Drill chuck on my router? Should I?

[borrisl]

I have made a drill chuck that fits in a 1/2" router collet. I'm using a small 3/8" keyed chuck. Assuming I can get the router down to 10k rpm, is this safe? Has it been done?

I'm wanting to do drill cycles in .100" aluminum, so not too thick. I have a 690 series router that is 1 3/4 HP. I would use a router speed control to get it down to 10,000 rpm. So... will it work?

Richard

[NC Cams]

I see chatter problems when mounting a mill cutter into drill chucks as I go to faster and faster speeds with my BPT mill. Tried using a chuck on a die grinder (similar speed). Major PITA due to vibration.

Chucks are great for drilling but I wouldn't use them at 6k (max bearing speed for my mill) let alone by throttling it "down to 10K" in a router. Collets don't/shouldn't have that problem.

If you can't hold the runout to a 0.0002 or so (0.0001 would be better), I wouldn't do it... Be sure to check at different mill cutter sizes as chucks don't always repeat or have linear runout at different chucking sizes.

No matter what you do, BE CAREFUL.

NOTE: this is merely one person'st opinion and you must ultimately assume full responsiblity for your actions no matter what you decide to do.

In any case, I'd use a collet, no matter what others may say....

[borrisl]

I wouldn't use a drill chuck for milling. I just need it for drilling. 1/8" drill mainly. I was going to use the canned cycle and drill a bunch of holes in .050 and .090 aluminum.

[wizard]

For drilling it might work but there are many issues that you have to look out for.

Number one is that hte chuck should be speed rated for the maximum speed of the router not the speed you will slow it dow to. the reason for this is simple you don't want the chuck coming apart like a grenade is the controller should fail or you forget to crank the RPMs down.

Second the bearings are likely to wear quickly on a router doing operations that generate axial thrust. This owuld be a concern if you expectot do such work for an extended time. In any event if you get the hang of rebuilding the router it probably is something easily budgetted for.

Given that a high speed rated chuck is an expense, you might want to consider a custom collet or collet adpater for the drill bits. Alternatively you might want ot consider a drill bit with a 1/4" shank. collet adapters are used all the time with die grinders, you might even be able to buy them from Dumore or some other grinder manufacture. Since 1/8" shanks are common sizes for burrs this is likely to be the cheap and easy route. This is the route I'd take first.

dave

[tpworks]

I use a 1/4 inch to 1/8 adapter for the rotozip spiral saw in a dewalt laminate trimmer for my 1/8 inch drills and mills and it works well enough for what I need it for, drilling circuit boards, carving signs and such. I found it at the home depot for $10.00

[Beezer]

I wouldn't trust a drill chuck in a router even at 10,000 rpm. I tried it and didn't like the vibration that resulted. I took a small drill chuck mounted to a 1/2" arbor and shorten the arbor so the chuck was as close to the router collet as possible. I was very carefull when I first installed the tapered drill arbor into the end of the chuck making sure it spun true. Even doing this could not prevent the vibrations. What you can't account for is the balance of the drill chuck. Even if it us running dead true it needs to be perfectly balanced, especially at those rpm's. If it is unbalanced it will just wear out the bearing in the router prematurely or even worse the chuck could let go from the arbor and you could get seriously hurt. Now I make my own split collet reducers for those unusual sizes and use the commercial ones for standard sizes.

Carl

[dertsap]

drill a hole in the center of a piece of round stock with the size of drill you want to use and cut a slit up the side , slide it into your router collet ,
works every time

[ger21]

Originally Posted by dertsap drill a hole in the center of a piece of round stock with the size of drill you want to use and cut a slit up the side , slide it into your router collet , works every time

Or just buy some of these.
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shops.../adapbush.html

[ronpriest]

I used a small pin chuck (bought from ebay )with a 1/4 inch shank in my power router 1/4 inch collet this seems to work for me and holds 1/8 shank bits like dremel tools .Anything larger caused the router to run out of balance and vibrate this will shorten the life of the bearings not to mention the motor brushes.
Ron Priest

[Beezer]

Here are some other collet reducers available from a Canadian online store, so no customs to have to deal with.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...46168,46180#pb

Carl