How Happy Are You With Your Sherline Lathe??

Takingblame

Registered
Registered
Joined
Nov 2, 2015
Messages
12
Hi, I was just wondering how happy or pleased everyone is with their lathe purchase. I am in the market for a mini lathe and after about 20 hrs of research I have come to the conclusion that a sherline lathe is a good investment.
But before I purchase I wanted to get feedback from the community about their sherline lathes. Would you buy it again?? Any problems?? How is the warranty service?? Do you wish you had purchased a different size sherline?? Did you purchase one of their offered package deals??
Thanks for your feedback.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk
 
After over 20 years on a Sherline lathe, I figure I can give an opinion.
  • If you can afford it, get the long bed lathe. You may not need the capacity often but when you do, it helps. Even with the extra length, you can lift this entire lathe with one hand and put on the shelf.
  • If I needed a small, precision lathe I would definitely buy it again. The motor is durable, strong enough for the lathe capacity, smooth, variable speed and gets up near 2800 true rpm. I am still on the same motor and it runs the same as when it was new.
  • I bought the package, then added accessories over time. Back then, the package included the basics but I made an even more complete package and it was a mostly good decision. I highly recommend you buy Joe Martin's book, Tabletop Machining, and read it to see what these accessories do and to give you a better idea of what you need to get up and running. While it is a showcase for Sherline's stuff, it is well done and will teach you how their equipment is used.
  • The only design flaw on this lathe, at least in my experience, is the totally non-adjustable tailstock. To deal with this, Sherline sells an adjustable live center. This thing is a joke. You can spend an hour aligning things and get it to work but every time you put it back into the tailstock ram you will have to realign it. Better to make a good live center, index it to find the most accurate position and create witness marks so you can install it the same way every time. On the lathe itself, the tailstock is the one single thing I dislike.
  • To cut threads, you will need the screw cutting accessory package they sell - BUY IT! You will have to screw cut manually but it is capable of cutting Class 3 fits and I would not be without it.
  • Make, do not buy, a rear mounted parting tool post. The Sherline does not like to part from the front but it will part from the rear at very high speeds without a hitch. A P1-N blade is all you need to part anything on this lathe.
You will repeatedly hear guys tell you that you cannot make big parts on a small lathe but you can make small parts on a big lathe. In my opinion, this is naive. I have an 11" lathe as well but if I need to make a small, precision part it is far easier and faster to make it on my Sherline. It is, however, true that there is an upper limit to what a Sherline lathe can do but anything that fits on the lathe can be completed. I have worked on pieces up to 2" OD and 1-1/4" over the cross slide, without using the riser blocks. To put this in perspective, I only stepped up to a larger lathe about 4 years ago and in all that time I rarely felt limited by the Sherline lathe. Even with the larger lathe - an Austrian made Emco Super 11 CD, which ain't no slouch - I still pull the Sherline out if the part is small - it is that good, that precise.

This lathe can hold very tight tolerances; factory says about 0.003" but I know it can work into the low tenths with care. Don't think you're going to be taking big cuts but with the right tool you can easily take 0.050" deep cuts in mild steel. One nice thing is that the headstock swivels. Some might think this is a disadvantage but the Sherline headstock can be aligned precisely to the ways to produce extremely accurate cuts. Here, I'm talking about a taper-free skim cut down a 4" rod held just in the chuck. Oh, you can only get a 3/8" rod through the spindle so keep that in mind.

You will need to learn to grind HSS tools. Like all lathes, carbide tools work but not nearly as well as HSS. The lathe is too light and slow for carbide but with a properly ground HSS tool it can surpass some larger machines.

Sherline's customer service is said to be quite good. I don't know much about it - nothing I bought ever broke. Not all of their accessories are the best - that adjustable live center and their parting tool holders to name a few - but their stuff is well-made. I especially like their chucks. Don't forget that Sherline's philosophy is that anything they sell in the future will work on all their machines, which allows you to upgrade your lathe if necessary.

I also like the ER-32 chuck from Beall Tools. With good collets it will work really well on the Sherline lathe and allow you to work up close to the chuck on pieces up to 3/4" OD - very nice tool to own.

Sorry for running on and on about this lathe - those of us who know this machine also know what it can do - we get long-winded!
 
