A few weeks ago I had an accident on my Shapeoko 4. While V-Carving something that was likely a bit to aggressive, the bit was pulled down and torqued the collet as the bit got stuck. (Belt slipped, machine screamed and what not.)
The I stopped everything, took the collet out and there was a gash in there. I ended up swapping to the .25" collet that came with the router vs Carbide3D.
I ended up swapping out the magnetic brushes as well as something sounded off and they looked very worn (even though the router is about 1-2 months old.
I’m not sure what other damage was caused in the router.
Recently as I was working on a new project, I started noticing that the tips of some of my V-Bits would make a circle when I spun the router by hand. Meaning something was not straight.
Thinking it was my bit, I swapped bits to a 1/32" tapered ball tip. A long pointy bit. The point was also making circles.
Long story short, I have some run out. No clue where its coming from.
First thing I was going to change was a collet.
I know we have these available: Precision Collets for Carbide Compact Router - Carbide 3D
However I only need 0.25" and wanted to know if there are better options.
If you’re still under warranty, (12 months), let us know at support@carbide3d.com and we will work out how to handle this.
Both the Carbide 3D and Elaire Corp. collets seem to be excellent quality — not sure what the “precision grade” specification is, but I have a full set of both (save for the 3mm which Elaire just started making), and I haven’t been able to differentiate between cut quality between the twain — I guess I should get a dial indicator.
Probably the best way to get up-and-running quickly would be to grab a Makita RT0701 from a local store, then run the (shorter) power cord up to the ceiling — some folks have problems w/ them vibrating off a given speed setting, so might want to use blue painter’s tape on the dial.
Do not use a visibly damaged collet or endmill — they’re consumables, and a stock 1/4" would be better to use than a damaged 1/4" precision collet.
As @WillAdams suggested the bearings may be wacked. To test that power off the Shapeoko. Install a bit in the router and then grab hold of the collet nut. Give it a wiggle. If you feel wooble the bearings go bad. The C3D router gets reported on more on the forum than other routers because it is a C3D product. The bearings going bad seems to be a common problem. Also the brushes on the Makita/C3D routers seem to wear out rather fast. The brushes have a wire that connects the contact to the brush and a spring around that wire. Seems like on the Makita/C3D routers when the brushes get about half consumed the wire is short enough so that the brush does not make good contact with the armature on the motor and you get excessive electrical noise and sparking. Be sure to blow out the brush cavity because all the carbon conductive dust from the old brushes collect and are conductive. A good blow with compressed air or your shop vac on blow mode will clean out the top of the motor from the brush dust.
All routers wear out the consumable brushes. However my Dewalt 611 has only had the brushes changed once in 4 years. I run my Shapeoko a lot so there seems to be a material difference in the Dewalt brushes compared to the Makita/C3D routers.