Originally published at: Out-of-control ice drill meets its match | Boing Boing
…
8 Likes
Auger. It’s called an ice auger. Even says so in the video name.
12 Likes
I’ve seen vids like these before, a good safety feature for these might be to have an element that detects when the main body of the augur is rotating instead of the augur blade and does an emergency shut off automatically. Maybe this is something that already exists but if not they should really include something like it to avoid people hurting themselves trying to stop an out of control one.
11 Likes
Or a throttle-level that goes into neutral when released.
14 Likes
Oh lord I cringed every time that one guy got close to grabbing it. How many hand bones can break at once?
18 Likes
If those don’t come with a deadman’s switch like a mower or a clip to attach to yourself like an outboard motor, they should. The hazard of it is not worth my snow day Interwebs video amusement.
8 Likes
Exactly!! I kept thinking, what is your plan if you do get hold of that? Hopefully only two or three fingers lost? Let it run out of gas before trying to grab something like that.
7 Likes
That’s what I assume actually shut it down. The auger powers down immediately and the chair doesn’t really seem to do anything other than maybe hitting and releasing a stuck safety switch.
4 Likes
Yeah thinking about it more than likely this might be what the safety feature would be. I certainly would not trust to use something that decided to keep going after i let go 
4 Likes
It made me giggle too. But don’t do this at home kids.
4 Likes
A child’s chair?
That there is a fish’n chair.
11 Likes
Why were they laughing, nobody got hit in the nuts?
Also, that dude nearly lost a hand trying to grab it.
3 Likes
Yeah a dead man switch
2 Likes
The fish will be back sometime next week.
1 Like
You’ve got 27 bones in each hand. Two guys with two hands each is 108 potential broken hand bones.
But you’d have to spend $500 to buy a new auger if that one drops through the ice.
1 Like
Just the type of intelligentsia I would not want to spend any time with on a frozen body of water.
1 Like
Or ideally, how many bones can break and still have you caught a machine sucking ice water up at you and yet you’re glad you caught it? The ice drill and hands at use didn’t measure up.
3 Likes
Maybe a fuel flow valve that closes when the flow rate is too high, then mount it oriented such that only a centrifugal (centripetal?) force could cause the high flow rate. All mechanical safety.
5 Likes
See also:
2 Likes
Having spent rather a lot of time on the ice with my father in law and his cronies, I can pretty much promise that any device out on the ice is either beat to shit, or is going to be beat to shit before winter is over. The weather is unforgiving, and as soon as whatever activity is done, the wet tools get unceremoniously dumped into the sled where they sit and freeze all day, to get dragged back to the shed later.
Usually the only reason some tool is still running is because someone hacked it back together. Duct taped triggers or handles, throttle controls replaced with a pair of locking jaw pliers, a bent screwdriver replacing the shear pin driving the auger.
Even if there was a safety switch, the chances it still works are not high.
4 Likes
