Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Lots of are interested 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, interest lots of people. There’s just on place to get the at an affordable rate and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Choosing a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Obviously, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a bonus offer. The availability of tooling for each of these models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline also uses WW collet sets for very tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, a lot of really don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides one of the most flexibility and numerous tool choices. You can find lots of 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, manual and CNC all set versions. Just recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much 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 Cedar Rapids.
Taig likewise uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competitors. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products use far more stiff methods and generally more “heavy duty” in general. The Taig motors are pretty weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a nice CNC all set mill and lathe. You can also opt for 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 use. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now offer a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both produces is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and accessories, however not much to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This indicates the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with really little mass suggests the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and subject to vibration problems. For example, they use many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole needs to be small due to the fact that the bearings are little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Cedar Rapids
There are other machine choices too. You can also buy from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t genuine great. Lots of end up either really disappointed or doing a great deal 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 better than Mach3 or a number of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers constant speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for many years. However, they were clunky at best and actually only focused on amature usage. Centroid is a well established business manufacture of mills. A lot of which are 5 axis devices. The best servos to utilize for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brand names. Combine that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have a powerful 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? Many complain that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On option is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you go with bigger bearings.