Rattle-free Sherline HandwheelsBy Ed NisleyThe standard Sherline mill comes with tapered plastic knobs on the handwheels, which is exactly what you want for a manual mill, and what you don’t want on a CNC machine: they rattle like crazy during computer-controlled moves. Some folks contend the knob unbalances the handwheel, but I’m not convinced that’s a real problem. Their advice is to remove the entire knob assembly, leaving a bare shaft sticking out of the motor. Seems a bit extreme to me. In any event, shortly after I got the mill, I unscrewed the little retaining screw from the end of each knob, put all the parts in a Ziploc bag, tucked it in my tool box, and have been rattle-free ever since. The metal shaft is entirely adequate for those rare occasions when I turn the knob manually; the graduated settings let me detect when / if I’ve screwed up the acceleration (on a new installation) to the point where the motor is losing steps, and all is right with the world. Oh, that orange-barred white tape in front of the motor? That’s a reminder to keep the usual pile of crap away from the spinning knob. That little shaft can fling small objects a fair distance and makes a nasty tangle out of a misplaced red rag… Thanks Ed. Your subscription has been extended an issue! Please do us a tremendous favor and forward this e-mail on to your machining friends! |
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