Carbide compact router collets

I’ve owned an SP5 pro for about 9 months now. I recently figured out that I had more bit deflection than I originally thought. I found this out while trying to create a simple plug and pocket of the same thing that was supposed to fit perfectly - no gap at all, exactly the same.

When I originally bought the machine back in March '24, I bought it with the carbide compact router which included 3 collets. I’ve only really been using the 1/4" collet that was originally installed in the router and I found this one in particular to be my main issue while doing some experimenting. The collet that was installed in my router has a hard stop on the backside which doesn’t allow you to insert an end mill any farther than being flush with the backside of the collet. I have quite a bit of woodworking experience and thought this was weird because some of the bits I’ve been using have been sticking out further than I expected (even the #201 that comes with the machine - sticks out way farther than I would have thought). But then again, I’ve never bought anything from C3D before so I figured the hard stop on the collet was intentional? The precision collets that came with the router - I found - work as expected. The one that was installed does not due to the hard stop on the backside.

My question is, is the collet installed with the carbide compact router supposed to have a hard stop or did I get a faulty collet? I spent almost 2 days worth of time diagnosing the collet as being my main issue with multiple tests so I feel like something is wrong.

We include two nice, precision-collets because we expect folks to use them in preference to the stock collet, which is not precision machined, and is a mass-produced part intended for usage when cutting by hand, with all the on-the-fly adjustments that affords.

Thanks for the fast response. Seems weird to me to include something that can be expected to be subpar or perform with unexpected results. Thank you for providing me with this information. I will no longer be using the non-precision collets.

It’s included by the manufacturer in the base price, and in a couple of instances, folks have used it as a stop-gap when the precision collets were not included, or as a backup if the precision 1/4" collet was damaged in a crash.