Zuki

Gotta love these Newbee questions. I may not be using the correct terminology, but here goes.

My Craftsman Router was allowing the bits to slide move in the shaft (slide out) no matter which bit I used. I was using 1/4 bits in 1/4 shank. I got a wee bit peeved and tightened it up REALLY TIGHT. Well . . . when I went to remove the bit, the nut would not move. I put so much pressure on the wrench that the metal holding the silly little "shaft lock button/pin" busted.

1) What would have caused the bit to slide?
2) Whne I replace the "plate" with the "shaft lock button/pin", how can I remove the bit now that it is frozen in there.

I now have a DW616 so Im not stuck for a router, but I would like to have a spare.

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Visteonguy

Hi Zuk,,, yep thats a problem,,,,, as far as the bit creaping out, You may have a worn out collet,, or maybe a dirty shaft on the bit? but seems like all the tool test the past several years in the wood working magazines,, poor ol' craftsman usually does not fair too well,,, I cannot understand why a company as old and as big as Sears cannot get better engineering for their tools,,,
I have an old craftsman,, first router I bought back around 1970,, do not use it anymore,,, hahahah,,, but I thought there would be a hex section on the shaft below the nut you could use a wrench on to hold the shaft while you turned the nut with another wrench,,, but hahah there is not,, only thing on mine is that goofy plate with a pin on it,,, break that off and ya are in trouble,,,

I am a machine repairman at work and deal with a lot of small hand tools,,, you would be amazed at how people can screw up hand tools on the assembly lines,,, Not all tools make good hammers,,, but we have peole that do not aggree wth that statement,,,

you may be able to get a small Spanner wrench on that notch in the shaft in place of the plate with the pin,,,to hold the shaft,,, then turn the nut off,,, if its on that tight,,, you could,,, BUT BE CAREFUL,,, you could use a small flame on a actylene tourch and heat the nut to expand it to get it to unscrew,, but thats an extreme fix ! and should be used as a last resort,,

I would try very hard to unscrew it with out using heat,,, for the obvious reasons,,,, and when you get it off,,, replace the chuck ,,, or better yet,, give the craftsman router its resting place on your highest shelf that is hard to get to,,, and just buy another router,,,


Good luck and wish you luck,,,

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Terry

It seems like every where I go,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, there I am...

reible

Hi,

Sorry to here of your problem..... I hate to advise this but I think the best way to do this is use a vice-grip locking pliers on the shaft and hold it while you undo the nut. You will most likely have some marks left on the shaft that you might want to file down after.....

I think it might also be a good idea to replace both the collet and chuck at this point. Depending on how much it cost for these parts and for the broken pin parts and if you can still get them(???) plus postage etc it might be time to say good by to that router....

It is hard to find just why this sort of things happens... a small burr somewhere, a bad collet, lots of things all adding up to the problem. I have read that some routers do not like to have the collet tighened without a bit in place?? Sounds strange but who knows. Anyway the collet might well have been bad from day one, in fact a few sears router have been known as "self-adjusters".

I own a couple of sears routers (3) none of which have ever given me any troubles. My first router was a sears and I used that for years before upgrading and I still keep it around and use it. I think it is 29 years old this year.....

Anyway glad you took the time to post and I hope some of these answers help.

Ed