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I have a Porter Cable 310 trim router and the tool is great except for one detail: the collet. When trying to change bits I have to resort to knocking the shaft many times to get the collet to let go. This can't be good for the bearings. I have cleaned and lightly lubricated the collet and tapered shaft it fits into with no avail. I looked around for an aftermarket collet but since the 310 has been out of production for so long I have not had any luck.
I have 2 Hitachi/Metabo routers with an exemplary collet. You loosen the nut and the collet just lets go once you unscrew it past a certain point. I also use a really vintage Porter Cable 100 router that has a collet that is very unusual and works great.
Barring locating an improved, aftermarket collet for my 310 are there any new production trim routers with self-releasing collet? I see Bosch has one. I may wind up just leaving one bit in the 310 and figuring it is a one-operation router.
As always, thanks.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I used to have one of those PC routers. The manual said to whack the shaft with the wrench after loosening the collet to get it to release. It always worked for me. I sold it when I found I wasn’t using it after I got a little router that I liked better.

I guess it's nice to know I'm not the only person whose PC 310 router is reluctant to release router bits...

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Peter Havriluk

I've got 3 7310's and a 310...2 of them (strangely not all) are prone to this issue and I have to keep up with the concept of keeping the collet/the nut and it's receiver (the shaft) clean...built up gunk/rust on the bit's shaft can be a contributing factor to this.

that being said, a trick I use to avoid hitting the shaft is first to leave a gap about 1.5x the thickness of the stamped wrench between the collet nut and the profile of the bit...using the notch on the handle (used on the 310 for locking the shaft when using the other wrench to loosen the nut) you can pry the bit out most times...if that fails you can resort to taking the nut completely off (assuming it's possible without the bit preventing it) and doing a bit of wiggling...

oh, and a very fine grit of sandpaper works nicely to clean off built up gunk/oxidation on both the collet and the taper it fits into

per usual, YMMV

I've avoided having the bit bottomed out in the collet. Seems to help. Also, a tiny bit of dry teflon lube on the tapered outside of the collete.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I don't whack the shaft on my PC trimmers (310's, 7310's and Rockwell 64's). I loosen the nut a couple of turns and tap the nut while it is still on the shaft. Tapping the nut reduces the chance of hitting the threads and seems to put the force where it is needed.
Removing the bit after using the router also seems to help reduce sticking problems, but tapping the nut to loosen the collet has become such a habit that I don't even think about it anymore - loosen the nut, tap it with the wrench, and remove the bit - no need to loosen the nut any further. I do it on my big routers too.

I do what Clay does and although it's a pita it works and does not require much of a tonk.

Tom there was a thread on the OLF around 2008 about this and I remember the only solution offered for the 310's with stingy collets was tonking them. I always hated having to do it too it seems like a poor practice as you said.

All the troubles with a PC 310 can be solved by replacing it with a Dewalt 611.

Steve

You know Tom when we set out to build the Collin's saddles mills and make them available for purchase the 310 would have been our first choice but they had stopped making it. So Dave purchased 4 - 5 lam trimmers and exhaustively tested them for quality, runout, accuracy and did I mention quality . The Dewalt 611 was hands down the winner and that is what our mills shipped with.

Steve has a good idea, maybe dedicate it to a specific task where you don't have to change the bit and then get a 611 for other stuff.

Does the 611 have a self releasing collet? Yeah, the 310 owes me nothing at this point. Bosch has a new trimmer with self releasing collet.

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I have a few 310, all low use single purpose. I rarely change the bits. I like the router so I will live with the tonk or 2.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Yes it does, never had a bit stick in a 611. The self releasing collet is the best thing about the Bosch. The spindle runout is deplorable and the depth adjustment is even worse than the Makita.

I'll look at the 611, but there is a newer version of the Bosch that seems to have addressed some of the Colt's shortcomings. My 310 takes way more than a couple tonks. Life is too short.....

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

What Steve said we measured runout on Bosch units as the very worst of all we tested. If you remember Link Van Cleave who used to participate here and was a personal friend of Jim Krenov Link bought three Colts, tested them all for runout, found over .005" as he measured it and took all three back to the store. He went with Dewalt. Link had his own TV show about woodworking on the west coast and taught at the Redwood school of woodworking so he knows his stuff. He was our apprentice too for two summers and is a good friend of ours.

Compelling testimony. Goodbye Bosch, hello DeWalt

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I know MY P-C 310 is no one else's, but having mentioned that, does anyone have a runout measurement on their 310?

Thanks!

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Peter Havriluk

We have but it's been lost in time. Early on we measured the 3 310's we have and use and they all were around .001 - .002, best in class for sure. I don't have the methodology though Dave did some and Link did others.

Thanks, Hesh. I realize that my tool may not behave like someone else's tool, but it's not likely to be far removed unless it's noticeably defective.

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Peter Havriluk

Thanks!

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Peter Havriluk

You bet Peter we are still grieving that PC discontinued the 310 it was one of the very best tools we have ever used and near perfect in design (except for the sticky collets). We call ours R2D2

the thing I love about the 310 is the very fine depth adjustment available...the 7310 is pretty decent in that aspect but it has the flaw of having a lot of slop in the system that shows up when trying to reverse from going deeper to the opposite...e.g. it's fine for slowly dialing in a depth going in one direction but if you overshoot it's a PITA to recover...

the mention of the DW611 got me into looking into it...not sure I really like certain aspects of it but for luthierie and templates I'm sure it's great...what I infer from said "research" is that it is being discontinued or at the very least there is a severe supply shortage

That sucks just when we find a suitable replacement they discontinue it. Are you sure about this Mike? We designed our saddle mill around them and will have to redesign for a sub if it's off the market.

I have a number of trimmers, but my favorite is the Rockwell 64 models. They updated the bases and morphed them into the PC 309 model which is also a nice router. The older units had a wider base which is handy for some things and can allow you to see what the bit is doing a little better. I often customize the sub-bases to suit a particular task. They use the same collets as the 310's, 7310's, and 309's. They were sold as a consumer grade tool, back when "consumer grade" wasn't synonymous with "disposible", so you can sometimes find 50 year old tools that are lightly used on eBay.
Here is a listing I saw recently that if I didn't have a dozen trimmers of this model I would take a chance on:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224819106714?h ... SwwrZh-cib

Pictured are a couple iterations of the 64 next to a 310

Hesh,
You might want to buy enough 611's to supply them with any units you have on hand. I would think if only used for milling saddle slots the trimmer would last the working life of most luthiers.
On another forum I read people were surprised DeWalt was killing off all the PC routers and pushing their consumer grade stuff. I'm not.
They can sell a lot more cheaply made low cost tools for occasional use by homeowners, and if the Pro's have to replace them every couple of years - Oh Well!

Good idea we are already on it and going to get a stash of them. Thanks Clay.