Sherline & Taig CNC Mill & Lathe Upgrades, Reviews for Westminster, SC 29693
Lots of are interested in ISO20, IS030, BT30 and 5C headstocks for both Sherline and Taig mills and lathes in the Westminster, SC. Automatic tool changers, or ATC, interest many people. There’s only on location to get the at a reasonable cost which’s GlockCNC. Updating to a ISO20 or BT30 is perfect for the mill. Choosing a 5C is perfect for the lathes. Naturally, you would need to upgrade the headstock, bearings and motor. High speed balancing is also a reward. The schedule 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. Normally ER16 and MT1. Both of which are very little. Sherline also provides WW collet sets for extremely tiny work. Primarily watchmakers and clockmakers utilize the WW collets. Most prefer ER25, ER32 or even ER40 collet sizes with a bigger spindle pass through hole. The 5C collet for the Sherline lathe would be the very 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 uses one of the most versatility and numerous 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 also been available in CNC, handbook and CNC prepared versions. Recently, they have added ballscrew versions for sale. This is far much better than the older leadscrew type. Browse the internet if you want an evaluation or comparison of ballscrews compared to leadscrews. There are suppliers near Westminster.
Taig also uses lathes and mills. It’s Sherlines primary competitors. In fact, you can find a lot of videos and short articles describing Taig vs Sherline. The Taig items provide far more stiff methods and typically more “heavy duty” overall. The Taig motors are quite weak, just like the Sherline motors. A high quality brushless motor can make the machine seem like a totally different mill or lathe. Taig also provides a good CNC prepared mill and lathe. You can also choose their digital CNC system which utilizes closed-looped steppers and Mach3 software application. The Taig spindles have the very same problems as the Sherline. They are far too small. The only exception is the 5C collet headstock model they use. We will do an evaluation of the 5C in the future. The nice thing is that they now use a ballscrew alternative for their mill and lathe. Plus, the deal a “gang tool” lathe. The downside with both manufactures is the absence of severe upgrades.
Sherline offers lots of parts and attachments, but not much to make it a much better machine. To start 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 very little mass implies the lathe or mill the surface quality won’t be as great and based on vibration issues. For instance, they use many lathe accessories, however you can’t get a 5C headstock or ER25, ER32 or ER40. Plus, the pass through hole needs to be little since the bearings are little. There is a similar concern with the mill. You can just use ER16 collets and this restricts its usage. Of course those in Westminster, South Carolina 29693 may have different needs.
There are other machine options too. You can likewise purchase from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, along with other suppliers that offer Chinese mills and lathes. Of course the quality isn’t real excellent. Many wind up either really dissatisfied or doing a lot of modifications to get the machine to do what they want. 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 a lot of the hardware alternatives in the market. You can do rigid tapping and threading if you have an encoder. Plus, it offers consistent speed for turning applications. Mach3 and Mach4 were the requirement for many years. Nevertheless, they were clunky at best and actually just focused on amature use. Centroid is a well established business manufacture of mills. Many of which are 5 axis makers. The very best servos to use for CNC on the Sherline or Taig are either DMM, Clearpath or GlockCNC brands. Integrate that with the Centroid Acorn and you will have a powerful machine. We will also produce evaluations of the Taig CNC mill and Sherline CNC mill using the Acorn hardware.
What about a better jaw chuck for the lathe? Lots of complain that the small chucks won’t hold steel for cutting. The part will just 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. Specifically if you choose bigger bearings.