Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Betsy Layne, KY 41605
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Betsy Layne, KY. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest lots of individuals. There’s only on location to get the at a sensible price and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Opting for a 5C is perfect 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 models is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for extremely small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. The majority of prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, the majority of truly do not care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can find many reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise come in CNC, manual and CNC all set versions. Recently, they have added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the internet if you want an evaluation or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Betsy Layne.
Taig likewise uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can discover a lot of videos and posts referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use much more stiff ways and generally more “sturdy” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a totally various mill or lathe. Taig also provides a nice CNC ready mill and lathe. You can likewise go with their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same problems 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 nice thing is that they now use a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both manufactures is the lack of serious upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and accessories, but very little to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This suggests the spindle itself requires to be little. A spindle with extremely little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality won’t be as great and subject to vibration problems. For example, they use many 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 utilize ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Betsy Layne, Kentucky 41605 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Betsy Layne
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real good. Lots of end up either very 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 want to choose a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. Nevertheless, they were cumbersome at best and really just targeted at amature use. Centroid is a well recognized commercial manufacture of mills. Much 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 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 much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous complain that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On choice is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you opt for larger bearings.