Bought a Shapeoko XXL in the black friday sale and in my eagerness to get things started I didn’t stop to consider the differences between imperial and metric. Over here in Norway both the DeWalt D26200 and Makita RT0700CJ typically comes with a 6mm collet which presumably won’t fit a 1/4" (6.35mm) end mill.
As far as I understand it, the Carbide Compact Router is more or less the same as the Makita (at least according to older threads I’ve found). Since I got three collets with the Shapeoko (one 1/4" with the router and 1/4"+1/8" from the precision collet set (https://shop.carbide3d.com/products/precision-collets)), would getting the european version of the Makita be enough to use end mills with imperial sizes or would I need additional adapters/parts for the router?
I guess there’s a lot of variables, but roughly how many hours would one expect a collet lasting before needing replacement (are we talking three digits? four?). Was thinking of getting the HDZ next time it’s on sale and also stock up on a few precision collet sets (unless it’s recommended getting them from Elaire) since import- and shipping fees doesn’t make buying collets on demand feasable.
As an aside, if anyone know of any Norwegian or Swedish source(s) of good quality end mills or collets for the Makita it would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, if you get the Makita which has the 6mm collet you can use it — the 6mm Makita collet if you can source it from a dealer will work in the Carbide Compact Router.
Elaire Corp. makes nicer ones though in a variety of sizes:
I have a European Makita (RT0700) too, which was delivered with a 6 mm collet.
I initially bought the “official” Makita 1/4" collet (off eBay) to accomodate imperial endmills.
EDIT: as I am writing, @WillAdams confirms the CCR collets from Carbide 3D work fine in a European Makita.
I later bought 1/4" and 1/8" precision collets from Elaire, which work perfectly too (but yes, shipping and import fees hurt like hell)
I wrote a bit about collets here if that’s any help.
About the life time of collets: unless you use your Shapeoko for producing stuff all day long, AND you need to sustain extreme accuracies, let’s say “a very, very long time”. No need to “stock up” on collets, at least.
EDIT: forgot to add, but you figured it out yourself, don’t go using a 6mm endmill in a 6.35mm collet by mistake, this is a recipe for disaster.
Hi, I live i Stavanger and have retired my makita when installing a HDZ and spindle. I have all the collets that fits in the Makita router if you are interested.
