Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Bellmawr, NJ 08031
Many have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Bellmawr, NJ. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest lots of individuals. There’s only on location to get the at an affordable price and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Opting for a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Obviously, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a perk. The schedule of tooling for each of these models is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts been available in a range of designs from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are extremely little. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for very tiny work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Many choose ER25, ER32 or 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, most really do not care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses one of the most flexibility and many 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 come in CNC, manual and CNC prepared versions. Just recently, they have included ballscrew variations 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 Bellmawr.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competition. In fact, you can discover a lot of videos and posts referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products use far more stiff ways and normally more “sturdy” in general. 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 likewise provides a good CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also choose their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the same problems as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they use. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice thing is that they now offer a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline offers many parts and attachments, but not much to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This means the spindle itself needs to be little. A spindle with very little mass implies the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as excellent and subject to vibration problems. For example, they provide many lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be little since the bearings are small. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can just utilize ER16 collets and this limits its usage. Of course those in Bellmawr, New Jersey 08031 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Bellmawr
There are other machine choices too. You can likewise buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t real great. Many wind up either extremely 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 opt for a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware options in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses constant speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. However, they were clunky at best and really only focused on amature usage. Centroid is a well established business manufacture of mills. Much 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. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have an effective machine. We will also produce reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many complain that the little 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 options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you choose bigger bearings.