Sherline vs Taig With Upgrades?
In the world of mini or benchtop mills and lathes, two names come to mind; Sherline and Taig. Both are good machines, however both have some major weaknesses. Thankfully, those weaknesses can be fixed through a few upgrades from a company called GlockCNC.com. Anyway, let’s look at some differences.
The Sherline Mill vs Taig Mill
Side by side, it’s pretty clear that the Taig is a much more robust machine. The work envelope is also much larger on the Taig. Where the Sherline shines is the number of accessories and flexibility with odd angles. Keep in mind though, with those odd angles come a real lack of rigidity. After using both machines, it’s clear that the Taig’s box-way linear system is hands-down more rigid than the Sherline. Thankfully, both companies now offer ballscrews, which are the better way to go for CNC application. So what are the downfalls of both? Frankly, it’s the headstock and motor. Both headstocks very small, if not anemic. The tooling sizes end up being very limited. This is especially true with the Taig mill, because it could certainly handle bigger cutters. The other issue is the motors. Both companies have very weak motors. One company out there has come up with the best solution yet; GlockCNC.com (and they are really the only one out there with industrial quality). How have they improved Sherline and Taig.
Simply put, they offer much more heavy duty headstocks and motors. Plus, a wide variety of spindle options. While they will sell stock Sherline casing headstocks with ER, R8 or MT3 spindles, their own Heavy Duty Commercial Headstocks are the way to go. You get much larger bearings than would ever fit in the Sherline or Taig OEM casing. Plus, you can choose from deep grove or angular contact bearings. And get this, they come with upgraded ABEC-5 deep grove bearings with the option of ABEC-7 or ABEC-9! It gets even better…. They will also do a secondary grind operation for those demanding the highest level of accuracy. In other words, they will shrink the bearings to the spindle, then grind the collet contact surface area to match the bearing accuracy. Frankly, this is only found on much bigger and high end commercial machines. After looking at their prices, I’m sure you’ll agree that they are a bargain for what you get. I’m thinking that as they become more popular, you’ll probably see the prices rise. At this point, their prices are very reasonable when you compare them to a high end Swiss made machine.
The Sherline Lathe vs Taig Lathe
Taig offers two types of lathes, bed lathe and gang tool type. While Sherline pretty much offers one type that can be converted into a gang type. The Taig bed type lathe is tiny. Almost unusable for many unless you’re doing super small parts. The Sherline offers a much longer bed, but there are some issues. The biggest problem with the Sherline (aside from the headstock and motor…again), is the saddle isn’t rigid at all! The deflection is very frustrating. The Taig on the other hand, it seems to produce much less deflection and therefore better results. The gang tool Taig is far and away my favorite of all the options. It’s rigid and will hold plenty of tools. Of course, there’s no tail stock with this type. Again, here’s the rub for both Sherline and Taig….it’s the headstock and motor. Just read the above about the mills. The other lathe specific issue is the very small through hole in the OEM spindle. GlockCNC has solved that issue with a .55″ to .79″ through hole option. As far as motor upgrades, they offer a 750 watt and 1,200 watt upgrade. Both can be manually controlled or CNC.
Check out the upgrades at GlockCNC, plus they are also Sherline, Taig and Tormach TTS dealers…so, they can get you whatever you need: https://glockcnc.com/
