Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Girdler, KY 40943
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Girdler, KY. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract numerous people. There’s only on location to get the at an affordable price and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Going with a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Of course, you would require to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a reward. The schedule of tooling for each of these models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get excellent quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts been available in a range of models from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are extremely small. Sherline likewise uses WW collet sets for very tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 and even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very best. For Sherline mills, a lot of really don’t care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses one of the most flexibility and numerous tool options. You can discover numerous 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, manual and CNC prepared versions. Recently, they have included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want an evaluation or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Girdler.
Taig also offers lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In reality, you can find a lot of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer far more rigid ways and usually more “strong” 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 likewise offers a good CNC ready 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 exact same issues 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 great 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 manufactures is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline uses many parts and attachments, 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 implies the spindle itself requires to be little. A spindle with very little mass indicates the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as great and subject to vibration problems. For example, they provide lots of lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole has to be little since the bearings are little. There is a similar issue with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Girdler, Kentucky 40943 may have different needs.
There are other machine choices too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t genuine good. Many wind up either very dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Outstanding upgrades are ballscrews, updated brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you desire to go with a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or much of the hardware options 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 standard for several years. However, they were clunky at best and actually just targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized industrial manufacture of mills. Much of which are 5 axis machines. The best servos to utilize 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 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? Lots of complain 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 built in. This can open up more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose larger bearings.