Porter Cable Collet ??

[Dan Lee]

Morining All
I recently bought a new 1/2" collet for my 12 year old PC7518. When I loosen the collet it just screws off.
With the older one after it was loosened a few turns there was resistance again and I had to use the wrench for about a 1/4 turn so that I could screw it off the rest of the way.
Are the new collets different or do I have a problem here?
Dan

[Greg Caputo]

Dan:

My PC routers (incl the 7518) all have the type of collet which just screws right off. None of mine are 12-years-old. I think my oldest is about 5 years-old.

Hope this helps.

Greg

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

With the older one after it was loosened a few turns there was resistance again and I had to use the wrench for about a 1/4 turn so that I could screw it off the rest of the way.

Naaahh that's just better more precise machining.

That last bit of resistence was the collet nut making contact with the Snap ring on top of the actual collet and pushing it upward to release the tension in the taper fit.

In theory all tapers are self releasing. They hold because of a degree of force used to jam 'em together along with some mechanical interface of the grinder marks on the finish.

[John Lucas]

I think the two part loosening is 1) the collet starting to loose from the motor and 2) when the collets grip on the bit is released. My guess is that when you start using the new collet, you will expereince this in time.