Collet Design Question

I installed the Dewalt 611 router and do not regret that purchase at all. But I am not as happy with the push button and wrench collet design.

Here is a question for the smart mechanical engineers and machinist on the forum. Why are there no collets that work like the keyless chuck in my cordless drill? I can install a drill bit with pretty much any shank diameter and tighten it securely by just turning the chuck by hand.

I assume the answer has something to do with runout and precision (or maybe shaft RPM). But to my uneducated eye it seems a “keyless chuck” could be designed to any tolerance specified.

I did find a “quick change” chuck here http://musclechuck.com/technology.html it uses a single Allen wrench to secure the shank. I did not see a version of this collet replacement for the 611.

So other designs are possible. It just seems that the first company to design a sell an easy to use tooless collet will own the market.

I’ve seen some internet site was selling Keyless chuck for CNC attaches to 1/2" Colette. It takes a little more space out of Z clearance, I was ok with that but I couldn’t find one for 1/4". You may want to search internet as detachable keyless chuck.

1 Like

My understanding is that a Jacob’s chuck is designed to take force along the spin axis, so it is perfect for a drill or drill press, but it is not designed to take any lateral force, like you would have on an endmill. Also the precision of a collet system is probably about the best you will get on a machine like this.

1 Like

How do commercial mills like Haas change tooling automatically? They must have some type of quick release collect system.

They use a taper/drawbar system. I’ve never used one myself.

I think that it would require a mill where the motor was connected to the spindle by a belt or something, as the draw bar would have to go all the way up to the top.

I seem to remember someone was looking into adapting their x-carve to take R8 Taper tool holders.

what is it about the push button design you dont like allen?

Holding the button with my thumb is awkward, not impossible or even difficult just a bit ackward. I also seem to be applying more lateral force to the router than I did to the spindle with the ER11 collet. So it is more difficult to make tool changes without losing the home position. I really hate it when I lose the zero position since the likelihood of the next cut ruining what I just spent 30 minutes roughing out are non-zero.

I know that I should probably be doing more to maintain the home position than just trying not to let anything move. I am sure there are some really excellent methods using all kids of Machine Coordinates, homing switches, and other stuff I have not taken the time to learn how to use successfully.

So in the long list of things that bother me, the push button is fairly low on the list. Now that I think about it I guess it is mostly I got used to using two wrenches and now I need to do things differently. I am getting old and don’t like change nearly as much as I once did.

1 Like

Same here, I wish we have two wrench holding possibility like stock spindle.

Right on i got ya. Was just curious

I have no definitive idea why they aren’t made this way. However, I suspect it has to do with the fact that a drill chuck is designed to withstand axial force, and not lateral force. That’s about all I can say about that :sweat_smile:

1 Like

Allen
The big boys use spindles that have a BT40 or BT50 taper. The tool holders are held tight in the taper with a draw bar or they have a special draw button on the taper that is trapped when the draw bar is tightened. Draw bars can be tightened with a series of bellville washers that are released with a power draw bar.
All machines that have an auto tool changer have some form of power draw bar so the operator has nothing to do with the tool changes.

Dave

1 Like