DW618 Collet Quality

[glenn bradley]

Was setting up my new DW618 for the first time tonight. I plan to use the plunge for some mortising on a project coming up. Thought I'd give it a test drive with a 1/4" spiral bit. Took the collets out of the bag and was quite surprised by how light duty they are.

I shrug my shoulders and carry on. . . bummer the 1/4" collet will not accept the bit. Remove collet . . . still won't accept the bit. Look closely, the collet innards are cracked and misshapen. Probably occurred during assembly as it wouldn't take much to damage this poor little thing.

I'll call DeWalt tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Just for grins here's a pic of the DeWalt and one of my Milwaukee 1/4" collets for comparison. The difference is quite subtle so you'll have to look really close:

collet-compare-1.jpg

Its interesting too that the DeWalt is brand new and looks grungy while the Milwaukee has sat in a drawer for well over a year and looks fine.

[Tim Malyszko]

Sorry to hear about your broken collet. I've owned the 618 for about 1.5 years now and have never had a problem with the collet, although I will say that they are rather flimsy when compared to my PC 7518.

Good luck getting your replacement part.

[glenn bradley]

Well the DW618 had real nice feel to it and the plunge was quite nice. The CS was non-existent so I just changed to this:

[Mike Heidrick]

The dewalt service centers have been real good to me. Any 618 parts left over? I really like my 618s.

That milwaukee looks awesome though!! I have the 5625 in the table and love it.

[Michael Lutz]

Glenn,

That's the one I have my eyes on. Let us know how you like it, when you start using it.

Mike

[glenn bradley]

Mike, I'm afraid all the parts went back with the kit ;-(

I really liked the feel of the 618 and wanted to add some color to the router stable. Like you, I've got the 5625 in the table and really love it. The thing is a beast.

I use the 5615 for freehand and now the 5616 for plunge work. The 5615 and the 5616 motors are interchangeable between bases so I picked up a little versatility there (?). We'll see. Thank goodness for the Bosch stuff or it would be getting really red around here.