Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Lonsdale, MN 55046
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Lonsdale, MN. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest numerous individuals. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable price which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Opting for a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Obviously, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a reward. The availability of tooling for each of these models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very small. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for really tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Many choose ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, many really don’t care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can find numerous evaluations on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also come in CNC, handbook and CNC prepared variations. Just recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you want an evaluation or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Lonsdale.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In fact, you can discover a great deal of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products offer much more rigid 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 appear like a completely various mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a good CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise opt for their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the very same issues as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they provide. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now offer a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both makes is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline provides numerous parts and accessories, however not much to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This suggests the spindle itself needs to be little. A spindle with extremely little mass means the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as excellent and based on vibration problems. For instance, they use numerous lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole has to be small due to the fact that the bearings are small. There is a similar issue with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Lonsdale, Minnesota 55046 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Lonsdale
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real good. Many end up either very disappointed or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Excellent 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 application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or many of the hardware alternatives 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 clunky at best and really just focused on amature usage. Centroid is a well established industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis devices. The very 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 an effective machine. We will also produce reviews 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 little chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On choice is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose bigger bearings.