, which, however, is almost impossible, their cutting edges will most likely be annealed, and such knives will not bury even in soft ice. It is better to give the knives sharpening to the master working on the grinding machine. There, in the process of abrasive processing, a special emulsion is supplied to the technological zone, cooling the metal. The knives are ideally sharp as a razor, the ice drill works with them almost silently, easily entering the ice without any pressure, only under its own weight.
Ice augers with removable flat blades are produced by a number of domestic enterprises, and for a long time the "Leningrad" auger rotors have been considered the best. With perfect sharpening of knives and correct operation, they drill ice very well.
More difficult in terms of technology are some foreign firms that produce, in addition to ice augers with flat knives, screw rotors equipped with curved or so-called removable spherical heads or knives with a complex sharpening profile. This is done just to reduce the impact on each local section of the cutting edge due to the uniform distribution of the load along the entire length of the blade. Of the imported ice screws, our fishermen are most familiar with the Finnish "Rapala" and the Swedish "Mora". The former, as a rule, have a completely removable working head, while the latter only replace the knives, which is still better, because the spare head takes a decent place in the fishing box.
Auger rotors with curved knives work quickly, easily and almost silently, however, the Russian fisherman who decides to buy them will have to change their habits somewhat. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of imported drills drill clockwise, in contrast to ours - their complete antagonists.
But here is a wonderful instrument "fooling around", caressing the ice like a bride and physical influence, not to mention persuasion, is in no way amenable to. The Russian craftsman, who has a wealth of experience in the "modernization" of imported machines, as they say, is not the first time ... He boldly picks up a diamond file or rushes to the grinding wheel for the speed of execution of his plans. Commendable decisiveness, especially since at this time the expensive state machine will be left alone, and only a personal ice screw will suffer. And this will happen not because the arms are crooked, but because, as already mentioned, the knives have a complex sharpening profile, which is a shallow curvilinear groove. And you need to work along and inside this groove and not across, trying to make the tool go tangentially to the plane of the cutting edge. Therefore, for sharpening, you will need to select a round file that fits into the profile of the groove.
You should know that this or that paint color on imported ice screws indicates a different degree of hardening - surface (red) and through (blue). The former can be brought in or sharpened only from the inside, keeping at least hardening from the outside. After double-sided processing, only "raw" metal will remain, on which surface hardening (cementing) will need to be performed again, and this can only be done in a special heating furnace, and even then, if the grade of steel is known, since for each - its own temperature regime of hardening.
Blue heads can be corrected on both sides by choosing the appropriate tool for the profile and taking care not to disturb the original shape of the sharpening.
This painstaking and time-consuming process can be mechanized if a drilling or lathe and a set of ball balls are available.
There are also more complex methods for sharpening ice auger knives, for example, electrochemically, i.e. chemical etching, but again it is only suitable for blue heads, becausefor reds, the cemented layer will be “eaten away” on both sides.
If the knives cannot be sharpened at all or there is no tool, then it remains to take a triangular file and cut small sharp teeth across the cutting edge of the knives. However, this will be the last sharpening of the knives.
In conclusion, it is imperative to touch upon the transportation of ice screws and handling them during transitions and use on ice: there are also moments that can lead to damage to the tool or, even worse, to serious injury to the angler himself, his friends or fellow travelers on the trip. To prevent this from happening, the blades of the ice screw must be covered with a protective cap. If it is broken or lost, then the knives should be closed using improvised means: wrap with a rag, cut the cap out of dense foam or sew it from thick felt, put on the knives cut along the length of the rubber hose, use plastic containers for drinks, etc.
When moving on the ice to a new place of fishing, it is imperative to put on a cap, otherwise, if you slip, you can get into an extremely unpleasant situation. Having drilled one or several holes, in no case should you put an ice screw on the ice, and even more so in the snow: another angler can step on it without noticing. The brace must be installed vertically, having drilled several turns into the ice.
A. Mailkov "Russian Hunting Newspaper No. 08 - 2002"
• Always check, especially before going out on the ice and after drilling “difficult” holes, that the knife screws are tight. This will eliminate the loss of the knife and its screws while fishing, which can leave you out of work (and this happens, and quite often). Have an appropriate screwdriver and wrenches with you (not pliers!).
• Protruding ends of screws of "branded" ice augers and too deep position of screws with a "fit" head on domestic ("Leningradskiy", handicraft) cause the formation of ice drips on the knives. This leads to the fact that the ice screw at the first revolutions "strokes" the ice without crashing into it. Do not under any circumstances try to remove the formed ice by hitting a metal scoop! In case of a miss, the cutting (one, and often two) edges of the knives will inevitably suffer, and the ice screw will stop drilling altogether. Add additional washers made of aluminum, stainless steel or regular (cadmium or galvanized) at home, align the screws so that they are flush with the planes of the knives, and the probability of icing will disappear.
