Depending on use and age, it may be time for a good cleaning. Maybe not so much of the collet as the bits themselves. A little simple green, purple power, or what have you and clean the shafts up. Also, you can take the collet off and blow it out and see if that helps.

 

Cleaning usually takes care of it. Also, when you put in a bit slide it all the way down and pull it back about 1/8". This gives you a little room to "LIGHTLY" tap the bit to break it loose if it wants to stick again.

 

Not dismissing you or your quandary; but a helpful hint would be to type into the search bar; "router bit stuck". More solutions than you can shake a bit at.

Hope this helps.

 

I would check the collet it's self. It maybe smashed from over tightening it to many times.

 

Thanks for the replies I will consider all.

 

This is a common occurrence with collet-type holders in various machines. Collets are excellent at holding tooling accurately and securely, however due to the collet being forced into the taper of the collet holder, the collet often doesn't easily release the tool easily. This is remedied by, after unscrewing the collet holder, tapping the tool bit back INTO the collet with a soft-face hammer or with a piece of wood held over the front the tool bit so as not to damage it. This shoves the bit and collet AWAY from the taper of the collet holder, releasing the bit.

The best way to easily accomplish this is by NOT inserting the tool bit all the way to the bottom of the collet, thus leaving some room to tap the tool bit back into the collet when removing it.

Planeman

 

+1 Planerman40....bottoming out the bit and getting it stuck in the collet is a PITA…

 

Like everyone else said don't put the router bit all the way down in the collect.router but shanks are tapered so the shank closest to the cutter is wider than the rest or the shank.

 

once in a while wipe the outside of the taper with a rag containing light oil. not to the point that it runs off just a coating. it will take less to get the bit tight while increasing the actual grip on the bit. I hadn't seen a router where the taper is toward the nut most of the tapers are in the spindle. driving the cutter into the collet IS driving it toward the taper but most of the collet and nut assembly's now have a shoulder for drawing the collet out of the taper. I am not sure of your particular router. what happens if you try to completely remove the nut? I have found that a tap on the side of the bit once the nut is loose with a block of wood is very effective for stuck bit removal.

 

Does that have a self releasing collet? I know The old Freud, the Milwaukees, and the PC routers all release after you crank the nut out a few more turns after the initial loosening. Maybe some other brands work that way as well.

 

I never put the bit all the way in. It does have the self releasing deal where you have to keep turning even after it gets loose the first time. The deal is that I can take the collet and nut all the way off the router and the bit is still stuck in the collet. Then I have to use something to "tap" the bottom of the bit to get it to come out of the collet. I believe yesterday I may have damaged some threads on the collet nut. I think I am going to replace both collets and nuts, but this has been a problem since the first time I used the half inch collet so it wasn't a problem of any kind of build up or age. After some searching, it appears to be a problem with the hitachi collets.

 

As far as overtightening goes, I have had the problem of a bit coming partly out of the collet during use so I am leary about not tightening as much.

 

If you have a scraper or a junk thin saw blade, put that in the opening that goes all the way across collet. Lay it down on a flat surface and push, and the bit comes out. A collet I had kept doing that and that seemed to work for me. It's much easier than using wrenches and I won't damage either the bit or the collet then. On askwoodman.com Mr. Allan Little explains it much better than I do, and he has a video

 

Never tighten it all the way in. If it sticks, tap it in further…which releases the collet.

 

Sounds like a bad collet to me.

 

Hey folks, I seem to remember seeing a add years back for high end well machined replacement collets.
Cant for the life of me remember. Ive browsed the interweb and dont reconize anything I also have issues with Hitachi collets new and old.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

I'm not sure this is the site you're after, but Elaire Corp may have been the one you saw mentioned. I have several of their collets, and they are top notch; high quality in every way. Thing, I don't see they offer Hitachi collets.

 

Hey Jeff, I never bought a new collet. I bought a new router for my table. I still use the hitachi for hand held use and just take the collet all the way off and tap the bottom of the bit til it comes out. Let me know what you found though. I may still replace the hitachi collet.

 

My Bosch router has a self release collet. Once loose you turn it more and the bit comes out with no problem. May be you have the same type collet.

 

Actually WhyMe, that's part of the problem with the hitachi collets. They are self releasing, but after a while the little ridge inside the collet that makes it self releasing wears out and the nut pops over it.

 

Exactly Firefighterontheside

 

Just to make sure you don't install the bit too deep, drop an o-ring on the shaft.

 

I have one, get another collet from different manufacturer, will work great after that.

 

I've had this problems with Hitachi M12VC collets. One important thing to know is that the Hitachi M12VC collet is interchangeable with a Bosch 1617/1618/1619. One source of replacement collets is Gallaxy Products:
http://www.gpcollets.com/bsch_cross.html. They have collets in other sizes like 3/8 and metric.

Another source is Precise Bits http://www.precisebits.com/products/equipment/bosch_1618_collets.asp
Note that these don't use the same wrench.