Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Phoenix, AZ 85021
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Phoenix, AZ. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to lots of people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable cost which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Choosing a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Obviously, 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 exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of models from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very small. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for very tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. The majority of 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 actually don’t care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses the most flexibility and numerous tool options. You can find lots of evaluations on both the lathe and the mill. Popular designs are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also can be found in CNC, manual and CNC prepared versions. Just recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much 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 Phoenix.
Taig also offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can find a great deal of videos and articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer far more rigid methods and usually more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like an absolutely various mill or lathe. Taig likewise provides a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise select 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 small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they use. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The great thing is that they now offer a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both manufactures is the lack of serious upgrades.
Sherline uses lots of parts and accessories, but not much to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This implies the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with extremely little mass implies the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and subject to vibration issues. For example, they use numerous lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole needs to be little since the bearings are little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Phoenix, Arizona 85021 may have different needs.
There are other machine options too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine good. Lots of wind up either very dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to go with a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware options in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. However, they were clunky at best and really just focused on amature use. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis devices. 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 reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many complain that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On alternative is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open up more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you choose bigger bearings.