Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for North Reading, MA 01889
Numerous have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the North Reading, MA. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, attract many people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable price which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Going with a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Naturally, 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 great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a range of models from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline also uses WW collet sets for extremely tiny work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. The majority of prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle go through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, the majority 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 one of the most versatility and lots of tool options. You can find many evaluations on both the lathe and the mill. Popular models are the 2000, 5400, 4000 and 4500 in metric and inch. The likewise been available in CNC, manual and CNC ready variations. Just recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the web if you desire an evaluation or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near North Reading.
Taig also provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can find a lot of videos and short articles referring to Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products provide a lot more stiff methods and generally more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are pretty weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig also uses a nice CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also opt for their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the exact same issues as the Sherline. They are far too little. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they provide. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The great thing is that they now use a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both manufactures is the lack of major upgrades.
Sherline provides many parts and attachments, but not much to make it a better machine. To start with, they headstock uses poor quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This indicates the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with extremely little mass suggests the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as great and subject to vibration issues. For example, they provide lots of lathe devices, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be little because the bearings are small. There is a similar problem with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this limits its use. Of course those in North Reading, Massachusetts 01889 may have different needs.
There are other machine options too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real great. Numerous wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you desire to choose a CNC machine, your best bet is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or much of the hardware choices in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it uses continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the standard for several years. However, they were cumbersome at finest and truly only aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well established business manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis machines. The very 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 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 alternative is to buy a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more choices for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Especially if you go with larger bearings.