Thread: collets

Bradley, see any major professional tool outlet and they should be able to help you, steer clear of thre major hardware chains who are known to employ staff who lack the knowledge you seek. After a while you should be able to confidently go it alone.
I am not sure but I think that 1/4" and 6mm colletts would have enough play to accommodate either, I am sure someone will shoot me down if not. Another option is a tool repair shop that stocks router bits.
I just realised, you have Carbatec up there somewhere, they are also a good option and I have found the staff to be helpful and knowledgeable, terrible store though, I always walk out with a very light wallet.

Iain And Bradley, always buy thee correct collet for thee correct size of shank router bit you are using. Nearly 90% of all router bits that get broken can have the problem traced back to the collet!! The extra .35mm is enough to let the shank spin in the collet causing scoring on the shank and can also lead to the bit snapping. It can also cause a bit to come out of the collet and i dont think any of us would like to be around when a bit doing 22000 rpm gets loose! In the great land of oz that we live in you will generally only find 1/4" and 1/2" shanked bits. If you purchase bits from overseas then you may get the metric size bits. Regards Tim




[This message has been edited by Tim Sloan (edited 24 August 2000).]

Thanks Tim, I was sure someone would pick me up if I was wrong and I am grateful for this, however, the rest still stands, go to a tool shop where the pro's go and you won't get stuffed around.
Just realised, Tim is a Quaker, see the 'thee' in the post, Sorry Tim

[This message has been edited by Iain (edited 24 August 2000).]

thanks for info guys much appreciated i wasnt sure if i was been led up the garden path or not .
ps. to the creators of this site well done great to put up a question and then have an answer next day. keep up the good work.

I quake sometimes too

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

Im quaking in my boots now!

Just noticed this query Bradley and I dont know whether or not you have had any luck in your search for the apprpriate sized collets.
Festo at www.festool.com.au have a range of collets in both imperial and metric but herein lies the question .......are they of any use to you?

Cheers

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Johnno

Sorry to regurgitate this one but I was looking at a US site and there was mention of 8mm bits. The theory is that they have more 'meat' on the shaft and are less prone to chatter and breakage which sounds reasonable, the question is though (having a 8mm router) where do you find 8mm bits?

Iain,with the predominance of some quality European routers coming onto the market is where the metric application to router bits is being applied.
Check out the Festo site in the post above
Cheers

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Johnno

[This message has been edited by John Saxton (edited 29 September 2000).]

Gooday.

To really confuse the issue, I have seen 3/8 and 10 mm as well. However, most (if not all) retailers only sell 1/4" or 1/2" shafted bits.

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"