Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Hedley, TX 79237
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Hedley, TX. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to many people. There’s only on place to get the at a sensible rate which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Going with a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Naturally, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a bonus. The accessibility of tooling for each of these models 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 designs from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also offers WW collet sets for really small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Many prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, the majority of actually do not care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most flexibility and lots of tool options. You can find many reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also been available in CNC, handbook and CNC ready variations. Just recently, they have added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you desire a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Hedley.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In reality, you can find a great deal of videos and articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use far more stiff ways and generally 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 likewise offers a good CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise select their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the same problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they provide. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now provide a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both makes is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline offers many parts and accessories, but very little to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This indicates the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with really little mass implies the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as good and based on vibration issues. For example, they offer many 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 comparable problem with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Hedley, Texas 79237 may have different needs.
There are other machine choices too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t genuine good. Numerous end up either very disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Outstanding upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to opt for a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. However, they were clunky at finest and actually only aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well established industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis devices. The best servos to use 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 evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many complain that the small chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On alternative is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you opt for larger bearings.