Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Houston, TX 77230
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Houston, TX. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract lots of individuals. There’s only on location to get the at an affordable rate and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading 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 likewise a perk. The schedule of tooling for each of these models is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also offers WW collet sets for very tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most choose ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle travel through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of actually do not 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 many tool choices. 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 versions. Recently, they have actually included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the web if you want a review or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Houston.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In reality, you can discover a lot of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items provide far more stiff ways and typically more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like a totally various mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a nice CNC ready 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 problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they use. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The great thing is that they now provide a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both manufactures is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and accessories, however not much to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This means the spindle itself requires to be little. A spindle with very little mass indicates the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and subject to vibration issues. For instance, they provide numerous lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole has to be small because the bearings are little. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this limits its usage. Of course those in Houston, Texas 77230 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Houston
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine excellent. Lots of wind up either very disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to opt for a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a number of the hardware choices in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for many years. However, they were cumbersome at best and really only targeted at amature use. Centroid is a well established industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis makers. 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 evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many complain 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 alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you opt for bigger bearings.