Collet extension.

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kevinlightfoot

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I need to buy a collet extension for my router,Axminster want the best part of £40 but looking online I can buy for less than half the price even less from China has anyone got experience that will help me choose any advice would be appreciated.
 
How quick do you reckon it'll turn up from china though, given the current situation? Also, given that its a very sharp spinny thing that I'll be standing near, I'm generally happy to spend money on a quality item.
 
The muscle chuck gets very good reviews, so good that I bought one. But a year later it sits in a box because no matter how many times I tried, I could not make it balance.
There was a very noticeable extra noise whenever I tried to fit it to my makita router, enough for me to not trust it.
To be honest, I bought it as a present to myself, but in the last 5 years of having a router table, I have NEVER actually needed it.
What are you doing that you feel you need one?
 
I'm building a new router table using the U.K. system including the router elevator.I also use the Leigh dovetail jig and sometimes the cutters are at their limit as far as shank length is concerned.Advice would be appreciated from anyone who has experience of any of the above.I have been using a home built router table for many years but now I have the time and the money I am building a new table with adjustment from above and the facility to use a machined groove in the table.All the parts arrived today and I have been busy building an under frame for the table.I must say I am very impressed with the cast iron table and the professional fence,haven't unpacked the router lift yet,that's a job for the weekend!
 
I have the UJK pro fence. Its very good. Get yourself the UJK end stops for routing blind channels. =D> =D>

But I can be quite sure the dovetail jig is designed to work on standard routers, what are you doing differently that youre running out of adjustment?
Do you have a thick router plate? I'm using the incra aluminium and thats only 9 mm thick (I think :shock: )
 
It's the Leigh dovetail jig I didn't know I needed a different plate for my router,do you think I need the extension for the router lift,my router is a makita 3612c.
 
How thick is the plate you are using? most plates are around 10 mm thick but some are as thin as 6 mm. If your plate is thicker than 10 then you are losing height adjustment unnecessarily.

I have the RP1801 makita and have never run out of height adjustment.
 
I got to assemble a UJK router table kit with the big cast top, their lift, fence etc and a Dewalt DW625 router that's similar enough to yours. It struck me that a lot of depth was lost because of the thickness of the top but predominantly the router lift. Typical throwaway cutters wouldn't even reach 10mm above the table.
That system wasn't used for anything exotic so it was mostly used with long straight cutters - typical kitchen worktop cutters - to make grooves and rebates.
For moulding I can understand the problem.
 
MikeJhn":1rnhvmsm said:
You get what you pay for, I have three collet extensions that sit in a drawer, must get around to throwing them away, this works perfectly and does not require two spanners: https://woodworkersworkshop.co.uk/produ ... b4c7&_ss=r

The collet extension mentioned on the post above is in a UJK professional router table with lift, I have never run out of height or had any problems with it no matter what moulding, panel raiser or handrail cutter I have used.
 
I'm fitting the router elevator tomorrow so I wil see for myself whether or not I need one to give me the extra height,hope not because they seem rather expensive for what they are.
 
sunnybob":x1tju0gj said:
The muscle chuck gets very good reviews, so good that I bought one. But a year later it sits in a box because no matter how many times I tried, I could not make it balance.
There was a very noticeable extra noise whenever I tried to fit it to my makita router, enough for me to not trust it.
To be honest, I bought it as a present to myself, but in the last 5 years of having a router table, I have NEVER actually needed it.
What are you doing that you feel you need one?

Bob that is sad to hear, I had all sorts of problems with various chuck extensions that where cured by buying the MuscleChuck, I only use it in the UJK table which is very heavy so may dampen out any vibration that may be there, but I don't think there is any.

To the OP, I have the Leigh dovetail jig, but only use the dedicated router bits on it, I don't know if they are longer perhaps have a look in the excellent instruction manual, it is the best manual I have seen for any piece of equipment, I bought two Draper Expert 1/2" routers to use on it, saves changing bits and loosing the settings.
 
I was disappointed. I followed the instructions carefully, and got the noise to lessen, but it was like a grinding noise. Possibly my table being melamine faced wood didnt help, but I just didnt feel safe with it.

But, to this day I havent come across a situation that demanded its use, and I use my router table a lot. 8) 8)
 
Well router table finally completed ,very pleased with it,it was lucky that an assembly video was on you tube because there were no instructions at all with the router lift or professional fence,contrary to advice I had been given I can't see that I would need an extension,I used an Hitachi router in the table as the makita router I have has the soft start which I like to use freehand or out of the table.Many thanks for everyone's replies to my question,regards Kevin.
 

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