Why was router bit slipping in collet?
Jonathan Mau
Greetings:
I was using a Sears 1/4 inch collet router with a 1/2 inch straight carbide
bit routing to a depth of 0.160 - 0.180 into red oak in a single pass. I
noticed that
my depth of cut was changing! At first I thought it was the depth setting
that was lose, so I gave it a good turn with pliers. Then I noticed that
the depth was still changing. The bit was slipping in the collet. At
this point, I really tightened down on the collet. Started slipping
again. The collet was so tight that on trying to remove the bit, the
locking mechanism up in the motor area failed and the router is now
presumably destroyed.
How could it be that the bit was loose enough to slip, but also tight
enough to destroy the router when I attempted to remove it? I suppose I
might have been trying to turn it the wrong way. I sure was plenty
frustrated at this point.
My next router will take 2 wrenches to adjust the collet.
How did I get into trouble here? Was my depth of cut too aggressive? Was
I a victem of poor equipment? Any comments most appreciated.
Jonathan
foxeye
foxeye wrote:
Sears Crapsman collets are like this,
Their setup, construction leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately you
can put a better collet on it, so your stuck. Make light passes, keep
dirt and debri out of it, and make sure your bits are clean and no
burrs on the shank, and check it periodicaly during use. Thats about
all you can do, short of buying another router.
Try a PC router or just look at one in the store, you will see the
difference between a good collet and the Crapsman collet!
I would have to say a victim of poor equipment.
foxeye
On 14 Jun 1998 12:09:17 GMT, ak...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Jonathan Mau)
wrote:
The opinions expressed are mine, and mine alone.
My wife had no input whatsoever.Remove www from
email for correct address. Never trust a rocket
or motor company from "Claremont Calif"
NAR #70031
Roger Blake
Jonathan Mau wrote in message <6m0ehd$7...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>...
>How could it be that the bit was loose enough to slip, but also tight
>enough to destroy the router when I attempted to remove it? I suppose I
>might have been trying to turn it the wrong way. I sure was plenty
>frustrated at this point.
>
>My next router will take 2 wrenches to adjust the collet.
>
>How did I get into trouble here? Was my depth of cut too aggressive? Was
>I a victem of poor equipment? Any comments most appreciated.
>
The collet on many if not most of Sears routers are of poor design and they
are machined on to arbor so you can't change them out. Yes you were the
victim of poor equipment.
chita jing
Jonathan Mau <ak...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in article
<6m0ehd$7...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>...
>
> Greetings:
>
> I was using a Sears 1/4 inch collet router with a 1/2 inch straight
carbide
> bit routing to a depth of 0.160 - 0.180 into red oak in a single pass. I
> noticed that
> my depth of cut was changing!
This is one of the commonest complaints about Sears Craftsman routers. I
consider them dangerous. I remember one fellow coming into the Compuserve
forum years back with a story of his bit taking a trip all around his shop
at about 3,000 mph, ricocheting off everything in sight before embedding
itself in a wall about two inches behind his head. <G>
It's not you, it's the router. Get rid of it. It will never be reliable
again. EVER. Sell those 1/4" bits too. If you want a small router, get a
Porter Cable 69x. Yeah, yeah, it costs a mint compared to the Craftsman,
but it's awfully cheap compared to a trip to the Emergency Room for a new
eye.
NOSPAMBOB
I had the same thing happen before it was given away. Bit ended up going
entirely through a 3/4" pine board and was close to exiting the collet
entirely. Don't bottom out the bit in any collet, bottom the pull up ~1/8".
In article <3586e0c2...@news.compumise.com>, fox...@www.compumise.com
(foxeye) writes:
>I would have to say a victim of poor equipment.
rbowles96ATaolDOTcom for real E-mail
Terry McGee
I had this problem in a new router and it almost drove me mad. One day I got
mad enough to do something about it. I looked and I looked and finally I saw.
As I tightened the collet nut, the back of the collet hit the back of the hole
it lives in just as the collet was tightening on the router bit. After that,
no additional force would cause the collet to close any tighter on the bit.
You can test this by tightening the collet with no bit inside. (This is not
normally a good idea as it can squash your collet - so go gently!) It should
close easily well beyond the point it would tighten on a bit.
I just ground about 1mm off the back of the collet and the problem disappeared
forever!
If you have destroyed your router because of this problem, I'd take it up with
the company. It's clearly a quality control issue and not one that the buyer
should have to diagnose.
Let me know how you get on.
Terry
Jonathan Mau wrote:
> Greetings:
>
> I was using a Sears 1/4 inch collet router with a 1/2 inch straight carbide
> bit routing to a depth of 0.160 - 0.180 into red oak in a single pass. I
> noticed that
> my depth of cut was changing! At first I thought it was the depth setting
> that was lose, so I gave it a good turn with pliers. Then I noticed that
> the depth was still changing. The bit was slipping in the collet. At
> this point, I really tightened down on the collet. Started slipping
> again. The collet was so tight that on trying to remove the bit, the
> locking mechanism up in the motor area failed and the router is now
> presumably destroyed.
>
> How could it be that the bit was loose enough to slip, but also tight
> enough to destroy the router when I attempted to remove it? I suppose I
> might have been trying to turn it the wrong way. I sure was plenty
> frustrated at this point.
>
> My next router will take 2 wrenches to adjust the collet.
