Fell for a $200 tool upgrade that was totally unnecessary

I bought a fancy new collet set for my router last month, thought it would fix some vibration issues I was having. Turns out my old collets were just dirty and needed a good cleaning... cost me $200 for a lesson in basic maintenance. Anyone else waste money on a "solution" that was really just a cleaning problem?

2 comments

2 Comments

alices1624d ago

Read somewhere that 90% of tool performance problems are just buildup and dried gunk. Bought a collet cleaning brush kit for $12 after that same realization and it fixed everything. Sometimes the answer really is just compressed air and a stiff nylon brush.

lily36024d ago

I get what you're saying, but I gotta disagree on the "90%" part. I've had tools where cleaning did nothing because the real issue was a worn out bearing or a bent spindle. A stiff brush and compressed air can fix a lot of surface problems, but it won't fix something that's mechanically worn or out of spec. I've had collets that looked clean but still wobbled because the collet itself was stretched from over tightening. Sometimes you really do need to swap parts, not just scrub them. I've wasted hours trying to clean stuff that was just plain broken. Cleaning helps, but it's not the magic fix for everything.