Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Dawson, GA 31742
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Dawson, GA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract lots of individuals. There’s just on location to get the at a reasonable rate which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Choosing a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Of course, 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 models is excellent. For 5C collet sets, you can get very good quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts been available in a range of designs from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for extremely small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle travel through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, many actually 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 versatility and lots of tool options. 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, handbook and CNC prepared versions. Just recently, they have actually added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much 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 Dawson.
Taig also uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can find a great deal of videos and posts referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer a lot more stiff ways and generally more “heavy duty” in general. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig likewise uses a great CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also select their digital CNC system which uses closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the exact 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 downside with both makes is the absence of serious upgrades.
Sherline provides lots of parts and attachments, however very little to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This implies the spindle itself needs to be little. A spindle with extremely little mass suggests the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as great and subject to vibration issues. For instance, they provide many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole needs to be small since the bearings are small. There is a comparable problem with the mill. You can just utilize ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in Dawson, Georgia 31742 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Dawson
There are other machine choices too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other providers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine great. Many end up either very disappointed or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Excellent upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you prefer to opt for a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. However, they were clunky at finest and really only focused on amature usage. Centroid is a well established industrial manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis devices. The 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 a powerful machine. We will also 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 grumble that the small chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On option is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you choose larger bearings.