Thread: Making a collet chuck for a Triton TRA001

Doesn't the Type 8 chuck fit your model?

Yes it does. And I’ll be ordering one shortly. The first post of the other thread I linked explains the issue. Essentially, fitting a Musclechuck to the Triton chuck would be a pointless exercise when the Triton chuck has a tendency to come loose. It’s important to understand that a Musclechuck doesn’t replace the collet chuck body on your router. It screws onto the original chuck body. So the Musclechuck adds a bit of length to the whole setup. So any issues with the original collet chuck would be exacerbated. Hence I’m making a new chuck body that hopefully doesn’t come loose like the Triton one.

Please correct me if I'm reading this wrong but doesn't the Type 8 Musclechuck do away with the need to use a chuck body all together as it appears to screw directly on to the armature shaft. Maybe in your research you have seen something that disproves my thoughts.

Check out this video: Quick change router run out solution - YouTube

You wouldn’t be able to fine tune the runout as demonstrated if it was screwed directly onto the armature.

I cut the taper today and measured the runout with and without the Triton collet installed.

Collet chuck runout:
Collet chuck runout - YouTube

Runout of the collet chuck with collet and a router bit installed:
Triton collet runout - YouTube

All of that runout is due to the collet. I haven't measured the runout at the end of the router bit, but you can clearly see it's substantial.

Now I understand how it attaches. Because you can't see any other views of the chuck I thought the small diameter at the bottom was threaded internally to screw straight on to the shaft but now see that the small section would be the taper that mounts in the chuck base.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Because you can't see any other views of the chuck I thought the small diameter at the bottom was threaded internally to screw straight on to the shaft…

I thought the same. I’m kind of disappointed it doesn’t, because that would remove the chuck from the equation. But you would also lose the ability to fine tune the runout. Swings and roundabouts.

I finished the chuck today. I nickel plated it. It has 0.05mm (2 thou) of runout when fitted to the Triton's armature.

Excellent work; did you farm out the nickel plating or was done with a home setup?

Thanks. I did it at home. It's very easy. There are plenty (too many) videos on YouTube describing the process.

I used bought nickel sulfate crystals, buffered the solution with boric acid and adjusted the pH to 3-4 with sulfuric acid. But you can get excellent results with nickel acetate too. Make your own solution by the electrolysis of pure nickel metal in cleaning vinegar and salt. The whole process is a lot easier with a constant current power supply. They are quite cheap now.

Yeah; I’ve seen lots of vids and actually bought some nickel a couple of years ago to try and make it; just another round tuit I haven’t found yet…

I fitted the Musclechuck to my collet. It took quite a lot of trial and error to find the position with the minimum runout. Surprisingly there is no repeatability in the measurements. The position I settled on gave me the following readings: 0.06mm, then 0.24mm and finally 0.05mm, which I reckon was as good as I was going to get.

I tested it with the big replaceable insert router bit that vibrated the Triton chuck off the armature. It's now way smoother, but there's still 0.2mm (8 thou) of runout at the top of the bit. However, it is a very long bit. I also tried some very large diameter cutters and the vibration was acceptable.

I'm very disappointed to find that the supplied allen wrench collides with the router table, whether adjusting from above or below the table. I guess I'll just use a standard allen key. I did a quick test cut with the big insert router bit on a piece of jarrah. I don't know if the ribbing in the surface is due to the inserts or the runout in the collet. Perhaps others who own this bit can comment?

I don’t own that bit but I have a hypothesis regarding the ribbing; I think your feed rate may be too high. If you imagine you could re- align all the inserts into columns what you have effectively is a two-bladed cutter but at least an inch in diameter; it can take a relatively large cut and so the temptation is to allow it to do so. If you were running a 1/2” cutter with the same amount of bite you’d be easing off on the feed rate considerably.

edit: just re-read your post and I’ll add that the .2mm runout may also be contributing. Is the runout just at the top bearing end or does it also appear at the bottom? And have you tried measuring runout with a long solid bar or a longer bearing guided bit? The ribbing looks consistently parallel, if runout is the cause then it would indicate the whole cutter is running eccentric but still square to the table.

As with all insert heads any problem with the inserts themselves will show up as longitudinal lines; if they’re not present then the inserts are aligned, level and equally sharp/blunt.

Does the Musclechuck do as advertised and allow you to remove and refit the cutter with the same amount of runout each time?
I take it that there isn't movement in your cutter when machining that Jarrah due to any looseness in your armature bearings in their journals.