Sherline 2000 8-Direction Mill

[j ferguson]

I'm thinking about getting a Sherline 2000. Sherline's FAQ's include an answer to the obvious question about its rigidity stating that it's not an issue if the machine is used sensibly. Their comment adds that it wouldn't have made much sense to make this machine as they did if it couldn't do useful work at the extension limits. These guys look honest, but still ...

Has anyone here any first hand, or even second hand experience using one of these?

I'm not in a hurry but will be cutting steel (some 316, too) from time to time, but mostly 6061-t6, and mostly small stuff.

Part of problem is we're living in a rental apartment with an attached one-car garage and whatever i do can't look too threatening to the landlord, or SWMBO for that matter - low profile, so to speak. Sherline looks like good equipment, adequate for the work I have in mind, but challenge is 2000/2010, or 5400?

 

[mikey]

I own a 5400 and have never used a 2000 so take my comments with that in mind.

When I had to choose between the 2000 and 5400 I recall worrying about movement under higher cutting loads and the hassle of aligning the various axes if it did move so I chose the 5400. I didn't know what I would be cutting but I did know that in machining, rigidity is king.

So far, I haven't been disappointed. The 5400 has done all I have asked of it and more. I do not baby my machine and have gone way beyond "sensibly" on many occasions without a single issue. While I have felt the need for a larger lathe on many occasions I have not needed a larger mill for the work that I do. I have added the extended column and several other mods to improve backlash. I do have the ability to swing the column or the headstock but have not done so, ever. I prefer to have the mill trammed accurately and simply position the work piece to cut any angle I need. So far, I have not had a single piece that I couldn't cut due to the configuration of the mill.

My mill is now about 18 years old and it is as accurate, smooth and capable as it was when new. The bottom line is no regrets with the 5400.

I know some guys have had some issues with movement of the 2000 under load. I don't think its that big a deal or they wouldn't still be selling them. If you join the Sherline Yahoo group they can give you much more first hand, detailed info about the various models.

Regardless of which one you choose, even your landlord would not be threatened by a mill that you can carry into the apartment in a cardboard box. Heck, he won't even know you moved it in!

 

[j ferguson]

Thanks much Mikey, What you've written is very helpful.

john

 

[mikey]

Thanks much Mikey, What you've written is very helpful.

john

You're welcome, John. Regardless of which model you go with I think you will be very surprised at what these machines can do.

 

[pjf134]

I have a 2000 CNC mill and it does move under a heavy load, but if you go slow it's ok. I have the lathe in CNC also, it does good for small stuff even steel. I use my South Bend 9A mostly and use the Sherline's for small stuff. I do have a lot of extras for both the Sherline's, but I do need some for the South Bend.
Paul

 

[D.C.Clark]

All of the above, see attachment.

I've owned the Sherline CNC 4 axis mill and CNC lathe for over 20 years. Have pushed the envelope pretty hard, both in terms of size and toughness of materials. I also own an X2 from LMS, and plan soon to buy their lathe as well, in order to do some larger parts more quickly.

If I could only have one lathe and one mill, and, for some reason never wanted to do CNC, I would buy the Siegs from LMS. But in order to do both manual and CNC, definitely Sherline.

David Clark in Southern Maryland, USA

 

[j ferguson]

Thank you all. I've found your comments very helpful. It does indeed look like the 2000 is what I want. I have the time to walk cuts rather than gallop. I can see that setting up for cnc now makes sense. In 1993 i borrowed a small 3 axis cnc mill (name forgotten) which couldn't be operated manually. it had a fanuc like controller, used a customised Icam post, and was fun to use, but NO MANUAL.

I like the way Sherline has used through-shaft steppers to make manual controls easy to use. I like the EMC2 interface, and the Linux OS, which I've been using the last 5 years, I think my old Compaq Armada M300 will be fast enough, P3 - 600 mHz, but if it isn't I have a much bigger machine that will work. I found a post for converting the CL files, and should be good to go.

BTW, has anyone of you added coolant system to your cnc setup?

best,

john

 

[David Kirtley]

If you want to see the little Sherline machines put through their paces, check out tryally on youtube. Luiz has some really good stuff. His facebook page has a lot of stuff to look at for his work. It is tryallytech on facebook.

 

[j ferguson]

I bought a 2000, just finished assembling it and am frankly astounded by how well made it is and how reasonable all of the design choices which I can recognize seem to be. Wonder of wonders, it passed the "threatening looking" threshold. SWMBO thinks it's cute.

Its first project will be to make the heat sink for the stepper driver transistors. I decided to build my own CNC drive setup so I can get the experience to build my own gantry mill later on. Here's hoping that the Intel 945 based PC I already have will meet the latency requirements. It does have built-in sound and video, but you can switch to PCI boards in the Bios so I'm assuming I can eliminate any shared memory issues - and WTH, if not, MB's don't cost an arm and a leg anymore.

It did occur to me that I could configure the stepper drives same as Sherline, but maybe it doesn't matter. there is no way the controller knows it's talking to a sherline unless i tell it. Obviously I have to coordinate the stepper characteristics and machine geometry but that ought to be fun and educational.

best to you all,

john

 

[Andre]

Just out of curiosity, did you look at the Taig (Peatol) lineup of mills? Cheaper, more rigid, but not as good of quality fit and finish wise as a sherline.