# Router Bit Mishap



## KentS (May 27, 2009)

One of our customers was making a box like The Wood Whisperer showed on video recently. He was routing out the inside and found his bit was a bit (no pun intended) too short. Of course he did the "logical" thing, he brought the bit out of the collet enough to compensate. After tightening well, (or so he thought) he began to rout six boxes. Everything was fine until box #6. Realizing it was no longer cutting, he checked to see what was wrong.

This is what he found lying inside the box:








In all my years of woodworking, I've never seen this before. 
Moral of this story---*We sell longer bits!*


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

DANG! glad he found it in the box, and not outside the box… on the way to E.R.

sure is a short bit.

safety safety safety….

thanks for the post


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## scott83 (Sep 1, 2009)

And his only clue was that it wasn't cutting anymore???


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

wow , kent ,
this is a new one .

i've had them chip ,
delaminate ,
and just fly out ,
but never seen a bent one .

lucky he wasn't hurt !


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## RjGall (Jun 16, 2008)

Holy Cow! What was he thinking ( Not safety thats for sure) It looks to be 1/4" shaft and he only had it approx 1/2 " (at the most) in the chuck!! 
Good thing it didn't lodge itself in his neck then he'd look like Frankinstien…....

This is a new one for sure!


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

Very lucky.. bet he buys his bits a bit bigger… pun intended.. and from you…


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Three cheers for 1/2" shanks!


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## davidroberts (Nov 8, 2008)

ditto knotscott. if at all possible, i buy 1/2" shanks. the cost difference is really minimal. out of 20 or so bit I own, only two are 1/4", they were the first bits I bought.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

I guess wow is in order! Think safety first and try avoid using a tool/bit outside the normal parameter that it was designed to do.


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

I saw another router bit at our shop do that. If you need it further down, get one of those extended router bit collets. Thank God he didn't get hurt.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

That is amazing.

I'm guessing that the shank was also hot from cutting.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Yep, that's a new one for me too!

Good thing it was inside a box where it couldn't FLY around and really do lots of damage!

Do you really make LONGER bits?


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## SNSpencer (Nov 16, 2009)

Time for an upgrade to a 1/2" shank!! Wow, I have had bits self destruct, but not like that.


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## jackass (Mar 26, 2008)

*This would be a good time to ask if anyone has been injured by a broken router bit. Over the years I have broken a few, but they just seem to dribble to a stop on the table. i always feared a broken bit until it happened, and had the reaction I experienced about 5 times. My most recent was an upcut bit that stopped about where it broke, two of the others were v groove bits that i forced too much, did much the same thing.
Jack*


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

I have not had any bits break…

I'm scared of it happening…

Maybe I shouldn't be so scared?


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Just a bit too much for me!


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

One lucky boy.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

What brand of bit does the shaft bend? The steel should be hardened and thus brittle. It should break. Just like drills. The cheap ones bend, a good one will break under too much pressure.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

Good point Craftsman.


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## jockmike2 (Oct 10, 2006)

Now wait just a dog gone minute. They actually sell these bits at Harbor Freight. They're made to go around corners without causing tearout. Just in 1/4 inch mind you.


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## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

Wow. I had that exact same thing happen to me with a 1/4" shank bit also. I was edge routing with a straight bearing bit in my PC 690 when I started to feel some vibration. I immediately turned off the router to check it out but before it spun down the bit shot out, luckily not in my direction. When I found it it looked exactly like the one you pictured, only difference, mine was blue.


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## pommy (Apr 17, 2008)

Oh so lucky


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Jock mike took my line(around corners) I second the 1/2" bit ,bit.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

It won't really cut around corners, but it *will* stir a mean milkshake.


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## LesB (Dec 21, 2008)

Just imagine the force it took to make that bend in the shaft! I would check the alignment of the router's motor shaft after that.
They do make extensions you can use on a router bit. Just saw one in the Rockler catalog. 
I too vote for 1/2 inch bits.