>
> How did I get into trouble here? Was my depth of cut too aggressive? Was
> I a victem of poor equipment? Any comments most appreciated.
>
> Jonathan
--
______________________________________________________________________
Terry McGee & Associates
61 Calder Crescent, Holder ACT 2611 Australia
Phone 61 (0)2 6288 8006, Fax 61 (0)2 6287 4263
Email: terry...@netinfo.com.au
http://users.netinfo.com.au/~terry.mcgee
- flutes & piccolos for Irish music, Irish pipes
- harpsichord family and flutes for early music
- woodwind and brass repairs & rebuilding
- broadcasting and recording, ArtSound Studios
- Australian Irish music group, Ballyhooley
- maintenance, National Carillon Canberra
with the assistance of the ACT Government through its Cultural Council
_______________________________________________________________________
Steve Wallace
Jonathan Mau wrote:
>
> Greetings:
>
> I was using a Sears 1/4 inch collet router with a 1/2 inch straight carbide
> bit routing to a depth of 0.160 - 0.180 into red oak in a single pass. I
> noticed that
> my depth of cut was changing!
[snip of classic ARHA(1) experience]
> Was
> I a victem of poor equipment? Any comments most appreciated.
Yes, you were a victim of one of the most dangerous POSs out there:
the cheap-ass Crapsman router. (it's okay, you're among friends.
This exact same thing has happened to most of us)
Here's how you fix it so that this "tool" won't hurt you. Obtain
a 1/4" eyescrew about 2 inches long. Tighten it in the chuck
very tightly. This is assembly A. Mix one bag of mortar with
enough water to obtain a consistencey like peanut butter. Place
assembly A in the box that your new PC 690 came in, with the eye
screw sticking out of the box. Fill the box, with assemply A
inside, to the rim with the mortar that you mixed previously.
Allow the mortar to set at least 8 hours. Attach several feet
of chain to the eyescrew. Tie a 50 foot rope to the chain.
To use, tie the loose end of the rope to your boat. Chuck
it over the side when you get to you favorite fishin area.
1) ARHA--Automatic Random Height Ajustment. Feature exclusive to
cheap Crapman routers which causes the depth setting to change by
a random amount at a random time, while the bit is spinning.
--
Later.
Steve.
--
"Buy the best and only cry once"
For my proper E-mail address, please remove
'your.clothes.' Spammers suck.
Luigi Zanasi
Steve Wallace <ker...@your.clothes.home.com> wrote:
>Yes, you were a victim of one of the most dangerous POSs out there:
>the cheap-ass Crapsman router. (it's okay, you're among friends.
>This exact same thing has happened to most of us)
I too have an ARHA-equipped Sears router, but I just bought the PC693
with the two bases.
>Here's how you fix it so that this "tool" won't hurt you. Obtain
>a 1/4" eyescrew about 2 inches long. Tighten it in the chuck
>very tightly. This is assembly A. Mix one bag of mortar with
>enough water to obtain a consistencey like peanut butter. Place
>assembly A in the box that your new PC 690 came in, with the eye
>screw sticking out of the box. Fill the box, with assemply A
>inside, to the rim with the mortar that you mixed previously.
>Allow the mortar to set at least 8 hours. Attach several feet
>of chain to the eyescrew. Tie a 50 foot rope to the chain.
>To use, tie the loose end of the rope to your boat. Chuck
>it over the side when you get to you favorite fishin area.
Brilliant Steve! Absolutely brilliant idea! I was wondering what to do
with the box my new PC690 came in. But wouldn't a concrete mix rather
than mortar work better? Where do you get stainless steel eyescrews?
;-)
Luigi
Michael
My 1st router was a Crapsman 1/4" too. Collet really sucked ... grabbed
bit shank like grim death and would not let go even when collet nut was
loose. Wooden mallet time!
But I too noticed depth of cut (DOC) changing, even though collet was
not slipping. The DOC lock was as lousy as the collet, but in the other
direction. After ruining a nice piece of cherry in this way, I put the
silly router on the shelf and bought a Makita 1/2" plunge router and
never looked back. Ended up giving the Crapsman to a friend whose son
needed a knock-about router. Could not bring myself to accept $$ for
that pice of s___!
But the way, I've had excellent luck with Rockwell 1/2" shank carbide
bits that I got on closeout for a song. The shanks are slightly rough -
as though they'd been anodized - and are gripped very well by collet.
Jonathan Mau wrote:
>
> Greetings:
>
> I was using a Sears 1/4 inch collet router with a 1/2 inch straight carbide
> bit routing to a depth of 0.160 - 0.180 into red oak in a single pass. I
> noticed that
> my depth of cut was changing! At first I thought it was the depth setting
> that was lose, so I gave it a good turn with pliers. Then I noticed that
> the depth was still changing. The bit was slipping in the collet. At
> this point, I really tightened down on the collet. Started slipping
> again. The collet was so tight that on trying to remove the bit, the
> locking mechanism up in the motor area failed and the router is now
> presumably destroyed.
>
> How could it be that the bit was loose enough to slip, but also tight
> enough to destroy the router when I attempted to remove it? I suppose I
> might have been trying to turn it the wrong way. I sure was plenty
> frustrated at this point.
>
> My next router will take 2 wrenches to adjust the collet.
>
> How did I get into trouble here? Was my depth of cut too aggressive? Was
> I a victem of poor equipment? Any comments most appreciated.
>
> Jonathan
--
Michael