gbnevard

Can anyone suggest how to prevent my 1/2 inch collet from sticking. As a result it is very difficult to release the cutters. Help please!!
Gary

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Mike

Gary, there could be several reasons why your collets are sticking. First and most common would be rust. Rust on your bits or in the collet can cause it to stick. Your bits and collets must be free of rust and/or burrs. Is there any damage to the collet or sleeve? Any deformation here can create a terrible bind or a loose fitting connection. Are you seating your bits with a small gap between the end of the bit and the bottom of the sleeve? I have heard of people inserting small O rings to prevent a bit from being too close to the bottom of the sleeve. Are you over tightening your collet? 25-30 FtLbs should be more than enough to hold your bit. Do any of these ideas help? If not give a model number for your router, and brand name. Some models have quirks. The age of your router might provide a clue as well.

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Mike

cfm

A wild guess : Is the cone installed INVERTED ?

My Craftsman had this problem and I found that I inverted the cone.

Also check out the folllowing link :\

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/ezine/qanda.cfm

Hope this helps.

cfm

reible

Mike has given some good points.

Now it is also possible that you have an older style router where the bit does not come loose when the nut feels loose, you still need to turn it past a "tight spot". Give that a try.

Then a good cleaning and inspection should be done anyway as Mike pointed out.

Let us know how things are working maybe we can come up with more things to do/try.

Good Luck!

Ed

gbnevard

Router in new and none of the suggestion have worked yet.

reible

It looks like we might need more information. What make/model of router? Can you post of picture of the nut and collet? If you can post a picture how about a second one with the collet out of the router?

Do you have anyone near by who uses routers who could take a look at it?

Try and give us somemore details....

Ed

hcbph

One thing not mentioned is the type of connection method exists. I've got a Craftsman 1/2" plunge router that has split shaft method rather than a conventional collet like PorterCable, etc use. That one sticks but I found that if I tap the nut after loosening it, it comes right out. It's just 1 router out of many I own that does this. I live with it.