Makita RT0702C trim router collet size confusion

[Skylight]

UPDATE

The Bosch 1/4" bit set has arrived and they seem to fit perfectly into the collet that came with the router, as far as I can tell!

 

[Skylight]

I bought mine in Spain and it only came with a 6.35mm Collet, I would imagine putting a 8mm bit in this router would probably overload the motor if youre using this as a cnc spindle.

I dont have any problems finding decent bits for it over here.

Advice Don't put too larger bit in this router, it is a trimmer not a full size machine by any means so when you use it take material off in smaller bites, its more forgiving then.

Its a brilliant router, mine came with a full suite of accessories and it works very well for its size.

Its the favored machine that is used as a spindle in small to medium size CNC machines because its that good and it will work all day as long as you treat it with care.

If you're finding that you are using it more than a trim router then buy a larger machine because you need one, they have the power needed for larger bits and can work twice as fast and take off much more material in one pass.

Remember to mind your fingers always as this thing bites

Thank you - pleased to hear good things about this model.

I understand your concern about larger bits, as it's only a small trimmer, so I'll bear that in mind and I don't have any immediate need to use bits above 1/4" at the moment. However, Makita say (and on the Fastfix page for it) "accepts 6mm & 8mm collets, 1/4" (6.35mm) & 3/8" (9.53mm) collets".

 

[RupertV]

Thank you - that makes sense.

Maybe shedding a bit of light here - Festool supply a lot of their cutters exclusively with 8 mm shanks - Not having any Festool kit (apart from using their tracks for my de walt track saw, which I prefer to the de walt tracks) I had to buy an 8mm collet for my de walt 1/4'' dw621 as the only suitable cutter I could find for a particular task was a Festool. I have an 8mm collet for my makita palm routers but they are too underpowered for that task. An expensive solution but the only one I could come up with. Job done.

 

[Lons]

Having used my Makita a lot over the last few years I've designed a carver copier around it specifically in the first place to rough out a couple ar air rifle stocks. I haven't completed it yet but am 100% confident it's man enough for the job. It's a bit Heath Robinson as an experiment using parts I already have.

The router isn't man enough for heavy work in a table though would do light mouldings but has great balance and weight for a handheld, enjoy but be careful, it still can bite.

 

[Skylight]

Having used my Makita a lot over the last few years I've designed a carver copier around it specifically in the first place to rough out a couple ar air rifle stocks. I haven't completed it yet but am 100% confident it's man enough for the job. It's a bit Heath Robinson as an experiment using parts I already have.

The router isn't man enough for heavy work in a table though would do light mouldings but has great balance and weight for a handheld, enjoy but be careful, it still can bite.

That copier sounds impressive if it works. Would love to see what it looks like and how it works.

Having never used a router before, I'll ensure I wear protection!

 

[Skylight]

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice!

 

[starfish]

Great little router , can handle surprisingly heavy load

 

[BradyS]

Ok, I can finally make sense of why I researched into this a few months back when I purchased mine. I'll shed some light on the topic, seeing there is a bit of confusion regarding this beaute.

First and foremost, I am not sure that all of you who posted before have THIS model. This is the RT0702CX2, which is the 'successor' of the infamous RT0700CX2. As far as I know, this is a pretty recently launched model. I might be wrong but at any rate it's not years old. And the package content is different from the RT0700CX2.

Then there are several variants of the model and its accompanying accessories. And more, they're country dependant as it would seem.
In my country (Romania), I bought one of the last RT0700CX2 kits available for sale. Why I chose to buy this instead of the new model is something that I consider very important to be known. The newer version has something called Unintentional restart prevention, basically it can create issues with CNC automation and I'm not sure whether it can be used with a router table switch. On some forum I've seen that this is a function that can be turned off but I don't know further details. You should check this is it affects your work.

Next, the collets. Both models take the 6 mm, 8 mm, 1/4" and 3/8" collets. To make things simple, the 3/8" collet is destined for the American market. I couldn't find one in Europe. Plus, the availibility of such bits seems very limited - a complication imo. The older version included the 6 & 8 mm collets for the 'metric' Europe and the 1/4" one for the 'imperial' Europe. However, things mix up sometimes.

