Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Hayden, AL 35079
Many have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Hayden, AL. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract numerous people. There’s only on location to get the at an affordable rate which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Choosing a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Naturally, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a bonus. The accessibility of tooling for each of these designs is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a variety of models from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for very small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of truly don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses one of the most versatility and lots of tool choices. 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 been available in CNC, handbook and CNC all set versions. Recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you want an evaluation or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Hayden.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can discover a lot of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer far more stiff methods and normally more “heavy duty” 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 completely various mill or lathe. Taig also provides a good CNC all set mill and lathe. You can also select their digital CNC system which uses 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 provide. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice thing is that they now use a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both produces is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline offers lots of parts and attachments, but not much to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This means the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with extremely little mass means the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and based on vibration issues. For example, they use lots of lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole has to be little because the bearings are small. There is a comparable problem with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Hayden, Alabama 35079 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Hayden
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine good. Numerous end up either very dissatisfied or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to choose a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a lot 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 requirement for several years. However, they were cumbersome at best and really only targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized industrial manufacture of mills. A lot of which are 5 axis makers. The best servos to utilize for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brands. 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 using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many grumble that the little chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you opt for larger bearings.