Loosened the collet, endmill won’t come out. Turned the collet all the way to the other direction, not sure if I’m tightening or loosening as the collet seems designed to stay on the tool. Trying to change out bits for next job, stuck with the endmill that came with the product.
I’d prefer not to remove the entire router from the machine to fix this, hoping to do a changeout while it’s all assembled. Am I doing it wrong?
The collet loosens , then tightens, then loosens again, enough to let go. It will unscrew completely.
If you were looking strait at the bit from underneath, you would turn the collet counter clockwise.
So looking straight down, it’s clock wise. 
I’ve tried to loosen it and put a lot of torque on it…afraid I may do too much. Will the collet come off the tool or is it designed to stay attached at all times?
So with the tool attached, facing me, bit pointing down, turn the collet clockwise until everything comes out?
SUCCESS! Yea, It’s a small victory for me.
Thanks for the help!
Wow. It’s so simple, it’s confusing. LOL
If the router is mounted in the spindle. You’re looking down at it (at the cord/ and fan housing),
your wrench would be turning in the clockwise position.
Monkey tight, not gorilla tight…
I just had to put more torque on it to get past that “2nd tight spot” or whatever it is. Bit dropped out with a clunk.
I am in the habit of loosening the collet, then tappingthe top section of the endmill with a piece of wood (small piece, light tap) this breaks the collet out of the holder and allows it to drop out a bit and release the endmill
it’s often sawdust that causes the tightness
Its also probably good preventive maintenance to periodically remove and clean out the collet with some compressed air or a brush. Especially if someone is not switching out collets often. I do this when I spend time cleaning all the V-wheels, rails, and other moving parts of the machine.
I drew a picture on my wasteboard reminding me which way to turn to tighten and loosen the collet. I use a one-way wrench (PreciseBits talon), so I also have that marked to remind me.
I messed up “monkey tight/gorilla tight” and the thing is on there good. Like, bending up the cheapy wrench that came with is and start to strip good. I am huffing and puffing and trying so hard the whole machine is trashing too and fro and the collet will not budge.
ideas, shy of running to home depot and buying a new router?
Use a nicer set of wrenches?
I got a low profile 13mm wrench (the Capri which is usually suggested: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0791ZS89G ) as well as a stubby 22mm wrench (lucked out and got a N.O.S. full polish Craftsman — not the sand-cast six-point I prefer, but quite nice). The Capri is longer than I think is needed, so have an Asahi low profile wrench on order.
That Capri you recommended is what I gorilla’d it on with!
Home Depot was open and had a makita on sale for 89. Grabbing it to continue these projects, and then when I have a few I will continue to bang on this piece of work.
Yeah, the length and the torque which it affords concerns me a bit, hence my ordering the shorter wrench.
Of course, as soon as I zipetie in the wiring for the new one, I toss the Original C3D one in my handy “you overtightened something again, didn’t you robrob” bench vise, i manage to crack it free.
but actually, i kinda prefer the original makita cord length- seems to be exactly perfect for my setup, as opposed to the last one that had like 4 feet of play dangling.
I think i’ll keep it in and have a backup router on hand in the event another disaster strikes mid job.
The colllet inside is shaped like a W. The collet nut has an incline at the bottom of the nut. The router shaft is also an incline plane. So when you tighten up the nut you are forcing the collet up into the incline plane of the router shaft and the nut is also exerting force on the bottom of the collet. The force is forcing the W to tighten and hold your bit. When you loosen the collet nut the W relaxes but does not completely loosen. As you keep turning the collet nut you feel a second release and the bit is then able to be removed from the collet and collet nut. So as you are tightening and loosening remember “Righty Tighty” and “Lefty Loosey”. These are relative to the user standing or sitting in from of the Shapeoko/Router. So to tighten put your big wrench on the right side of the collet nut and turn toward the back to tighten. To loosen put your big wrench on the right side again and turn the wrench towards you to loosen. So on loosening you loosen until you feel the second release. On the second release the bit will fall out of the collet striking the table so either put something soft under the bit or with your third hand catch the bit before falling. Carbide is very strong but very brittle. So carbide striking steel or the concrete floor can chip the carbide making the bit useless. The collet nut and router shaft are standard right hand threads. on all the routers used in the Shapeoko.
If you are a gun owner and have the brass brushes for cleaning a gun you can use them to clean out the router shaft, collet and collet nut. Apply a light coat of oil inside the router shaft and wipe it out with a twisted piece of paper towel. Do not use excessive amounts of lubricant. Use a light machine oil like 3 in one oil. Do not use WD-40. WD-40 is a penetrating oil and will dry and leave a sticky residue and gum up your collet.
Router bits can rust and you can clean the shaft of a router bit using a non-woven product like the fine 3M Between Coats Finishing Pad. Hold the sharp part of the bit with a rag or paper towel. You can buy them at any big box store in course, medium and fine and extra fine. I use the fine and extra fine to clean the cast iron machines in the shop and you could use a fresh pad to lightly sand between coats of finish to remove dust nibs and dust that may settle when a finish is wet. Once you get oil on the pad do not use for finishing projects.