How To Build Your Own Posthole Auger

How To Build Your Own Posthole Auger AUGERS Augers (29B) 32-6-10 "I'm a hobby minded person who's always looking for something to make. It's too easy to go downtown and buy it," says Ken Voigt, Wausau, Wis., who made his own drill-powered auger that digs 6-in. dia. holes. "Making an auger with continuous spirals is difficult and takes a lot of time, so I figured out how to make an auger from paddles. It was relatively easy to make," says Voigt. He uses a large electric drill to drive his homemade auger, via a 1/2-in. adapter that connects the shaft to the drill chuck. He started with a 1-in. dia. steel shaft and lag screwed a replaceable ice auger blade on the bottom that goes 3/4 of the way around the shaft. The ice auger blade serves as the auger's cutting edge. Then he added a series of paddles that are angled upward, so that each paddle passes dirt on up to the next one to keep the material moving. "The paddles are easy to make," says Voigt. "First I cut a circle in the diameter that I want the augered hole to be, and then I cut the circle into four quarters. I round one edge between the two points and remove material from the third point to compensate for the diameter of the shaft. Then I weld the paddles onto the shaft, each one positioned at an angle so that it's taking material from the paddle below it. "The auger can be used for making holes in either ice or dirt. I use it in dirt. An auger like mine could be made for any size hole you want." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ken Voigt, 9208 Pasture Lane, Wausau, Wis. 54403 (ph 715 842-8471; KV57@aol.com).

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