Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Troy, ID 83871
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Troy, ID. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract numerous people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable price and that’s GlockCNC. Updating 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 likewise a bonus. The accessibility of tooling for each of these designs is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a range of models from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline likewise uses WW collet sets for really tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Many choose ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very 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 uses one of the most versatility and lots of tool choices. You can find many reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular designs are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also come in CNC, handbook and CNC ready variations. Just recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the web if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Troy.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In fact, you can find a great deal of videos and articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use a lot more stiff methods and typically more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like a completely different mill or lathe. Taig likewise provides a great CNC all set 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 exact same problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they offer. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now use a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both produces is the lack of severe upgrades.
Sherline offers numerous parts and accessories, but not much to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This indicates the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with very little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as excellent and subject to vibration problems. For instance, they use numerous lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole needs to be small because the bearings are small. There is a similar issue with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Troy, Idaho 83871 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Troy
There are other machine choices too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other providers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine great. Lots of wind up either extremely disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Outstanding 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 a number of the hardware options in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. However, they were clunky at best and truly only aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well established industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis makers. The very 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 an effective 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 won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you go with bigger bearings.