Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Bolton, NC 28423
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Bolton, NC. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract many people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable rate which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Opting for a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Of course, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a bonus offer. The availability 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 designs from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for really tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Many choose ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, most really do not care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most flexibility and lots of tool choices. You can find lots of reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also been available in CNC, manual and CNC ready variations. Recently, they have actually included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you desire a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Bolton.
Taig also uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use far more stiff ways and usually more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise opt for their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the same problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they offer. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice thing is that they now offer a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both makes is the absence of serious upgrades.
Sherline uses lots of parts and attachments, however not much to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This means the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with extremely little mass implies the lathe or mill the finish quality won’t be as great and based on vibration problems. For example, they provide lots of lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole needs to be little because the bearings are small. There is a comparable problem with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Bolton, North Carolina 28423 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Bolton
There are other machine options too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other providers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t genuine good. Lots of wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to opt for a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware options in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. However, they were cumbersome at finest and actually only aimed at amature use. Centroid is a well established commercial manufacture of mills. A lot of which are 5 axis makers. The very best servos to use for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brand names. Combine 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? Numerous grumble that the small chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply 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. Specifically if you opt for bigger bearings.