Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Chester, GA 31012
Many have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Chester, GA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract many people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable cost which’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 accessibility of tooling for each of these designs is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a variety of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline likewise uses WW collet sets for very small work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. A lot of prefer ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of actually do not care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses one of the most versatility and numerous tool options. You can find numerous reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise been available in CNC, manual and CNC all set versions. Just recently, they have actually included ballscrew versions for sale. This is far 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 Chester.
Taig also offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In reality, you can discover a lot of videos and posts referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items use much more stiff ways and usually more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like a completely different mill or lathe. Taig also provides a good CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also opt for their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the very same problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they offer. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now use a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the lack of serious upgrades.
Sherline uses many parts and accessories, however very little to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This indicates the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with extremely little mass indicates the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as good and subject to vibration issues. For instance, they provide numerous lathe accessories, 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 small. There is a comparable issue with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Chester, Georgia 31012 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Chester
There are other machine options too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t real excellent. Numerous wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you desire to opt for a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware options in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides constant speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. Nevertheless, they were clunky at best and really only focused on amature use. Centroid is a well established commercial manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis devices. 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 likewise produce reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using 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 alternative is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open up more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you go with bigger bearings.