Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Clinton, SC 29325
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Clinton, SC. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract lots of people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable price which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Opting for a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Naturally, you would require to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a bonus offer. The accessibility of tooling for each of these designs is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a variety of models from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also uses WW collet sets for very small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most choose ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle travel 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 hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides one of the most flexibility and lots of tool options. You can find lots of reviews 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, handbook and CNC prepared variations. Just recently, they have included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Clinton.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competition. In fact, you can find a great deal of videos and posts referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items provide far more rigid ways and generally more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a totally various mill or lathe. Taig likewise provides a nice 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 very same problems as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they offer. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now provide a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both manufactures is the lack of serious upgrades.
Sherline offers lots of parts and accessories, but very little to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This means the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with really little mass means the lathe or mill the finish quality won’t be as excellent and based on vibration issues. For example, they offer lots of lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole has to be little due to the fact that the bearings are small. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can only utilize ER16 collets and this limits its usage. Of course those in Clinton, South Carolina 29325 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Clinton
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other providers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t real great. Lots of end up either extremely disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to go with a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. Nevertheless, they were clunky at best and actually only focused on amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis makers. The very best servos to utilize 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 also produce reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous complain that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On alternative is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open up more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you choose larger bearings.