Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Misenheimer, NC 28109
Numerous are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Misenheimer, NC. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract many people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable price and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Opting for a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Naturally, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a perk. The accessibility of tooling for each of these designs is excellent. 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 also uses WW collet sets for really tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Most choose ER25, ER32 or perhaps 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, 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 offers the most flexibility and numerous tool options. 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 been available in CNC, handbook and CNC prepared versions. Just recently, they have included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the internet if you desire a review or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Misenheimer.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In reality, you can find a lot of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items offer far more stiff ways and usually more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, similar to the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig also offers a good CNC prepared 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 same issues as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they offer. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now provide a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The downside 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 poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This implies the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with really little mass implies the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as good and based on vibration problems. For example, they offer lots of lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole has to be small since the bearings are small. There is a comparable concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Misenheimer, North Carolina 28109 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Misenheimer
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t real good. Numerous wind 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 bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or many of the hardware choices in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for many years. Nevertheless, they were cumbersome at best and actually just targeted at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. Much of which are 5 axis makers. The best servos to use for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brands. Combine 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? Many grumble that the small chucks will not hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On alternative is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open up more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you choose bigger bearings.