I have a Bosch Colt Trim router and I love it….well except for one problem. I had the router for only 3 weeks and the spindle lock was slipping out of its recess and I could not remove the bit. I returned it to the store and they gave me a new one off the shelf, Then 4 months later it is starting to do it again. I will bring it in for warrantee service tomorrow. I am hoping theat Bosch has found a solution to this problem because I use the router every few days and I will be without it for two weeks while being repaired.
Is there anyone else who has this problem? Is there a solution other than the repair shop 4 times a year?
I also have a dewalt trim router which performs very well but I like the quick adjustment and feel of the Colt.
Replies
Get a thin 10 mm wrench for the armature flats, forget the lock.
Routers
Even the repair tech had trouble removing the bit. It is in today for warrantee work.Thanks Routerman I will take your advice.
I had the same problem until I noticed that on mine there are deep recesses and shallow recesses in the spindle. I rotate the shaft until I catch one of the deep recesses and it works fine.
Yep, mine failed like that, and so did a friend's. It is clearly a design fault. Routerman's got the solution. I made my thin wrench from a piece of 1/8" cold-rolled steel -- took about 10 minutes.
Edited 3/28/2007 7:10 pm ET by Jamie_Buxton
Thanks for all your advice. I will get that 10mm wrench. I still love the Colt.
Jamie,
Mine failed as well. I just ground down an existing wrench to fit the shaft though. Making a wrench new seemed like too daunting a task...
Zolton
To all the happy colt owners,
Anyone found a reasonably cost effective solution that will allow the colt to be used as a plunge router (say for inlay work)? I seem to remember seeing a very costly platform to do that somewhere but I'd prefer something that isn't 4X the cost of the router...
Thanks.
Rick
The expensive solution, which can indeed use a Colt, is from MicroFence:http://www.microfence.com/pages/Plunge/overview.html
A less-expensive solution, which does not use a Colt, is employed by luthiers: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Routing/2/Precision_Router_Base.html
If you're doing small inlay work, the above may work for you.
Yeah, I had the same problem with the spindle lock, and mine won't catch at all now. I did notice the space for a wrench, and now use a thin wrench to do my locking, but it is clearly a design error. Also, I've had a few instances where I've set my bit depth, and the router slips down a few mm as I'm doing my cut. Very frustrating. To tell you the truth I like the colt, but I wouldn't buy one again....and can't return mine because I'm in Japan and had it sent over from the US.
SS
Same problem with mine. The Colt works fine, but the spindle lock doesn't hold. I had an extra 10mm open-end wrench and ground down the thickness a little until it fit into the space on the shaft. Two-wrench system now works fine. The spindle lock on my Porter Cable 800-series router also failed, and that was on the replacement motor I got after their recall. The spindle lock on my Bosch 4000 saw worked well for the two years I had the saw.
Tatakata --
The depth setting procedure on the Colt takes one more step than on most routers. There's a couple icons on the side of the base. When you're routing, you want the pointer pointing at an icon which looks like a locked padlock, not an open padlock. This is explained better in the manufacturer's instruction book. I learned only when a friend told me to read the manual.
Hi, thanks for the tip, it makes sense, I'll go back over through the manual.
I apreciate your help,
Scott S
If you call Bosch Customer Service and ask, they will send you a free wrench. They've know about this problem for a while.
I love my little Bosch but I have the same trouble.
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