Went with a new collet chuck over a router speed controller - did I mess up?

Had to choose between buying a decent ER32 collet chuck set or a variable speed controller for my old router table. Picked the collet chuck because my runout was killing my tolerance on aluminum parts. Cost me around $180 for the set with a few collets. Now I can hold plus or minus 0.001 better but I'm stuck running the router at full speed on big cuts. Anyone else regret skipping a speed control for better hold down?

2 comments

2 Comments

susanm5625d ago

Wait, are you doing a lot of climb milling or something? I had a similar problem trying to cut dados in some oak plywood with a full speed router, the bit just grabbed and I ended up with a burn mark the size of my thumb. Maybe you could try taking really shallow passes on the big cuts and see if that helps keep the heat down while you save up for a speed controller.

taylor_miller1025d ago

My buddy ran into this exact situation a few months back. He went the opposite route actually, got a speed controller but stuck with his old worn collet. First time he tried cutting some aluminum angle brackets the bit wobbled so bad it snapped off and flew across the garage. Took out a fluorescent light fixture and scared the crap out of his dog. He ended up borrowing money from me to get a collet chuck set the next week. Sounds like you made the smarter long term choice honestly. That precision will matter way more than variable speed for aluminum work, right?