Toolbox: Wrenchless Routers and Grinders

Changing bits takes the fun right out of using a router, and it's all because of the wrenches. Even if you manage to avoid busting your knuckles, the whole process takes too long. If you added up all the time spent changing bits — including finding the last guy to use the router to ask where he left the wrenches — and multiply it by your labor cost…well, you get the picture. To the rescue comes the Jacobs PowerCollet, which takes just a few minutes to swap for a standard collet, and completely eliminates the need for wrenches to change router bits (see Figure 1). Instead, you just pull up on the locking sleeve to open