Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Potsdam, NY 13699
Numerous are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Potsdam, NY. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest numerous people. There’s just on location to get the at an affordable price and that’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Opting for a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Naturally, you would require to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a bonus. The availability of tooling for each of these designs is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts can be found in a variety of designs from the factory. Typically ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really small. Sherline likewise provides WW collet sets for very small work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Many prefer ER25, ER32 or perhaps ER40 collet sizes with a larger spindle travel through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the best. For Sherline mills, a lot of really don’t care for the MT1 and barely like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It offers the most versatility and many tool choices. 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 likewise can be found in CNC, manual and CNC all set versions. Just recently, they have actually added ballscrew variations for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you want a review or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Potsdam.
Taig likewise uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products offer much more stiff ways and normally more “strong” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like an absolutely different mill or lathe. Taig likewise offers a good CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can likewise choose their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same issues as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they use. We will do a review of the 5C in the future. The good thing is that they now use a ballscrew choice for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The disadvantage with both makes is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline uses numerous parts and attachments, but very little to make it a much better machine. To start with, they headstock usages poor quality bearings and the bearings are too small. This suggests the spindle itself requires to be small. A spindle with very little mass implies the lathe or mill the surface quality will not be as good and subject to vibration issues. For example, they provide numerous lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be little due to the fact that the bearings are small. There is a similar issue with the mill. You can only utilize ER16 collets and this limits its usage. Of course those in Potsdam, New York 13699 may have different needs.
Video: Sherline CNC in Potsdam
There are other machine alternatives too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, together with other providers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t genuine great. Numerous wind up either really disappointed or doing a great deal of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. Exceptional upgrades are ballscrews, updated 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 much better than Mach3 or a lot of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers constant speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for several years. Nevertheless, they were cumbersome at best and truly just targeted at amature use. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis machines. The best servos to use 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 an effective machine. We will also produce reviews of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a much better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous grumble that the little chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just 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. Particularly if you choose larger bearings.