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## webwood (Jul 2, 2009)

just cut the bent part off and raise it a little higher - collets are over rated


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## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

Yeah. 1/2" shanks are definitely my shank of choice unless the bit you need is not available with the 1/2" shank.


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## bnoles (Aug 25, 2007)

The shank serves as a heat sink. When metal gets hot it becomes easy to bend. If he routed 6 boxes with no break between for the bit to cool down, it would be easy to get these results. Better to use 1/2 inch where possible.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

That looks like a new product for the holidays….candy cane router bits….what do you think? is that a seller or what?

Wow is a word overused here…but certainly apprapo….I've had to squeeze a bit more length out of my bits before….but luckily none have ever done that…most just stopped turning….or fell out of the collet….thats a new one on me….but it definitely emphasizes the need for longer shanks….and it is a good example of why you would want to use 1/2" bits exclusively..


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Is it possible that the shank was too far out of the router instead of being inserted deep into the router 1/16" from bottom?


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## KentS (May 27, 2009)

OK, in defense of the guy, he really wanted a 1/2" shank. We were out so he settled on this one, thinking he could get by. At the same time, he did have us order a 1/2" bit. His biggest mistake was impatience, which I know none of us are guilty of, I know I'm not. Obviously, you all agree that a 1/2" shank router bit is important. I posted this to make a point in router safety. I think you guys have made that point very well. 
With 461 views at this point, hopefully someone saw this who will be impacted, and maybe prevent an injury. If so, then it was time well spent. ( it was fun anyway--some of you are absolutely nuts, which is one reason I love this place)

I've run into similar situations. Often I have started with a shorter bearing bit in order to work with the template, routed partial depth, then changed to a longer bit to finish. The work itself can then become the template for the bearing to ride on. This was a teaching opportunity for me. He understands all of this now.

I never dreamed of getting so much response, but I thank you. The forums are a great place to share disasters to prevent it from happening to others.


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## mski (Jul 3, 2007)

One time I was routing something and had my UGG slippers on , half way through the process the bit worked it's way out the collet and landed in me slipper, HOT potato, watch Me dance!!!!, take that back you don't want to watch me dance, really you don't.


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## Blake (Oct 17, 2007)

weird.


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## Wood_Chuck (Feb 19, 2009)

Lucky it was found inside and no one got hurt.


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## KayBee (Jul 6, 2009)

Was using a big edge forming bit in router table my boss had set up. It came out, going over my shoulder and landed about 10 feet away. Uh, gee, thanks for the help boss. I was okay, but decided to call it a day.


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## Hurricanewhisperer (Dec 14, 2009)

I do not believe the bit was merely dropped. You can see scoring at the bottom where the bit was held by the collet.

Router bits are spinning at speeds on the order of 20,000 rpm. The bit is bent because it was flung out of the router at high speed. Blankman reported the same thing happening. Once the bit is pushed over too far, the centrifugal forces push it further and the forces multiply rapidly as the diameter the bit swings increase. It is amazing that it was stopped by the box and did not make any noise.

Also, router bits are not drill bits. The steel part of a carbide bit does not cut, so it doesn't necessarily have to be hard. EagleAmerica states that the steel is hardened to 45Rc (Rockwell C). It states this is done for strength, not hardness as a useful property to avoid wear. However, it does not make that same statement for heat treating on the imported Pricecutters bits. I would not expect a router bit to be so hard that the steel would be brittle.


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## Boneski (Oct 28, 2009)

I had a shocker recently when one of the steel throat plates that came with my router table came adrift and got tangled up with a drawer lock bit. Worse still I narrowly avoided having the plate go through the impeller of my dust extractor by kicking the hose off!
I still to this day don't understand how this happened as my fence was sitting on top of the throat plate.
I've since chopped up some bits of acrylic to replace the now binned steel throat plates - that way if one does come loose again, the router bit will win the battle!


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## Alexander (Nov 18, 2009)

I read all the replies and learned a lot. Thank you for your experience in the form of reply to this posting.

Merry Christmas to all


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