Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Bogota, TN 38007
Numerous have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Bogota, TN. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest lots of individuals. There’s just on place to get the at an affordable cost which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Opting for a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Obviously, you would require 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 very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a variety of models from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline also offers WW collet sets for really tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. The majority of prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, most really don’t 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 also can be found in CNC, handbook and CNC ready versions. Recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the internet if you desire a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Bogota.
Taig also uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competition. In fact, you can find a great deal of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer far more stiff methods and usually more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a completely various mill or lathe. Taig also provides a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also 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 great thing is that they now offer a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and attachments, but not much to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This indicates the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with very little mass indicates the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as great and based on vibration problems. For instance, they offer lots of lathe accessories, however 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 little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Bogota, Tennessee 38007 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Bogota
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t real excellent. Many end up either extremely disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to opt for a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application 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 provides continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. However, they were cumbersome at best and really only targeted at amature use. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A lot 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. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have a powerful machine. We will also produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Lots of grumble that the little chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On alternative is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose bigger bearings.