Bosch Colt Bucked the Bit

Grabbed the Bosch Colt to route some slots. Drilled the starter holes and wasted the slot on the drill press. Inserted the Whiteside bit into the router, turned it on and gently turned it into the starter hole and the bit fell out. Thought I had it tight. Inserted the bit, made sure it was quite tight, turned on the router and gently turned it into the hoe and the bit fell out, again. Knew something wasn't right! Removed the collet nut and found...

Attachment 497828

...collet had broken nicely into two pieces.

So thankful that no injuries were involved.

Must be common with these collets. Amazon even has replacements in stock.

Wow. Firstly, glad all is well. How long have you had it? I've had one for seems like forever with no issues...I need to check it tomorrow - thanks for the heads up.

I have an old B&D quarter inch router that has had a broken collet for 30 years, and it holds just fine. Always meant to get a new collet, just never got around to it. It is in a small home made table that I used to take to rentals.

John,
I've had it for more than 5 years, dunno exactly. Got it for a specific job when I was installing some flooring. It has been sporadically used. I recall the previous time I used was to cut 1/2" plexiglass for a vacuum chamber lit and the bit was prone to slipping then.

Collets are kinda "disposables" AKA wear items and honestly should be replaced from time to time. Not many folks do that, however, until they have a failure of some kind.

I am glad this came up, as I was not aware you could find collets at places like Amazon. Mine is over 40 years old and I assumed it was some proprietary and out of date piece, and never pursued finding another one. Gonna look them up.