Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Cedar Rapids, IA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract numerous people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable price which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Going with a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Obviously, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a benefit. The schedule of tooling for each of these models is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a variety of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for very small work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle travel through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of actually don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers one of the most flexibility and many tool choices. 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 can be found in CNC, manual and CNC ready versions. Recently, they have added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you desire a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Cedar Rapids.
Taig also offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In reality, you can find a lot of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer a lot more rigid methods and typically more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a completely various mill or lathe. Taig likewise provides a nice CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can also choose their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the very same issues as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they provide. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now offer 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 lots of parts and accessories, but not much to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This suggests the spindle itself needs to be little. A spindle with very little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality won’t be as excellent and based on vibration issues. For instance, they provide lots of lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole has to be little since the bearings are small. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Cedar Rapids
There are other machine choices too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t real excellent. Numerous end up either extremely disappointed or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to choose a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for many years. However, they were cumbersome at best and really just targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A lot of which are 5 axis machines. The very best servos to use 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 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 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 built in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you go with larger bearings.