rrich
26th August 2006, 04:20 PM
Nah, nothing threatening...
This guy comes in lugging a router. (Plunge, 1-3/4 HP with a one inch round over bit installed. Over 2" in diameter?)
He's complaining that our (Store Brand) router bit is bent. (You don't bend a 1/2" shank router bit. Break it, yes but bend it, no.) I look at it and say, "Yes it looks as if it isn't straight. Do you have the wrenches?" He goes out to the truck and gets the wrenches and I remove the bit.
I also remove the Porter Cable style collet. The bit is as straight as can be. While I'm looking at the bit and collet the guy uses his fingers and removes the mating piece of the collet. (YES! WITH HIS FINGERS!) This router has a threadded shaft on the motor and the collet assembly is screwed on to the motor shaft.
About now my eyes and the Assistant Manager's eyes are about as big as the router bit. I ask the guy how do I tighten the collet assembly onto the motor shaft? He just sort of shrugs and offers that this is the fourth router from the other store. He has perviously taken three back for similar problems and each time they just give him a new router.
We didn't see any locking mechanism on the shaft. The guy had two (different sizes) wrenches that OBVIOUSLY came with the router.
The guy showed me the log benches that he was trying to make for the client. (He had them in the back of the truck.) There was a cut of about 14 inches that showed severe chatter and chopping. So the router was running AND the collet wasn't tight on the motor shaft. One would think that it would tighten up like a lathe chuck or the arbor nut on a table saw.
Our consensus was that we wouldn't plug the router in. The guy says that he is going to take this router back too, for a refund.
Answering the unasked questions...
$40 US.
Chicago Electric. (Sold by Harbor Freight in the US)
China
The guy still had all ten and was walking without a limp.
The guy is an electrician (Sparky) and building some "Log Benches" for a client. He doesn't need a router so he went cheap just for this job.
This guy comes in lugging a router. (Plunge, 1-3/4 HP with a one inch round over bit installed. Over 2" in diameter?)
He's complaining that our (Store Brand) router bit is bent. (You don't bend a 1/2" shank router bit. Break it, yes but bend it, no.) I look at it and say, "Yes it looks as if it isn't straight. Do you have the wrenches?" He goes out to the truck and gets the wrenches and I remove the bit.
I also remove the Porter Cable style collet. The bit is as straight as can be. While I'm looking at the bit and collet the guy uses his fingers and removes the mating piece of the collet. (YES! WITH HIS FINGERS!) This router has a threadded shaft on the motor and the collet assembly is screwed on to the motor shaft.
About now my eyes and the Assistant Manager's eyes are about as big as the router bit. I ask the guy how do I tighten the collet assembly onto the motor shaft? He just sort of shrugs and offers that this is the fourth router from the other store. He has perviously taken three back for similar problems and each time they just give him a new router.
We didn't see any locking mechanism on the shaft. The guy had two (different sizes) wrenches that OBVIOUSLY came with the router.
The guy showed me the log benches that he was trying to make for the client. (He had them in the back of the truck.) There was a cut of about 14 inches that showed severe chatter and chopping. So the router was running AND the collet wasn't tight on the motor shaft. One would think that it would tighten up like a lathe chuck or the arbor nut on a table saw.
Our consensus was that we wouldn't plug the router in. The guy says that he is going to take this router back too, for a refund.
Answering the unasked questions...
$40 US.
Chicago Electric. (Sold by Harbor Freight in the US)
China
The guy still had all ten and was walking without a limp.
The guy is an electrician (Sparky) and building some "Log Benches" for a client. He doesn't need a router so he went cheap just for this job.