Sherline & Taig Lathe & Mill Upgrades, Reviews for Shafer, MN 55074
Lots of have an interest in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Shafer, MN. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest many individuals. There’s only on location to get the at a sensible price which’s GlockCNC. Upgrading to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Opting for a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Of course, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a perk. The availability of tooling for each of these models is outstanding. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a range of designs from the factory. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline likewise offers WW collet sets for extremely tiny work. Generally watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. Many 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, most truly do not 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 versatility and lots of 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 ready variations. Recently, they have actually added ballscrew versions 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 Shafer.
Taig also uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In truth, you can find a lot of videos and posts describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products offer much more rigid ways and generally more “heavy duty” in general. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine look like a totally various mill or lathe. Taig also uses a good CNC ready mill and lathe. You can also select their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software. The Taig spindles have the exact same problems 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 offer a ballscrew option for their mill and lathe. Plus, the offer a “gang tool” lathe. The drawback with both makes is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline provides lots of parts and attachments, but very little to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock usages bad quality bearings and the bearings are too small. 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 based on vibration problems. For example, they offer many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole has to be little since the bearings are small. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can only use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Shafer, Minnesota 55074 may have different needs.
Video: Taig CNC in Shafer
There are other machine options too. You can also purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, in addition to other suppliers that provide Chinese mills and lathes. Naturally the quality isn’t genuine excellent. Lots of wind up either extremely 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 desire to choose a CNC machine, your best option is the Centroid Acorn. The software and hardware is far much better than Mach3 or a number of the hardware choices in the market. You can do stiff tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it provides continuous speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for many years. However, they were cumbersome at finest and truly just aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized business manufacture of mills. A number 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 evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill utilizing 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 just fall out. On option is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter built in. This can open up more options for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you opt for bigger bearings.