£18 Powercraft Plunge Router £17.99 This powerful tool is ideal for the workshop. . 1050 watt . Ergonomic handles . 6mm and 8mm collets . Parallel guide . Template ring . Spindle nut wrench . Adjustable plunge/depth . Electronic variable speed 9000-30000 rpm . Complete with ten router bits
Set £2.99
8 piece SDS Plus Hammer Drill Bit For use in masonry, brick and stone. Bit sizes of 5, 6, 8mm x 110mm; 6, 8, 10mm x 150mm; 8mm, 12mm x 200mm. Can be used with all electro-pneumatic hammer drills with SDS Plus attachment
I had an eastern european motorbike and side car once. It never came anywhere near flying apart in my, or anyone else's hands. It did almost write off the car of one of those drivers who don't see motorbikes, when he pulled out of a side street, straight into the scaffold pole-like chassis of the sidecar though. :)
You're right, in the sense that you're not wrong about the difference. But I think you're exaggerating the lack of tolerance between the 2 for practical purposes. In other words I think your "con" is a bit of a con. Certainly the collets I've got are built to squeeze to grip.
The problem is that collets are hardened and relatively stiff. They'll tighten down to any size, but they then form a cone that's only gripping over a short ring, not the full length. The cutters ran off axis and if 1/4" is forced into 6mm they form an open-mouthed cone that's just asking for a flyer.
Remember the old Bosch routers, where they were supplied with a 6.4mm collet, a couple of 6mm cutters and an adapter shim that most people ignored. They'd hold reasonably well (any cutter slip didn't cause it to work much looser) , but the 6mm cutter ran well out of true.
Do you mean I haven't seen a 1/4"shank fitted into a 6mm collet? If that's what you mean, then your right again, I've neither done it nor seen it but I have read quite a lot about it and this is what I've understood so far: Some manufacturers/users rightly or wrongly make no practical distinction between 6mm and 1/4" shank/collet fitting. They then go ahead and use the combination without a problem.
Others have fitted 1/4" shanks into 1/4" collets and had the cutter fly out in use. Discussion has then moved to the micrometer measurement level in an attempt to explain and understand the event.
There are variations. some collets will behave in this way, some will distort/conform to the shank depending on their structure. In order to make and validate a point some people refer to levels of precision that often don't exist in practical reality. It's a bit like the discussion of who's holier, the one who goes to church on Sunday only, or the one who goes to church every day.
Degrees of precision again and who can argue against more precision as opposed to less?
There is also the possibly more relevant matter of context. This thread is about an alternative source of d-i-y tools that have generally proved to be dependable and inexpensive. Such a thread will inevitably attract brand zealots, who will use both rational argument and hocus pocus to denigrate the competition. The router table for sale at Aldi is at least as good as other inexpensive tables. The router in question has both 6mm and 8mm collets and while 6mm shanked bits may be most easily acquired by purchasing the accompanying bit sets, 8mm shanked cutters can be had from numerous sources including Trend. The argument against metric sized router bit shanks is turning into a bit of an anachronism, especially when you have people talking up the merits of imperial shanks on bits with metric cutter profiles.
B&Q have their 150W 1/3 sheet sander at £4.94. Even if they don't last long you can afford to throw them at this price. One assumes this is an end of line.
Possibly for B&Q, but it's the normal selling price for the Blackspur/am-tool/nu-tool/ /etc. out of the same Chinese factory jobie. None of them seem to thrive on a diet of plaster dust ;-(
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.