Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Seth, WV 25181
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Seth, WV. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest many people. There’s just on place to get the at a reasonable cost which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Opting for 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 benefit. 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 can be found in a variety of designs from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for really tiny work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. The majority of choose ER25, ER32 or perhaps 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, most actually don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers the most flexibility and lots of tool options. You can find many evaluations 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, manual and CNC ready 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 a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Seth.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In fact, you can find a great deal of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use a lot more stiff methods and generally more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a completely different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise choose their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same issues 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 good thing is that they now use a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both produces is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline offers lots of parts and attachments, but not much to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This indicates the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with very little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as great and subject to vibration issues. For example, they provide lots of lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be small due to the fact that the bearings are little. There is a comparable issue with the mill. You can just utilize ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Seth, West Virginia 25181 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Seth
There are other machine options too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t real great. Lots of wind up either really 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 prefer to choose a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or many of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. However, they were cumbersome at best and really only focused on amature use. Centroid is a well recognized commercial manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis makers. The very 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 an effective machine. We will likewise produce reviews 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 small chucks won’t 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 choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you opt for bigger bearings.