Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Many are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Mechanicsburg, PA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest many individuals. There’s just on location to get the at a reasonable price which’s GlockCNC. Updating 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. 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 come in a variety of models from the factory. Usually ER16 and MT1. Both of which are extremely small. Sherline also uses WW collet sets for extremely small work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Many 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 do not care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It uses the most versatility and numerous 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 likewise can be found in CNC, manual and CNC all set variations. Just recently, they have actually included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Mechanicsburg.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can discover a lot of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer much more stiff methods and generally more “heavy duty” in general. The Taig motors are quite weak, much like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine appear like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig also offers a good CNC all set mill and lathe. You can also go with 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 little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they provide. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now provide a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous 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 little. This suggests the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with really little mass indicates the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as excellent and subject to vibration problems. For example, they offer many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the go through hole needs to be little because the bearings are small. There is a comparable issue with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this restricts its use. Of course those in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Mechanicsburg
There are other machine options too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t genuine great. Lots of wind up either really disappointed or doing a lot 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 want to go with a CNC machine, your best option 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 provides consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. However, they were cumbersome at finest and truly only focused on amature use. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. Much 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 better jaw chuck for the lathe? Lots of complain that the little chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will just fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open up more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Specifically if you opt for larger bearings.