Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Tucson, AZ 85750
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Tucson, AZ. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, appeals to numerous people. There’s only on place to get the at an affordable cost and that’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is ideal for the mill. Going with a 5C is ideal for the lathes. Of course, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is likewise a benefit. The availability of tooling for each of these models is exceptional. For 5C collet sets, you can get great quality from Hardinge.
Sherline headstocks and parts come in a variety of designs from the factory. Generally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are really little. Sherline likewise uses WW collet sets for extremely tiny work. Mainly watchmakers and clockmakers use the WW collets. The majority of choose ER25, ER32 or even 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 truly do not care for the MT1 and hardly like the ER16. An R8 spindle with a low profile would be best. It provides the most flexibility and many tool options. You can find lots of 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, handbook and CNC all set versions. Just recently, they have included ballscrew variations for sale. This is far better than the older leadscrew type. Search the web if you desire a review or contrast of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Tucson.
Taig likewise provides lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines main competition. In reality, you can find a great deal of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig products use far more rigid ways and usually more “sturdy” in general. The Taig motors are pretty 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 provides a nice CNC prepared 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 problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock design they offer. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice 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 produces is the absence of major upgrades.
Sherline uses lots of parts and accessories, however very little to make it a better machine. To begin with, they headstock uses bad quality bearings and the bearings are too little. This suggests the spindle itself needs to be small. A spindle with very little mass suggests the lathe or mill the finish quality will not be as great and based on vibration issues. For example, they use numerous lathe accessories, but you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the travel through hole needs to be little due to the fact that the bearings are small. There is a comparable problem with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Tucson, Arizona 85750 may have different needs.
There are other machine options too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that use Chinese mills and lathes. Obviously the quality isn’t real good. Many end up either extremely disappointed or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they desire. Outstanding upgrades are ballscrews, upgraded brushless motor, encoder for threading and so on.
If you desire to go with a CNC machine, your best choice is the Centroid Acorn. The software application and hardware is far better than Mach3 or many of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do rigid 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 actually just aimed at amature usage. Centroid is a well recognized industrial manufacture of mills. A lot of which are 5 axis makers. The very best servos to utilize 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 utilizing the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Numerous complain that the little chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will simply fall out. On alternative is to purchase a headstock with a jaw chuck adapter integrated in. This can open more alternatives for 5″ or 6″ chuck. Particularly if you go with larger bearings.