• If the knives are "hooked", they can be corrected with a special "sharpener". This must be done, without removing the knives, in one pass from the center to the outside of the edge of the knife. In this case, press the guide (smooth) tooth of the "sharpener" firmly (but not excessively) to the lower (facing the ice) plane of the knife, trying not to "fill up" the edge. Fishermen are mostly rugged people; to those who did not hold anything more difficult than a pan in their hands, I recommend that you first practice on a cheap kitchen knife, in extreme cases, seek help from an experienced comrade.
• The knives of all ice augers without exception (or rather, the angle of their installation) are designed for a certain averaged monolithic ice, so they do not drill equally easily in wet and dry ice. If it will not be difficult for a strong and healthy person to make an extra three or four turns with a brace, having pulled hard, then the angle of installation can be neglected. If this is too difficult for you and makes fishing difficult, place pads under the knives on the side of the cutting edge, and that's the hat. Strips of sheet metal (copper, brass, aluminum) with a thickness of 0.5-1.0 mm and a width of 3-5 mm can be used as linings. Their length should be equal to the front (cutting) edge of the knife. By approaching or removing the spacer from the edge, you can adjust the cutting angle: under wet ice - more, under dry ice - less; it is important that both knives are set the same. The pads help out even when the knives are "hooked" and do not "gnaw" the ice.
• Sharpening knives is difficult, especially shaped and curved knives, so it is better to entrust it to a specialist. If someone, at their own risk and peril, dares to sharpen "crooked" knives himself, I strongly recommend: a) do not hold a knife in your hand when working on an electric grinder, but screw it to a holder made of plywood or a board; b) without leaning on the sharpener stone, go through the edge in one (!) pass without delay; c) be sure to have cooling water on hand (in a jar, mug, etc.).
• No matter how confident you are in your knives - always have a spare pair and the tools you need to install it with you. It's better to wear a little heavier than to disrupt fishing, calling yourself the most unflattering epithets.
• The screw strip, or auger, does not participate in cutting the ice, but only removes the ice crumbs from the drilling zone. The drilling force depends on how this crumb moves up: the smoother the tape of the auger, the easier it is to drill.
I bought MORA Expert 130 mm in 2003. Before that he used Leningradsky. The difference in drilling speed and comfort was impressive. Since then I have been using this particular brace and two sets of knives, which I periodically sharpen. The paint has long since peeled off the auger, but this in no way affects the excellent performance of the ice screw.
But two years ago I began to notice that my MORA began to drill worse and worse. I began to look for the reason. But outwardly, nothing has changed. He assumed that the angle of installation of the knives has changed, because when the knives begin to sit down, then we all, as a rule, increase the pressure on the ice screw, and because of this, the effect of “soaping” begins to appear more and more. In the sense that we twist, but he does not drill. (they say lathers). It turned out that the platforms to which the knives are attached with screws are gradually deformed. The treatment is clear - it is necessary to restore the angles of the knives. To do this, you need to return the platforms on which the knives are attached to their original position. But firstly, we do not know this initial position, and secondly, it is impossible to do this without a special device and tool. You can give it to specialists who perform such work, or you can go in a simpler and more affordable way. The angle can be adjusted both in one and the other direction using shims under the front or back of the knives. The pad can be made from anything, such as a beer can. The metal is soft and thin. It can be folded several times to achieve the desired thickness of the spacer. In my case, the thickness of 0.4 mm was enough for me. You can see everything in the photo.
With the help of pads, the ice drill can be made more “evil” if you have strength in your hands and you want to drill a hole in fewer revolutions, it’s more “soft” if you don’t need speed, but comfort and ease of drilling are important, but with more the number of revolutions for drilling the hole.
An ice screw is an indispensable tool for any winter fishing enthusiast. Whether it is a real fisherman or an experienced fisherman, and winter fishing without this assistant is not very interesting. Of course, you can also break through with a punch, if the ice is thin, and if the ice is thick, then you cannot do without an ice screw. And you feel more comfortable when the holes are drilled once or twice. Consider the technology of making an ice screw from a screwdriver with your own hands.
Many anglers are engaged in self-made fishing tackle and ice screw is no exception.
Nevertheless, not everyone can buy a ready-made tool, let alone a mechanized one. To make it, you need the following parts:
A metal pipe of the appropriate diameter.
Metal plates for screw production.
Prepare knives from high quality steel.
Connect all elements into one structure by welding and clean with a grinder.
Paint the finished tool.
In the process of work, a lathe or an appeal to a turner may be required.
