Makita Router Rubberized Wrenches?

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Wayne,

you may be able to find wrenches that give you more leverage, but the root of the problem is the proprietary Makita collet. It only holds the bit at the front end. Reports about this type of collet not holding the bit during use are frequent in this forum. One solution would be a router or spindle with a real ER collet.

@Aiph5u

• there exist Makita hand trim router clones with real ER collets. See here for comparison.

  • Carbide ER-11 Compact Router
  • Makermade CNC router with ER11 collet

Note that for a spindle or router for ER11 collets, you get collets for bits with 1 to 7 mm bit shank. That means with a ER11 router or spindle, you can use bits with a 1/4" shank by using a true imperial 6.35 mm collet or a normal 6.5 mm metric collet, but bits with a 3/8" (9.5 mm) or 1/2" (12.7 mm) shank cannot be used with a router or spindle for ER11 collets. For three-quarter bit shanks you would need a router or spindle for ER16 collets, and for half-inch bit shanks you would need a spindle for ER20 collets which will take up to 13 mm bit shanks (1/2" = 12.7 mm).

It is also good to clean the inside of the Makita collet regularly. Wood dust can be baked to hard but slippery coating inside the collet or on the outside of the bit shank.