Triton Router owners - USA/Canada ?

[RodKirby]

For those of you who have both the small and large Triton routers - is the collet design identical?

If you only have the small one - what is the collet design?

RayintheUK has just gone to a lot of trouble to get me 1/4" collets (instead of using 1/4" reducing sleeves), which I planned to use on both my routers. Turns out, in the UK, the collet design is different between the routers

In Oz, both routers have an identical design - which will not accept the UK 1/4" collets

[bigsteel15]

Rod,
I'll double check tonight but I believe mine are both the same as Ray's.

[bigsteel15]

Sorry to take so long Rod.
My collets are identical to Ray's

[cgallery]

In Oz, both routers have an identical design - which will not accept the UK 1/4" collets

Are the Oz routers the only ones experiencing slipped bits?

I wonder why the difference?

[RodKirby]

Thanks guys.

Brian - do you have both small and large routers?

[RayintheUK]

Are the Oz routers the only ones experiencing slipped bits?
I wonder why the difference?

The "Hitachi-style" collets, as shown in the following picture, have a shallow, steeply-angled shoulder which contacts a matching internal bevel in the router shaft.

The collet itself has three slits, one internal, two external and the tightening action closes the collet around the bit shank. Due to the sharply-angled bevel, the amount of wrench rotation is small, but the effort quite large due to the robustness of the collet itself. Put simply, although you don't need to turn the collet far, you do have to lean on it a bit!

The later (and smaller) machine - MOF001 - uses the "self-releasing" style collet, at least it does in Canada and the UK. This collet is completely different in both construction and operation, as can be seen in this rear-view picture:

The collet itself is solid, but contains an internal steel sleeve. The sleeve is slotted and locates in a parallel chamber inside the router shaft. As it is tightened, the slightly conical profile of the collet causes it to tighten as it is driven up into the recess by tightening the nut. This takes more wrench rotation, but less effort.

For my part, I have never had a bit slip in either style of collet. However, I do prefer to use a smaller dedicated collet than an equivalent reducing sleeve, as the sleeves tend to be much more difficult to get effectively tight - more so in the "Hitachi-style" than the self-releasing type.

The Triton "Hitachi-style" collet has only ever been supplied in 1/2" with a 1/4" reducing sleeve, whereas the Triton "self-releasing" type comes in both 1/2" and 1/4" sizes. The final irony is that the smaller machine is sold in Australia with the same "Hitachi-style" collet as its bigger brother. I've no idea why, although I am attempting to find out. HTH

Ray.