Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Washington Depot, CT 06794
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Washington Depot, CT. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to lots of people. There’s only on location to get the at an affordable rate which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Going with a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Naturally, 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 models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are extremely small. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for really tiny work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Many prefer ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle travel 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 uses one of the most versatility and numerous tool choices. You can find numerous 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 prepared variations. Recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Washington Depot.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can find a great deal of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products provide far more rigid methods and usually more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a completely various mill or lathe. Taig also offers a good CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can likewise select their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the 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 provide a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both produces is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline offers numerous parts and attachments, but not much to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This implies 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 problems. For example, they provide numerous lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole needs to be small because the bearings are little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Washington Depot, Connecticut 06794 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Washington Depot
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine excellent. Many wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Outstanding upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to go with a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a number of the hardware options in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers constant speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. However, they were cumbersome at best and truly just aimed at amature use. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis machines. 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 an effective machine. We will likewise 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? Lots of grumble that the small chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On alternative is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you go with bigger bearings.