Buying a Sherline 5400, looking for advice

I'll second Mikey's recommendation on the Wilton-11708-Precision-Milling-2-Inch vise. He recommended it to me when I started out and it's been fantastic. (Also, when we were looking - I thought that I'd found the last new one in existence as Wilton has discontinued making it). So, if the one place listed still has it available - I'd look seriously at picking that one up. I don't have the screwless vise so I can't comment on it.
 
I'll second Mikey's recommendation on the Wilton-11708-Precision-Milling-2-Inch vise. He recommended it to me when I started out and it's been fantastic. (Also, when we were looking - I thought that I'd found the last new one in existence as Wilton has discontinued making it). So, if the one place listed still has it available - I'd look seriously at picking that one up. I don't have the screwless vise so I can't comment on it.

Yup, I thought you got the last new one, too. Then I found it on Amazon and quickly linked it.

Aaron, this is configured like a Kurt vise but without the Angle-lok feature. Still, it is precise and rigid enough for most work on a Sherline mill. I use it about 90% of the time on that mill and agree with Dave; it is a very good vise. There are copies of it from India but I have no experience with them.
 
The Wilton is going to be out of my price range for now, as I'm already extending myself $400-500 more than I initially planned. Good thing I'm working a ton of overtime right now.

I am seeing these on the Wilton site, so perhaps they have been placed back into production? I am curious about these though, with the swivel and tilt it seems as if they would be somewhat inaccurate. Do they have marks, stops etc to control the angles well? It also seems like it eats up a lot of height, although probably no worse than a rotary table and tilt table with the screwless vise.

I see the extended column is an option at purchase which is why it doesn't show up under accessories. I can see where the extra 4" would be useful particularly with the ER32 collet chuck which looks like it will eat up a couple of inches. Makes sense to me to get that initially, saves a little money, but more importantly it looks like a fair bit of work to add later.

I've already got a 3/8" chuck for my lathe which is compatible with the mill, and the mill comes with a 1/4" chuck. The keyless is certainly a nice feature, but I can live with using a key for now. I did order a Beall ER32, that seems a much nicer option vs individual collets and end mill holders. I added the 3/16 collet as well, since with the size work I'm planning it seemed a useful size for smaller bits.

I'm still shopping around for end mills, found a couple of sets which seem like they would be ok for getting started.
Are Dremel cutters appropriate for use as really small end mills in soft materials like brass or aluminum? I've got a decent selection of Dremel bits already and some of the specialty bits seem handy if they will hold up to light milling work.
 
Wilton makes the 2 and 3-axis vises but they do eat up a lot of space. The one that Dave and I have just has a swivel base and it doesn't eat up much room in Z. It is solid and useful. These things are expensive, which is why I suggested starting with a 2" screwless Chinese vise. They are cheap, accurate and will do until you're on your financial feet.

You are really going to like the Beall chuck, not just on the mill but on the lathe. It will allow you to work up close to the chuck while the machine is running without chewing off meat, and it will swallow up longer pieces of stock and hold it steady as you turn it. Love that thing!

Edit: I forgot the Dremel thing. Yes, you can use them but be aware that those cutters normally require much higher speeds than the Sherline can generate. They won't cut as they normally would so the risk of breakage is higher. Try it and see.
 
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+1 on what Mikey said on the Wilton Vise - I would not get the 3 axis versions. In fact, I've taken the swivel portion of the vise off because I have not yet added the extended column to the mill (She who watches the budget must be obeyed!).
 
Ok, the picture looked like more than just a swivel.

The plan for now is to get a tooling plate, a couple sets of hold downs and a screwless vise which still comes in under the price of the Wilton vise. Hopefully they will still be available in 6 months to a year.

The more I read about the ER collets, the more I liked the idea and thought that was the place to spend some extra money.
 
Thanks, those are fairly cheap and I can see how they could be useful.
 
You might also want to order your machine with the ridged column, if you are doing anything with large diameter cutters moving in y or even thinking about climb milling you will find it invaluable. The only downside is that you can't rotate the headstock in the xy plane, but the times you're going to find that movement usefull are severely limited.

Edit: nevermind, I just realized that you are getting the 5400 not the 2000 which by virtue of not having that adjustment does not have that problem.
 
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