So if you didn't get the appropriate collets in your package,
Makita 763637-1 is the genuine 1/4" collet
Makita 763636-3 is the genuine 6 mm collet
Makita 763618-5 is the genuine 8 mm collet

And if you need to take it down to lower diameters you can find a lot of reducers on eBay or sites like AliExpress, Banggood, Temu.

Hope this helps,
Brad

 

[BradyS]

One more thing - regarding buying Chinese bits. Personally, I chose to avoid it. That is because I too am a beginner to routing. I spent a 'bit' more money than the price of that bit set on Temu and instead of going for numbers I went for quality. The Rennie carbide bits have great reviews and are considered very good value. I didn't buy from them yet, but I did one of each router bit important to me from eBay.co.uk. All of them are Freud, brand new. I also got some joblots but those are extras. My carbide bits are from AliExpress, there's a store called Dreanique that sells excellent quality solid carbide bits. They probably won't last as much as the Rennie ones but I was budget limited. I'll leave the store link here just in case:
https://dreanique.aliexpress.com/st...&terminal_id=18a8ff258a0f4f9c8d035c3c0a6498ea

 

[bp122]

Mine came with a 1/4" collect but I also bought an 8mm collect.

In terms of router bits, as much as possible, go for the larger dia for the sake of strength under stress. It has almost twice the cross sectional area of the 1/4".

But 8mm might be limited in the types of bits available and 1/4" will have the best variety everywhere. So it depends on what you need to do work wise.

 

[Lons]

You have to bear in mind that this is a trim router designed for light work and light cuts so 1/4~ or 6mm bits are perfectly capable of carrying out the work it;s intended to do. That means sensible depth of cut, maybe several passes and usual good practice, especially so if using cheaper quality cutters.
If you want to do heavy work then buy a 1/2" router especially if for a router table.

That said, as I mentioned in a earlier post I've just built a router carver (a bit Heath Robinson ) designed to use my Makita 700c but it will be light cuts andmultiple passes once I get around to trying it out.

 

[Skylight]

Ok, I can finally make sense of why I researched into this a few months back when I purchased mine. I'll shed some light on the topic, seeing there is a bit of confusion regarding this beaute.

First and foremost, I am not sure that all of you who posted before have THIS model. This is the RT0702CX2, which is the 'successor' of the infamous RT0700CX2. As far as I know, this is a pretty recently launched model. I might be wrong but at any rate it's not years old. And the package content is different from the RT0700CX2.

Then there are several variants of the model and its accompanying accessories. And more, they're country dependant as it would seem.
In my country (Romania), I bought one of the last RT0700CX2 kits available for sale. Why I chose to buy this instead of the new model is something that I consider very important to be known. The newer version has something called Unintentional restart prevention, basically it can create issues with CNC automation and I'm not sure whether it can be used with a router table switch. On some forum I've seen that this is a function that can be turned off but I don't know further details. You should check this is it affects your work.

Next, the collets. Both models take the 6 mm, 8 mm, 1/4" and 3/8" collets. To make things simple, the 3/8" collet is destined for the American market. I couldn't find one in Europe. Plus, the availibility of such bits seems very limited - a complication imo. The older version included the 6 & 8 mm collets for the 'metric' Europe and the 1/4" one for the 'imperial' Europe. However, things mix up sometimes.

So if you didn't get the appropriate collets in your package,
Makita 763637-1 is the genuine 1/4" collet
Makita 763636-3 is the genuine 6 mm collet
Makita 763618-5 is the genuine 8 mm collet

And if you need to take it down to lower diameters you can find a lot of reducers on eBay or sites like AliExpress, Banggood, Temu.

Hope this helps,
Brad

Extremely helpful background information on this router and all makes sense - thanks!

 

[BradyS]

Extremely helpful background information on this router and all makes sense - thanks!

Router Table switch = NVR switch, the acronym slipped my mind while writing that post. You're welcome, happy to help.

Brad