Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Cumberland Gap, TN 37724
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Cumberland Gap, TN. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to many individuals. There’s just on location to get the at an affordable rate and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Choosing 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 schedule of tooling for each of these models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts been available in a range of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for extremely small work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of really do not care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers the most flexibility and lots of tool choices. You can find lots of evaluations on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise come in CNC, manual and CNC ready variations. Just recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Cumberland Gap.
Taig likewise uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In truth, you can find a lot of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products provide much more rigid ways and generally more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a completely different mill or lathe. Taig also provides a nice CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can likewise go with their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the same issues as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they use. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now offer a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both makes is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline provides numerous parts and attachments, but very little to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This implies the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with very little mass means the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and subject to vibration issues. For example, they use many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be small because the bearings are small. There is a comparable concern with the mill. You can just utilize ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee 37724 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Cumberland Gap
There are other machine options too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t real great. Many wind up either really disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to go with a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or many of the hardware alternatives 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. However, they were cumbersome at best and actually only targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis devices. The very best servos to use for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brand names. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have a powerful machine. We will also produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous grumble that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open up more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you go with bigger bearings.