Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Boyers, PA 16016
Many have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Boyers, PA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract many people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable cost which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect 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 availability of tooling for each of these designs is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of models from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very small. Sherline also uses WW collet sets for very small work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most choose ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, many truly don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can discover numerous reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular designs are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise come in CNC, manual and CNC prepared variations. Just recently, they have added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the web if you desire a review or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Boyers.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In reality, you can discover a great deal of videos and articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer much more rigid methods and normally more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig also provides a good CNC all set mill and lathe. You can also choose their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same issues as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they use. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now use a ballscrew option 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 accessories, however not much to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This implies the spindle itself needs to be little. A spindle with extremely little mass means the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as excellent and subject to vibration problems. For example, they offer numerous lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole needs to be little because the bearings are small. There is a comparable concern with the mill. You can just utilize ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Boyers, Pennsylvania 16016 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Boyers
There are other machine options too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other providers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t genuine good. Many wind up either very disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you want to go with a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a lot 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 requirement for many years. However, they were clunky at best and actually just aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized commercial manufacture of mills. Many 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 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 utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Many complain that the little 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 alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose bigger bearings.