# Help with Stuck Router Collet



## Steve in VA (Mar 9, 2019)

I'm new to RouterForums and hope someone can provide some help. I have a brand new Triton TRA001 that I received for Christmas. I am just now finishing building my router table and was going to use the router to cut the opening for my router plate. My pattern bit has 1/4 shank and out of the box the Triton comes with a 1/2 collet. I proceeded to remove the 1/2 collet so that I could insert the 1/4 collet. Well, I could remove the nut but the 1/2 inch collet remains suck in the armature. Moreover, when I tighten the nut, the collet itself doesn't loosen or tighten, and I can't even insert a bit with a 1/2 in. shank either. My guess is that the collet is defective, but I need to get it out so that I can install the 1/4 collet and then call the supplier (Tool Nut) and ask them for a new collet.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

welcome to the forums Steve...



> My guess is that the collet is defective,


my guess is the collet nut was tightened w/o a bit in the router...
here's some PDF's to help you out w/ this...
Also, *here is a link* that is suggested reading...

.


----------



## Steve in VA (Mar 9, 2019)

Thanks for the resources, Stick. These are useful. I suspect that you may be right that the collet nut was tightened without a bit. Given that, any idea how to release the collet? The pdf attachments warn not to tighten a collet without a bit but nothing about what to do in case this happens.


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Steve; Stick or one of the Triton owners will likely have an answer but I just wanted to butt in and suggest that you buy a new1/2" collet _before_ you attempt to remove the old one...there's an excellent chance that you'll be replacing it!
Welcome to the Forum by the way.


----------



## Steve in VA (Mar 9, 2019)

Dan. Thanks. Hoping for some advice in due time. I am under no illusion that the current collet is destined for the trash. I am planning to get a new one. I just can't understand how the nut separated from the collet. My hope is to get it removed so that I can install the 1/4 collet and cut the hole from router table plate. Then I'll focus on a new 1/2 inch collet.


----------



## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Usually with a 1/2" router you use a reducing sleeve that fits the outer dimensions of the collet with an inner diameter of a 1/4". But thats how my makita works anyway.


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Lay the router on its side and using a pin punch (for driving out pins, not a center punch with a sharp point) tap around the outer edge of the collet . Rotate slightly after every couple of taps. It might take 10 minutes but it will eventually loosen. The collet might still be usable. Sometimes the slots close up but I've spread them with a thin bladed screwdriver and they worked again.


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Bob; the Bosch routers have separate specific collets. Steve has his 1/4" Triton collet but can't release the 1/2" one to switch it.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Lay the router on its side and using a pin punch (for driving out pins, not a center punch with a sharp point) tap around the outer edge of the collet . Rotate slightly after every couple of taps. It might take 10 minutes but it will eventually loosen. The collet might still be usable. Sometimes the slots close up but I've spread them with a thin bladed screwdriver and they worked again.


glad you said it...
last time I said the same ... whew ... did I catch it...

here that punch is called a drift punch...
and yes you can damage the collet using a punch into uselessness...
*Note:*
do not set the punch 90° to the collet...
angle the punch into collet from so that you are ''knocking'' the out of the shaft... 

Steve.. when you get the collet removed you'll need to reset it back into the collet nut *BEFORE* you reinstall the collet...

.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

> I just can't understand how the nut separated from the collet.


when the nut was tightened the collet jambed into the socket firmly enough that the retaining ring couldn't hold the collet when the nut was released..


----------



## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"... Thank you, Dr. Newton for your third law...

Put the router on its side...take that drift punch and put it down the middle to the router shaft...lightly tap on it. The slight movement of the punch against the router will eventually loosen the collet and it will pop out... Try this first before tapping on the collet... The fatter the head of the drift punch, the better...If you have brass, even better...

Allow yourself a TINY BIT, less than a drop, of a good lubricant...PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench...let it sit for a while, then the light taps...

...sort of like tapping on the back of a hammer handle to drive the head onto the handle...

LIGHT TAPS, please...


