Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Albuquerque, NM 87122
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Albuquerque, NM. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to many individuals. There’s only on location to get the at a sensible price which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Choosing a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Of course, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a benefit. The schedule of tooling for each of these models is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a range of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for extremely small work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, many really don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most versatility and many tool options. You can find numerous evaluations on both the lathe and the mill. Popular designs are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also can be found in CNC, manual and CNC all set variations. Just recently, they have included ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you desire an evaluation or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Albuquerque.
Taig likewise offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In reality, you can find a great deal of videos and articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use far more rigid methods and usually more “strong” in general. The Taig motors are pretty weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also choose their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same issues as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they provide. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The great thing is that they now provide a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the lack of severe upgrades.
Sherline uses many parts and accessories, however not much to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This means the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with very little mass indicates the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as excellent and based on vibration issues. For instance, they provide numerous lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be little because the bearings are small. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this limits its usage. Of course those in Albuquerque, New Mexico 87122 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Albuquerque
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine excellent. Lots of wind up either very dissatisfied or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to choose a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. Nevertheless, they were clunky at best and truly only targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis machines. The very best servos to use for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brands. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have a powerful machine. We will likewise produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many grumble that the little chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On choice is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose larger bearings.