Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Grand Rapids, MI 49599
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Grand Rapids, MI. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest numerous people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable cost and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Going with a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Naturally, you would require to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a benefit. The schedule of tooling for each of these designs is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for very tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. The majority of 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 very best. For Sherline mills, many actually don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers one of the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can find numerous reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise can be found in CNC, manual and CNC all set variations. Just recently, they have actually included ballscrew variations 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 Grand Rapids.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competition. In truth, you can find a lot of videos and articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products offer much more rigid ways and generally more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a good CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can likewise go with their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the 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 great thing is that they now offer a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both produces is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline offers lots of parts and attachments, but not much to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This implies the spindle itself needs 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 instance, they offer many lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole needs to be small because the bearings are small. There is a comparable issue with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Grand Rapids, Michigan 49599 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Grand Rapids
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other providers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real great. Numerous end up either very dissatisfied 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 desire to go with a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. Nevertheless, they were cumbersome at best and truly only targeted at amature use. Centroid is a well established business manufacture of mills. Much of which are 5 axis machines. The best servos to utilize 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 also produce reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Lots of complain that the little chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On choice is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open up more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you go with larger bearings.