----------



## Steve in VA (Mar 9, 2019)

Thanks to all for your wonderful advice and wisdom. I approached the problem with renewed resolve this morning and succeeded in freeing the collet. I warmed up the armature by running the router for about five minutes, sprayed a couple of drops of Boshield into the collet, tightened a hose clamp around the collet which shrank the collet, and pulled it out with a vise gripe. It came out pretty easily. I was also able to snap the collet back into the nut. However, the collet still won't accept half-inch shanks. It's possible that the collet is now misshapen. I will call Triton tomorrow to see if they'll send me a new collet. 

Thanks again for the help.


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

If you can't get a bit in it the most likely problem is that the slots in the collet have squeezed together. It shouldn't be distorted unless you did that with the vice grips.


----------



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Collets are amazingly precise bits of engineering. Less than a mm can prevent it from working properly. On half inch collets I drop in a half inch grommet to prevent the bit from bottoming out. For a quarter inch, you could use a "space ball" to do the same. The only collet I've had stick was before I learned the grommet trick. I keep a spare collets around for both brands and sizes of routers, just in case.


----------



## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Collets are fairly cheap. Just get a new one.


----------



## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Steve, it sounds like you got the pros advice so I'll just add a welcome to the forum for good measure. You'll find plenty of help and advice from great people here. BTW, I'm in Virginia as well.


----------



## Straightlines (May 15, 2013)

Steve, I’m an avid user of Boeshield and point out that it is a paraffinic lubricant which therefore hardens after the carrier solvents have evaporated. Hardened paraffin deep inside your collet probably isn’t a good thing, so I suggest you use a light oil, or Slick-50, or maybe a dry Teflon type lube instead.


----------



## davidwpqz (12 mo ago)

Steve in VA said:


> Thanks to all for your wonderful advice and wisdom. I approached the problem with renewed resolve this morning and succeeded in freeing the collet. I warmed up the armature by running the router for about five minutes, sprayed a couple of drops of Boshield into the collet, tightened a hose clamp around the collet which shrank the collet, and pulled it out with a vise gripe. It came out pretty easily. I was also able to snap the collet back into the nut. However, the collet still won't accept half-inch shanks. It's possible that the collet is now misshapen. I will call Triton tomorrow to see if they'll send me a new collet.
> 
> Thanks again for the help.


I thought I was going to have to buy a new router ! This worked a treat (with a tiny bit of persuasion from a hammer).


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

G'day @davidwpqz , welcome to the forum...


----------



## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Welcome to the forum @davidwpqz


----------



## Ulrik Plate (Sep 2, 2020)

Steve in VA said:


> Thanks to all for your wonderful advice and wisdom. I approached the problem with renewed resolve this morning and succeeded in freeing the collet. I warmed up the armature by running the router for about five minutes, sprayed a couple of drops of Boshield into the collet, tightened a hose clamp around the collet which shrank the collet, and pulled it out with a vise gripe. It came out pretty easily. I was also able to snap the collet back into the nut. However, the collet still won't accept half-inch shanks. It's possible that the collet is now misshapen. I will call Triton tomorrow to see if they'll send me a new collet.
> 
> Thanks again for the help.


Bless your soul! Your method worked on my brand new Triton 2400W router. I definitely didn't feel like putting a hammer anywhere near a shaft that will eventually spin a sharp carbide cutter at 21.000RPM!

So for the next woodworker being in this situation this is what I did:

I tightened a metal hose clamp so tight that I could see the slits on the collet closing up a bit. Then I plunged the router all the way in to lock the spindle and started twisting, wriggling and pulling on the hose clamp with my water pump pliers. Eventually the hose clamp tore up and came loose. Next attempt I sprayed the collet with some TF2 spray teflon lubricant I had lying around, fit another hose clamp super tight and went at it again this time gripping inside the collet itself for better grip. After a couple of minutes of twisting and pulling the collet came free thank goodness. The collet is done-diddly-done but I was just relieved to get the damn thing out. I didn't heat up anything btw.

By the way what a silly design. They could at least have put a warning in the manual. Never had this happen on any other router before.


----------



## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Welcome to posting @Ulrik Plate


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

G'day Ulrik, welcome to the forum..


----------

