Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Grafton, WV 26354
Numerous have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Grafton, WV. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest lots of people. There’s only on location to get the at a sensible price and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Choosing a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Of course, you would require to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a perk. The availability of tooling for each of these designs is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a range of designs from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for very tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, the majority of truly don’t care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can discover 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 come in CNC, manual and CNC prepared versions. Just recently, they have included ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want an evaluation or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Grafton.
Taig likewise offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items provide a lot more stiff ways and typically more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are quite weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a nice CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can also select their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the exact same problems as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they offer. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now offer a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both manufactures is the lack of serious upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and attachments, however very little to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This indicates the spindle itself requires to be little. A spindle with really little mass means the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as good and based on vibration issues. For example, they use lots of lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole has to be little since the bearings are small. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Grafton, West Virginia 26354 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Grafton
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine good. Numerous wind up either extremely dissatisfied or doing a great deal 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 prefer to go with a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware options in the market. You can do rigid 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 really just aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well established business 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 brands. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have an effective machine. We will also produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous grumble that the little chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open up more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you go with bigger bearings.