anyone else get the feeling that sherline has basically crossed their arms and said "Meh" to any new developments to their products?
there are sub $100 precision ballscrews with antibacklash nuts..thats the _retail_ price, which would fit the sherline, but we have to pay $400+ for an aftermarket kit to do it.
there has been absolutely no support for higher feedrate cutting from sherline. read their brochure and you will find bizarre-ness like "HSS tools are good enough for aluminum", "the 2000 series cantilevered mess is just as rigid as the 5400"..etc....meanwhile makerbot is explicitly marketing their latest 3d printer as for the experimenter and welcoming extreme usage...i get that sherline probably doesn't want to promote breaking their machine under warranty, but thats fantasy. that 1/16 hp motor is never going to break anything on that mill, if that were possible, I would have done it a LONG time ago. seems like they just have some conservative attitude that doesn't want their machines to be seen as capable of making anything but miniature versions of real things, instead of the real things themselves.
here are some things we should have gotten along time ago, that do not require drastic increases in cost or engineering:
-thicker Z axis ways for better rigidity (even 1/2" would increase rigidity substantially and not change how the spindle mounts). instead of wasting time and money on the ridiculous 2000 series that I think we can say with certainty almost nobody takes advantage of, they should have made the 5400 more rigid so we can max out the motor's torque in steel without chattering.
-inexpensive enclosure kit. how many thousands of plywood shantytown enclosures are out there? cant we get a low cost lasercut sheetmetal kit that rivets or screws together? SHEESH!!
-along with the enclosure, a flood coolant system. i made one that works great and cost me less than $75.
-an upgrade to the CNC computer to have a couple linuxcnc controlled relays, for coolant, air, spindle on/off, etc..
-a tachometer that does not require a $400 upgrade to the DRO. the tachometer needs about $10 in electronics.
-a linuxcnc output to control spindle rpm using the DC power supplies voltage input, which is already there.
-ballscrew upgrade with antibacklash nut. retail prices are less than $100. sherline can do this. ill pay an extra $150.
-some kind of automatic toolchanger with tool length compensation. the things you can do with a mill skyrocket when you can start making complex parts completely hands-off. toolchanges and manual z axis homing really ruin things. this could be in the form of a line of tools that the mill jogs over to and then some simple way to suck the tool into position with a simple power drawbar. maybe its a $400 upgrade. this is a big deal and maybe would take some engineering. but thats what a company like this is supposed to do for us. im not saying it has to work as well or as fast as a full size mill.
-a slightly larger work area. right now with the games you have to play with backlash and the gibs you are limited to about 5" square. adding another few inches in each direction would not significantly increase the cost of the machine and if the ballscrews and more rigid Z axis happen at the same time you have a very useful tool that can make reasonably sized, reasonably thick, aluminum parts.
-how about some limit switches tied to linuxcnc?
im a fan of my sherline but i think they need a management change and some fresh air around there.
in my opinion they are focused way too much on the delayed-gratification miniature builder and need to get in touch with this 2nd industrial revolution or they are going to be irrelevant very soon.
there are sub $100 precision ballscrews with antibacklash nuts..thats the _retail_ price, which would fit the sherline, but we have to pay $400+ for an aftermarket kit to do it.
there has been absolutely no support for higher feedrate cutting from sherline. read their brochure and you will find bizarre-ness like "HSS tools are good enough for aluminum", "the 2000 series cantilevered mess is just as rigid as the 5400"..etc....meanwhile makerbot is explicitly marketing their latest 3d printer as for the experimenter and welcoming extreme usage...i get that sherline probably doesn't want to promote breaking their machine under warranty, but thats fantasy. that 1/16 hp motor is never going to break anything on that mill, if that were possible, I would have done it a LONG time ago. seems like they just have some conservative attitude that doesn't want their machines to be seen as capable of making anything but miniature versions of real things, instead of the real things themselves.
here are some things we should have gotten along time ago, that do not require drastic increases in cost or engineering:
-thicker Z axis ways for better rigidity (even 1/2" would increase rigidity substantially and not change how the spindle mounts). instead of wasting time and money on the ridiculous 2000 series that I think we can say with certainty almost nobody takes advantage of, they should have made the 5400 more rigid so we can max out the motor's torque in steel without chattering.
-inexpensive enclosure kit. how many thousands of plywood shantytown enclosures are out there? cant we get a low cost lasercut sheetmetal kit that rivets or screws together? SHEESH!!
-along with the enclosure, a flood coolant system. i made one that works great and cost me less than $75.
-an upgrade to the CNC computer to have a couple linuxcnc controlled relays, for coolant, air, spindle on/off, etc..
-a tachometer that does not require a $400 upgrade to the DRO. the tachometer needs about $10 in electronics.
-a linuxcnc output to control spindle rpm using the DC power supplies voltage input, which is already there.
-ballscrew upgrade with antibacklash nut. retail prices are less than $100. sherline can do this. ill pay an extra $150.
-some kind of automatic toolchanger with tool length compensation. the things you can do with a mill skyrocket when you can start making complex parts completely hands-off. toolchanges and manual z axis homing really ruin things. this could be in the form of a line of tools that the mill jogs over to and then some simple way to suck the tool into position with a simple power drawbar. maybe its a $400 upgrade. this is a big deal and maybe would take some engineering. but thats what a company like this is supposed to do for us. im not saying it has to work as well or as fast as a full size mill.
-a slightly larger work area. right now with the games you have to play with backlash and the gibs you are limited to about 5" square. adding another few inches in each direction would not significantly increase the cost of the machine and if the ballscrews and more rigid Z axis happen at the same time you have a very useful tool that can make reasonably sized, reasonably thick, aluminum parts.
-how about some limit switches tied to linuxcnc?
im a fan of my sherline but i think they need a management change and some fresh air around there.
in my opinion they are focused way too much on the delayed-gratification miniature builder and need to get in touch with this 2nd industrial revolution or they are going to be irrelevant very soon.