Will a Sherline 2000 do this?

[Fixittt]

and on the flip side the sherline can do things the X3 cannot. Like run all day long in a standard size apartment closet.

The sherline also has great resolution. A sherline spindle has less runout so using very small cutters is easier.

Each machine has its own niche in the market place. For the amount of material removal you are wanting to do the poor little sherline can do it...... but is not best suited for the job. You probably need to see one in person to understand that. Its smaller then an old 17 inch CRT monitor.

[bebob1]

Noise is still a factor like any mill for apartments though. Sound proofing enclosure helps but then you might want to add a shop vac to the gig and that raises the noise again. With compressed air, the compressor is worse than the shop vac. If fly cutting steel, then its pretty bad on top that that mess.

But yea at least it fits inside the apartment and can be used during the day.

What is the runout of the sherline spindle?

But their high pitch leadscrews are an advantage though in resolution terms so its good for making small parts.

[Fixittt]

let me ask this, have you ever seen the size of a sherline mill?

[bebob1]

yes

[Fixittt]

i did not mean that to sound sarcastic or anything negative. I have a sherline manual mill that I can move around with one arm. My desktop cnc`s I can barely pickup by my self.

The sherline is very small, it can get the job done, its just going to take a LONG TIME! Hell, even a taig is going to take a long time.

The biggest draw back to these sized machines is the spindle. If you cant spin the bit fast or have the torque behind it, it limits everything else. I have a minitech minimill GX desktop. Its the granite machine. With the NSK spindle it takes a while to cut aluminum. I have a larger 6hp spindle motor that took 13 minutes to cut a plate of aluminum with a 1/4 inch end mill. The NSK or sherline spindle had issues with the 1/4 endmill bite. I was forced to limit my cuts to about 300 mm a minute with the NSK. 1500 mm a min with the 6 hp spindle.

Just food for thought.

[bebob1]

Yea I agree, the sherline is good for making small parts. Suitable for hobby stuff but not for production level stuff.

Yes its slow, but with the right cutter it can be okish. If you get a roughing cutter, it also eats aluminum very easily. Watching youtube videos and people complaining about sherline being slow in aluminum, often they use normal flute end mills. Well, if they use a roughing cutter, they can easily speed that up quite a bit.

NSK spindles should be better than sherline spindles for speed of cutting right? They have so high RPM and high HP. The sherline spindle is 1/4hp and with normal pulley max up to 3k RPM.

[Fixittt]

NSK spindles are for high precision but not the best in the torque area. I have 2 nsk spindles. the E2530 and the E 3000. While I have cut aluminum with the e3000. You are stuck to mainly 1/8th endmills. I have tried 1/4 inch and well, there is just not enough torque to support the diameter. BUT Nsk does make a torque adapter that gears the spindle down. Dont know to what ratio.

I have also cut with the sherline spindle and a very large endmill in nylon taking aggressive cuts. The sherline seemed to hold its own with the larger diameter endmill.

fixittt's Channel - YouTube

[awetmore]

The sherline is very small, it can get the job done, its just going to take a LONG TIME! Hell, even a taig is going to take a long time.

The biggest draw back to these sized machines is the spindle. If you cant spin the bit fast or have the torque behind it, it limits everything else.

I haven't had this trouble with the Taig 1/4 HP motor that has been stock for the last few years. I've run 3/8" cutters at 4300 and 6500rpm reliably. My most commonly used cutter is a 3/16" that I run at 10500 rpm and around 30 ipm at 0.040" DOC. That isn't a huge material removal rate (around 0.25 cubic inches per minute), but most jobs don't take too long.

With a 3/8" rougher I've done up to 1.4 MRR, but that is really pushing it and I wouldn't feel comfortable running it unattended.

Overall I like the Taig spindle for high RPMs, low runout, and the flexibility of the ER16 spindle. Having one lower speed could be nice for larger drill bits, and the motor mount isn't the best design since it really limits you from running larger motors. I'd love to run a 1/2 HP 3ph with VFD, but that isn't an option with the stock motor mount setup.

alex

[Fixittt]

the taig spindle since they went to the ER is top knotch. Like the sherline its offset to the side so it is a bit awkward, but for torque its got more then the NSK. Taig and sherline spindles that is.But as far as runout....... NSK is hands down the winner. For the jewelery waxes I cut its perfect. For larger material removal projects...... it comes up a little short.

Right tool for the job is what it boils down to.

[Fixittt]

if I get out to my shop I will snap a couple pics of the sherline mill sitting next to my older minitech mill (taig sized machine)

[Fixittt]

images of the sherline next to the minitech and a maxnc frame on the far right. Also note that the maxnc has wood blocks is sitting a little higher on the other desk.

I put a dr pepper can on the table of the sherline... just for scale.

[wizard]

I think this is what the thread boils down too. The part fits within the envelope of the Sherline but the question is do you really want to have the mill run that long on a single part? Further will the quality be what you are looking for.

The direct answer to the question is yeah the Sherline could do that. But the question should be extended to should I try to do this on a Sherline? To that end I'd have to say no.

Why? A stiffer mill should get your job done faster and with better quality. There is a qualification in that you may need to consider a spindle upgrade on most of the small import mills. Even if you end up running cycles of an hour or two it is still better than letting a mill run for tens of hours.

So why am I concerned about long cycles - "attentions span". Unless you have extreme confidence in your setup, coolant and chip removal methods I really don't see the time a Sherline would take as practicle.