That plastic dip is too much work for wrench handles for me.
I will get some properly sized heat shrink and slip it over
the handles, then heat it up with my heat gun (a hair dryer
on high might work too).
I’m sure I have some shrink in my electrical box, but you can find it on Amazon and elsewhere.
If only Radio Shack were still around.
An alternative might an auto supply store such as NAPA.
Take the wrenches with you and size it up. If you don’t
think one layer is enough get enough for a second layer.
If you don’t like the idea of heat shrink how about hockey tape?
One $2 roll will give you enough to do a dozen wrenches.
PlastiDip works great for coating handles. Apply several coats & it should last for years. When it starts to come loose, just peel those areas off & apply a few more layers.
@wsj-productions this is an old post which is perfect for me :). Did the red locking button ever break? I have been using it for a while now and no problem. I like using one spanner and plan on continuing unless it will break.
It won’t break if you don’t force the wrench to eleventy billion ft pounds of force. But 2 wrenches is the better path as you can squeeze them both in the same hand to tighten and losen
Just got here, searching for the solution to the same problem.
Two weeks ago, I had a bit slip on a 3/4" bowl bit, but apparently it was strong enough to bend the shaft of the bit, ergo ended up destroying my Makita by bending the motor out of shape.
Don’t want that to happen again, so I’m having a lot of trouble finding the balance between “gorilla” and “buy a new router and bit (again)…”
I wish I could find a set of thin wrenches that would work but also have rounded handles as I think this would be helpful to me. I know I’m being “a bit gorilla” since I replaced my router, but where’s that balance?
Wayne
Aiph5u
(Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))
30
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.
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.
Have always used the red button and never broken one, in more years of woodworking than many of you have been alive, but even if you do break the stop pin you can keep using the router just tap out the broken pin if it did not fall out. I use a small crescent wrench and have a couple with nice warm comfey spongy handles, any auto parts store will have them. I never over tighten so a short handle is good.
