Hi All,
I'm curious to get your opinion on this. I have a Ridgid router which I've attached to a Ryobi router table. I've used it probably about 15 times (bought used) but in the last 3 times I used it the router bit has come loose during use. Both times was a 1/4 inch shank. I tightened the bits a fair amount (put some effort into it but didn't put my whole body weight into it). The first time I figured maybe I just didn't tighten it enough. I could hear the router struggling and when I stopped the router the bit actually had come off. The second time was today where I heard it struggling so stopped immediately and sure enough it was a bit loose (not loose in a wobbly way but I could remove the bit with my fingers out of the collet). I re-tightened it and was fine the rest of the time.
Is this just me not tightening it enough or could the 1/4 in collet potentially be damaged? Before all this happened one of my bits had become pretty tight in the collet to the point where I had to use a lot of force to take it out.