Muscle Chuck - Am I Going About This Wrong ?

[Ken Krawford]

I recently purchased a router lift and new router. I was about to buy a couple of offset wrenches to make bit changing easier when I remembered reading about Muscle Chuck - a quick change option in place of a traditional collet. $142 later and I've got my Muscle Chuck installed. It now dawns on me that I've got to raise my router up just as high (or maybe higher) to be able to turn the T Wrench a full turn to tighten the collet.
Am I missing something here? Thanks for your input.

[Nick Decker]

For me, the advantage is that it's easier to use one t-shaped Allen wrench than to position two regular wrenches on the collet. I use a t-shaped wrench with a ball head, which makes it even easier.

[Bill Dindner]

Yeah. That's correct. Need to raise it up to full height unless you purchase a Ball end Hex.

[Dave Richards]

I have Eliminator chucks on my routers. They are similar to the Muscle Chuck. With a ball end T-handle wrench I can access it through the opening in the router plate or from under the table with no trouble. Of course the one on the DW625 is always in plain sight since it is on the Router Boss.

[glenn bradley]

I would shift the position of the motor in the lift so that the chuck comes high enough. When installing my motor I raised my lift to the near-highest position and installed the motor high enough to use the stock wrenches on the chuck. The max opening size in the plate was part of my lift selection criteria. The motor is still too large to protrude through the opening but, the collet is easily reachable.

[Andy Giddings]

I find a normal Allen wrench (ie L shaped) works fine as it needs less than half a turn to release/clamp and you won't need to raise the chuck as high (t shaped wrench would take more clearance)

[Bruce Page]

I find a normal Allen wrench (ie L shaped) works fine as it needs less than half a turn to release/clamp and you won't need to raise the chuck as high (t shaped wrench would take more clearance)

+1. Use a standard "L" shaped allen wrench.

[Ken Krawford]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I think I'll give the L shaped wrench a try for a bit and see how it works. I still have a bit of buyers remorse though.

On a slightly different note, I also bought a couple of their "setting rings" to enable chucking a bit to the same depth each time. After reconsidering this I realized that it will only work if I never change the height of the router in the table. Sort of negates the whole point of buying a router lift, doesn't it?

[Ben Rivel]

I bought a Muscle Chuck too and never could figure out why I did as my setup (PC 7518 in an Incra lift with an offset wrench and regular wrench) was never really a pain to change bits out of and if anything adding another link in the chain by using the Muscle Chuck makes me a little nervous. I swear I feel like a bit could more easily slip out of the Muscle Chuck than the stock collet alone.

[Nick Decker]

Ken,

I was wondering how you ended up spending $142. I'd never heard of the "setting rings" you mentioned, but after watching the video on their site, yeah, I'd say their usefulness is questionable. I do like the Muscle Chuck itself, though.

[Bruce Page]

IIRC, my Muscle Chuck cost $70. The setting rings could be useful for repetitive operations, especially in a production environment, but not needed by most hobbyist woodworkers.
I’m very happy with the MC in my PC7518/Benchdog lift. I hated the PC 2-wrench system.