Originally Posted by
runcyclexcski
Hi all,
I have been using a Sherline DRO mill for about 4 years now, and I am ready for a change. Looking to the spend about the same as I did for a full-package Sherline (~2-3K), but something more robust (all-steel) and easy to fix. May I ask for suggestions? I mostly mill Alu and plastics, but I do an occasional run with mild steel, Ti, and Invar. I use 1-6 mm mills, anything bigger is a struggle, so I do not go above 6 mm. I sometimes, I attach a high-RPM spindle, and mill soda lime and borosilicate glass slides. I tend to be quite abusive to my tools, and I feel like I now spend more time fixing the Sherline than milling. I am generally fine with the low power and the XYZ range (I tend to work alone and in a hurry, and I would have been dead/injured by now if I had >500 W available). Thinking to get direct linear encoders, rather than indirect rotary ones like my Sherline has: I have had situations when the stage would get stuck, but the encoder would show travel.
Thank you in advance!