VIDEO The quality of drilling is influenced by:
Hardening of the blades. Modern models of ice augers are characterized by blade hardness ranging from 30 to 70 units.
Precision manufacturing of knives. The knives must have two cutting edges. Correct sharpening allows you to drill ice very quickly.
P18 steel is mainly used, although there are analogues. Pay attention to the hardness of the material, the shape and quality of the sharpening.
Titanium nitride plated. Blades like these last a very long time. A value of 75 indicates high wear resistance.
Fishermen use two options for making such a tool. The use of a screwdriver improves its performance due to the drilling speed.
The fishermen were able to improve the ice screw by attaching a screwdriver to it. They just realized what a waste of precious time is, especially in winter.
For manufacturing, you must have:
Ice screw Mora (manual).
Adapter.
Cordless screwdriver.
VIDEO
As a rule, the optimal hole size is about 10 cm.
An ice screw is a tool that can make winter fishing easier and more comfortable. To drill holes without problems, it is necessary to select the appropriate screwdriver and, accordingly, a cordless one.
Tool characteristics
High power.
Supply voltage from 18 to 36 V.
Torque 40/80 Nm.
Battery capacity 2.5-3 A / h.
For elementary modernization of the drill, models such as Mora Nova System or Ise Arctic (Micro, Viking), Rapala are suitable. Domestic designs, such as Tornado, Barnaul, Tonar, are also suitable.
As a rule, fishermen make several holes, and sometimes even several dozen, since winter fishing is a constant search for places for fish stopping. Therefore, fishing turns into hard exhausting work, and this cannot be compared with the pleasure obtained from the fishing process.
Basically, there are two types of power supply:
Nickel - cadmium, which tolerates subzero temperatures well, but makes the instrument heavier.
Li-ion. The source can be operated at a temperature of -10 ° C and with a small thickness of ice. Despite this, this source allows you to drill up to 60 holes, 10-16cm in diameter. In colder temperatures, the battery can be removed from the device and placed in an inner jacket pocket.
Nickel - a metal hydride battery - is hardly used in screwdrivers.
It is advisable to always take a spare battery with you and keep it warm.
An adapter or adapter is used to connect the screwdriver to the rest of the structure. You can buy it in the store, or you can make it yourself.
The adapter has a hexagonal shape and is clamped on one side in the screwdriver chuck. In this case, it should be taken into account that the connection is reliable. The hexagonal part is clamped using a special wrench. The other side of the adapter connects to the drill. To do this, a hole must be drilled in the cylindrical part, after which a bolt of the appropriate size is taken and the auger with an adapter is fixed.
The handle, with which you can hold the drill, will not interfere, which will not allow it to fall into the water. You should not make a large diameter screw, as this increases the load on the screwdriver, which will lead to a quick discharge of the battery. The optimum hole diameter is 10-13cm, which will allow you to fish of medium size. The adapter has the following dimensions: the diameter of the cylindrical part is 18mm, the shank has the shape of a hexagon, the presence of a stop is required.
Since winter fishing enthusiasts know what it means to manually drill a dozen holes, or even more, they prefer this design.
VIDEO
They point to such advantages:
Simplicity of modernization, which does not require special skills and professionalism.
There is no need for large financial costs.
The genuine interest that this simple construction evokes.
Some anglers use a wrench to mechanize the process of drilling holes, noting the following advantages:
The impact wrench has a more powerful body and has more torque.
A wrench can easily serve as an alternative to a screwdriver.
The adapter can be made either by yourself or you can use the services of a master.
In order for the ice screw to work for a long time and be a real assistant to the angler, you need:
After each fishing, the drill is wiped with a dry cloth, even if there is a protective coating.
The instrument is stored in a special case made of dense fabric, in which holes are made for ventilation.
When installing for long-term storage (summer), be sure to lubricate with machine oil, especially the knives.
You can't knock ice or snow off knives. This can cause them to dull.
If the drill consists of several parts, then it is imperative to lubricate each joint with machine oil.
If the mount is loose, you must immediately take all measures to eliminate the shank.
It is better to paint over the places where there are scratches so that the metal parts do not start to rust.
The technique of drilling holes should not allow uneven distribution of the load. You should be very careful with the drilling process, paying attention to the thickness of the ice. The better and more reliable the screwdriver is, the faster the holes will be drilled.
Video (click to play).
In this regard, we can immediately say that the manufacture of an ice screw of this design, although simple, requires special attention. After all, the holes will have to be drilled not by someone, but by yourself. The easier and faster the drilling is, the more comfortable the fishing process itself will be. Fishing should be organized in such a way that it represents relaxation and pleasure, rather than hard and exhausting work.
