Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Chula Vista, CA 91910
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Chula Vista, CA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to lots of people. There’s just on place to get the at a sensible cost and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect 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 bonus offer. The availability of tooling for each of these designs is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a variety of models from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for very small work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Many choose ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, most really don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses the most versatility and lots of tool choices. You can find many reviews on both the lathe and the mill. Popular designs are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The also come in CNC, handbook and CNC all set versions. Recently, they have actually included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the internet if you want a review or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Chula Vista.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items provide a lot more stiff methods and normally more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a nice CNC ready 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 same issues as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they offer. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice thing is that they now provide a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both makes is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline uses many parts and accessories, but very little to make it a much better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This indicates the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with very little mass indicates the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as good and based on vibration issues. For example, they provide numerous lathe devices, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole has to be little due to the fact that the bearings are small. There is a comparable problem with the mill. You can only utilize ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Chula Vista, California 91910 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Chula Vista
There are other machine options too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other suppliers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real great. Many wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Outstanding upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you desire 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 number of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. Nevertheless, they were clunky at best and really only aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well established commercial manufacture of mills. A number of which are 5 axis machines. The best servos to utilize 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 an effective machine. We will likewise 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 little chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On choice is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you opt for larger bearings.