Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Otter, MT 59062
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Otter, MT. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to lots of people. There’s only on place to get the at a sensible price which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Going with a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Of course, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a bonus. The schedule of tooling for each of these designs is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of models from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline likewise uses WW collet sets for very small work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most choose ER25, ER32 and even 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 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 versatility and many tool choices. You can find lots of 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 all set versions. Just recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want an evaluation or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Otter.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In reality, you can discover a great deal of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products use much more stiff methods and usually more “sturdy” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a good CNC all set mill and lathe. You can also go with their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. 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 an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now use a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both produces is the lack of severe upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and attachments, however very little to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This suggests the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with very little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality won’t be as great and based on vibration issues. For instance, they use many lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole needs to be small since the bearings are little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Otter, Montana 59062 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Otter
There are other machine options too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other providers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t genuine excellent. Many wind up either extremely 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 go with a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or much of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. Nevertheless, they were cumbersome at finest and truly only aimed at amature use. Centroid is a well recognized commercial manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis devices. The very best servos to use 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 also produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Lots of grumble 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 built in. This can open up more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you go with larger bearings.