12mm into half inch doesn't go?

[SammyQ]

Morning all you lignin dust breathers....

I ama complete muppet. It's official. Indisputable. (My wife agrees, so it must be right).

I bought two smashing 12mm DeWalt router bits under the delusion I had a 12mm collet. Nope, the two cheapo HALF INCH routers I have do not have a single 12mm collet between them.....Gawd....NOW what do I do?

Buy a 12mm friendly router? DW625 retails at about £250, 12mm collet on top is £25-£45. Three kids at Uni in September, so no luck there. Replacement collet? My NuTool 1250W clone (of what?) is discontinued. I don't have access to any other routers, to make a comparison of collet 'architecture'/ design to establish a size or configuration.

I have no idea where to go or what to do now. Colllet liner/sleeve? Too fragile surely. Add metal to the shanks of the 12mm and turn down to 12.7mm? Can I guarantee no damage in the lathe chuck to two new carbide bits? Not on your nelly. Take a 1/4" collet sleeve and open it up via a lathe to 12mm? Possibly, but which make/model?

Anybody else been a complete glype/wassock/airhead/dingbat/clampit/'head the ball'/wooden top and managed to figure out a "workaround"????

Workable ideas much appreciated; I may even have to offer to have your children.....


Sam.

 

[jasonB]

Return the two bits, restocking charge will be less than a new collet or router.

Or were they smashing due to the super bargain price which was no doubt due to the fact that very few people have 12mm machines and they could not shift them.

J

 

[ByronBlack]

Surely it would be cheaper to move the router bits on and get ones suitable for your router than buying a router just to use with the bits?

 

[SammyQ]

Spot on jasonB!! AND one of them is one of those nice multi-profile ones...capable of x different permutations. Drat!!

ByronB....as Jason said, I got 'em 'cos they were being shifted at a VERY attractive levy, 'cos no-one else was buying them, so the chances of someone wanting them is probably thin enough?

Sam

 

[ByronBlack]

Sam. Ebay them, there is always some one who will buy something.

 

[JMcK]

Sam,

Being where I am I have 12mm as well as 12.7mm capability. 8)

If the price is right I could be interested in taking them off your hands rather than you having to faff about with E-Bay.

Perhaps a PM?

 

[Doug B]

Sam.

Don`t you know a friendly engineer who would take the 0.7 off for you, for a few whiskey tokens?

 

[SammyQ]

Wow. Cool offer John, let me weigh it up, got to go shopping, back later. Sam

 

[SammyQ]

Doug B, other way round? Sam

 

[monkeybiter]

Sam.

Don`t you know a friendly engineer who would take the 0.7 off for you, for a few whiskey tokens?

It's the other way round, he would need it adding on.

 

[zeppfly]

this has just brought back a very frightening memory.
not realising i had bought a 12mm istead of 1/2" cutter, i managed to overtighten the collet,cracking the shaft in the process. i then continued to rebate stock on the router table. when i realised the rebate growing i bent down to unplug the machine at which point the cutter was ejected like a bullet, passing the through the space left by my crouching body, through a steel filing cabinet before coming to rest in the shed wall.
please don't try to make them fit
graeme

 

[Doug B]

Sam.

Don`t you know a friendly engineer who would take the 0.7 off for you, for a few whiskey tokens?

It's the other way round, he would need it adding on.

Started on the Speckled hen far to early.

Get a sleeve made, same friendly engineer, same payment.

 

[jimi43]

this has just brought back a very frightening memory.
not realising i had bought a 12mm istead of 1/2" cutter, i managed to overtighten the collet,cracking the shaft in the process. i then continued to rebate stock on the router table. when i realised the rebate growing i bent down to unplug the machine at which point the cutter was ejected like a bullet, passing the through the space left by my crouching body, through a steel filing cabinet before coming to rest in the shed wall.
please don't try to make them fit
graeme

Made me smile....people don't realise how lethal speed and metal are.

I once saw a flywheel leave an engine...disappear through a brick wall and a few tennis courts before hitting a granite wall and taking a few layers out of that too.

But routers with poorly fitted bits/collets are LETHAL so don't make that mistake again....(I guess you realise that anyway! :wink: )

Jim

 

[jasonB]

Get a sleeve made, same friendly engineer, same payment.

Not as easy as it sounds with a wall thickness of 0.35mm thats only 0.014", chances of stretching teh OD while you bore it out are quite high or vica versa.

Jason

 

[lemonjeff]

Get a sleeve made, same friendly engineer, same payment.

Not as easy as it sounds with a wall thickness of 0.35mm thats only 0.014", chances of stretching teh OD while you bore it out are quite high or vica versa.

Jason

A bit of shim stock, it works on R8 tooling so should be OK for a router cutter.

Jeff

 

[jasonB]

But would you run your mill at 20,000rpm? I wouldn't shim my milling collets and definately not my router. Don't even like putting odd sizes in my ER collets.

As Jimi says its just too much of a risk for the discounted price of a router bit.

J

 

[SammyQ]

Thank you everybody for weighing in and musing over things. I had a beer last night with an amateur engineer friend and I/he/we are going to try two things: shim stock rolled into a sleeve or, an undersized hole ina heated steel sleeve heated pushed onto a chilled router cutter shaft. A simple wooden fixture sized for the end bearing above the cutter and supported by ther late tailstock should provide enough support to turn the composite down to 1/2" without drama. Bags of coolant, a light touch and plenty of time should see it done?

The shim stock approach is the easiest, probably with an epoxy smear to fasten the shim to the shaft. I'm encouraged to hear that this has already been done with an R8 collet - mind you, was that milling cutter revolving at 12000-18000 rpm lemonjeff? The other consideration is the method to roll the shim stock into a cylinder; I thought you just rolled it with a bar, rolling pin style; Derrick is of the opinion we should create "a tapered, open-ended, hollow, cone-shaped former and force the sheet though".

I'm off to see if I can find 0.35mm/0.014" stock; if not, JMcK in France will have a PM!!

Sam

 

[jasonB]

Unless you can find someone with a mixed selection you are looking at about £20 for a standard size roll almost as much as a collet and far more risky, you will be unlikely to find the correct size 0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.012" and 0.015" are stock sizes

If you do try your first method how will you use the tailstock support as every router bit I have seen is centreless ground and trying to hold it with a bit of wood is hardly going to do the balance anygood when its whizzing around at 20000rpm. You would really want a tool and cutter grinder or at the least a toolpost mounted grinder.

Oh and if Jeff was talking aboyt shimming a poorly fitted R8 tool into the spindle then there are two major differences. I R8 tooling is retained with a drawbar, 2, R8 tooling has a key to transfer the drive nether of which you get on a router

Jason

 

[stevel]

Trend do replacement/alternative collets for a whole range of routers. Try them

Steve

 

[jasonB]

They don't list nu-tool, collet would probably cost more than the router anyway :wink:

Jason