In article ,
Gary Coffman wrote:
On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 21:53:46 -0700, Brad Brigade wrote:
[ ... ]
I was looking at the Emco machines as well as the ones sold by harbor
Emco or ENCO? Big difference.
Amen! I've got an Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, and for its size,
it is a really nice machine. Austrian precision.
freight, but most of what I read about them had them dismissed as
"toys". While I have heard a few people dismiss Sherline as "toys",
it is not nearly as often as the other machines I've been looking at,
and Sherline is at about the maximum of my price range.
The Taig is a bit less expensive than the Sherline, and a bit more
robustly built too.
Agreed!
Has anyone successfully made gears on a Sherline, or is that just a
ridiculous proposition?
Well, lets just say it would be a *challenge*. Straight spur gears are
possible, but any other gear form is going to be very difficult.
Has anyone here ever made herringbone gears? :-)
I'd strongly
suggest you consider *purchasing* gears, or salvaging them out of other
equipment, rather than trying to make your own with a micro lathe. You
might have a bit better luck making them with a mill and rotary table.
Also agreed. You'll need some form of index head in combination
with the milling machine to cut the teeth, and the lathe to turn the
gear blank to dimensions before cutting the teeth.
I'm also interested in the CNC capability. Any comments on that? Is
it worth it?
I think that CNC would be more helpful on the little mill they sell than it
would be on their lathe.
Well ... on the lathe, it could add threading capacity, given a
proper index plate and sensor on the spindle.
Can anyone suggest a better machine for around the same price as a
Sherline?
Better for what? New or used? The Taig is about the size of
the Sherline, and is more rigid overall, and probably has a more
powerful motor than the Sherline (at least mine does, I believe), but
there are more accessories for the Sherline (many of which can be used
with the Taig just as well.)
For just a bit larger, in the used category, I would suggest
watching for an Emco-Maier Compact-5. (Note that there are three things
called Compact-5. One is the manual lathe with thread cutting gears.
One is the CNC version with built-in computer (which I have), and one is
the Compact-5/PC which requires a PC and a special interface card and
software to use it.
My preference is for the Compact-5/CNC (since that is what I
have), but it costs a lot more than the manual one -- even on eBay.
You really need to tell us more about the size work you're going to do.
If you're familiar with Battlebots, give us the class closest to the size of
the robot you're building. That'll give us a better idea what sort of
machinery to recommend. I'm thinking that unless your robot is going
to be a flyweight, you're going to need bigger machinery than Sherline.
Amen!
Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. |
http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---