What happens when your router collet is not tight

[RogerS]

I thought I'd done it up tight. Obviously not. So so easy to get it wrong.

Made a God-almighty sound as it hurtled round inside the Incra fence which fortunately contained the shrapnel and router bit that came out of the sleeve at maximum revs.

I can't find the missing bit but I do know that, at least, it's not inside me !

Stay safe!

 

[Doug B]

That`s not ideal Rog.

What router is it off, the collet looks straight?

 

[chippy1970]

Looks like a reducing collet maybe

I've only had that happen once I think and I was lucky it just stopped routing and when I looked down the straight cutter was stuck in the trench, no bang or anything

 

[RogerS]

It was a straight reducing sleeve (ex-Woodrat).

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Roger,

Glad that you're ok.

Neil

 

[foxhunter]

Yup, the same thing happened to me but with a Triton. The bit simply 'rose to the occasion' and it didn't look as pretty as yours!

 

[adidat]

i broke a 6mm cutter in a router table, was grooving and then thought oh this feels easy!. i had a dust extractor on but i didn't here a peep.

adidat

 

[yetloh]

Glad you escaped unhurt. I hate 1/4" shank cutters, give me the rigidity of 1/2" cutters any day and no need to mess around with sleeves.

Jim

 

[No skills]

I had a bit come out while jointing a worktop for somebody a few years ago, made a right mess of the joint but luckly ended up embeded in the grass under the bench. Had just enough worktop left to re-cut the joint, would of been an expensive cock up otherwise.

I thought I had tightened the collet up fine but when I looked at it after the cutter escaping there was a lot of dust and resin/crap built up on it and in the shaft of the router, I'm pretty carefull to make sure the equipment is clean before I setup for any router work now - not had any problems since.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The nearest I came to that was when a wingnut vibrated loose and hit the cutter, which of course was running at full speed.I retrieved the wingnut several yards away, it's having made a nice little groove in a block wall. I was always careful after that to make sure all wingnuts had springs behind them.

 

[RogerS]

Yup, the same thing happened to me but with a Triton. The bit simply 'rose to the occasion' and it didn't look as pretty as yours!

Funnily enough mine was also a Triton.

 

[mickthetree]

excuse my ignorance, but what is a reducing sleve? Does it go inside a 1/2" collect to reduce it to 1/4" I'm guessing?

 

[RogerS]

excuse my ignorance, but what is a reducing sleve? Does it go inside a 1/2" collect to reduce it to 1/4" I'm guessing?

Yup..or 8mm

 

[Jelly]

Happened to me recently, on a brand new router, first time out... Using a 2mm bit in a very shallow cut, I spent a long time verifying that I didn't have any fragments of the cutter somewhere inside me.

I've never worked out if it was undertightening that caused the collet to break in turn causing the bit to snap, or if the (admittedly delicate) bit got jammed, snapped and the shock involved destroyed the internals of the collet.

 

[andersonec]

It was a straight reducing sleeve (ex-Woodrat).

Router going at full lick!! ... what sort of cutter was in it?

 

[Benchwayze]

I can never understand why the reducing sleeve was invented.
It's simple enough (although more expensive approach) to buy collets of the right size to fit a 1/2" router. I had a reducer with a Leigh jig I used to own, but just never fancied using it.

I don't like 1/4" shanks either, although I never had any accidents with them. These days where possible, I use 8mm shank cutters instead. Much less vibration especially when cutting needs a full depth pass.

Glad you didn't come to any harm Roger. A bit of a laxative?

 

[dickm]

I can never understand why the reducing sleeve was invented.
It's simple enough (although more expensive approach) to buy collets of the right size to fit a 1/2" router. I had a reducer with a Leigh jig I used to own, but just never fancied using it.

Have similar doubts about extension pieces for routers too. Unless made to very close tolerances, they seem like a recipe for vibration and potential disaster.

 

[RogerS]

It was a straight reducing sleeve (ex-Woodrat).

Router going at full lick!! ... what sort of cutter was in it?

Small roundover.