I have had a Sherline 4400 for about a year. It is my first lathe, so I can't really compare it to other machines. That said, I really like this machine. I can get tolerances of +/- .0005 without too much trouble.

You can get remarkably aggressive with your cuts without bogging down their little motor. It is a 90V DC continuously adjustable motor. Even at low speeds, it still has decent torque. And because it can go so slow it is very easy to use button dies in a tailstock holder to do threading under power. This is a real time saver.

As Mikey stated, the tailstock is not adjustable, so if you are doing precision turning on a thin part (1/8"or less) it can be a pain. However, I have not found the adjustable centers or chuck that hard to set up. It takes some time, but as long as you always put the tool into the tailstock ram in the same orientation you don't need to reset them.

I highly recommend the DRO option.

I also highly recommend the QCTP from A2Z CNC.

Their customer service has been great.

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
You are going to find that making tools to fit your Sherline machines is fairly cheap and simple, but you need a mill to do it for some tools. At some time in the future, look into a mill of some type. You don't need to go with a Sherline mill but if you do, you will find it just as capable as their lathes.

These are small machines; they will not do large, heavy pieces but for work within their envelopes they are very accurate.
 
As Mikey stated, the tailstock is not adjustable, so if you are doing precision turning on a thin part (1/8"or less) it can be a pain. However, I have not found the adjustable centers or chuck that hard to set up. It takes some time, but as long as you always put the tool into the tailstock ram in the same orientation you don't need to reset them.

Tom, build yourself a live center sometime. It will be far more accurate, more functional and simpler to use than anything Sherline makes. It would be wise to make the body of the arbor 1" longer than the MT to provide reach over the cross slide and it is a good idea to make an extended tip to accommodate small diameter work pieces. Such a project requires precision boring, turning accurate tapers and having more than a passing acquaintance with hardening and tempering so tackle it when/after you gain some experience. However, you will find this to be one of the most useful things on a Sherline lathe and it is worth the time to make it.

Other things to make are a rear-mounted parting tool post, a good scissors knurler, a T-rest with gravers and a really good boring tool holder for your QCTP. None of these things are hard to make but they will greatly improve your work or make it safer to do that work. In fact, they work so well that I'm in the process of making larger ones to fit my larger lathe to extend that lathe's capabilities.
 
Tom I guess before I could suggest answers to your question I would like to know what kind of work you will be doing now and in the near future.

David
 
Wow!! Thanks for your input. I am glad to see that my choice of sherline is a good decision. I will definitely be getting a longer option sherline and the DRO. Good call on the package options. I figured there would be better options in terms of tool holders and chucks, but its good that the package accessories are decent quality. Thanks for all the good information mikey. And I just bought the book on amazon.
Your replies definitely confirm my choice of NOT buying the HF 7x12. The option of buying it and taking it home the same day and machining something that night is very enticing, and sometimes I get a little impatient. But I am looking forward to getting my sherline in the mail!!
Again thanks for your wealth of knowledge. Information here is way more helpful then the reviews l have been reading.


Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk
 
I have the long bed Sherline lathe with DRO as well as the Sherline milling machine. I also have a couple of Boley watchmakers lathes. The cool thing is that I bought the WW collett adapter and can use my WW collets in to hold clock parts. I'm happy with the setup.
 
What kind of work do you plan on doing with this lathe? I know this is a hard question to answer but it is a critical one that has to do with the expected working envelope. Be sure the Sherline will meet your needs before you jump. I'm not concerned about how the lathe will perform; only if it will accommodate your expected projects. If you plan to make model engines or smaller scale stuff, then no problem. If you plan to make stuff to enable other hobbies or interests then you need to really look hard at how big a part you can make on this lathe.
 
So I have found some projects online that I think a sherline could handle. Most of them are from youtuber Clickspring. I became obsessed with watching him work with brass and making a clock from scratch. Actually this is how I found about sherline. He uses one quite often in his videos. And my thought was if it is good enough for this experienced machinist, it must be a pretty damn good machine.
I plan on working a lot with brass and some aluminum.
My main goal is to make what are known as mods. Mods are battery holders for mechanical vaporizers. They are basiacally a metal tube that fits an 18650 lithium ion battery. The tube or mod is almost always 22mm exterior diameter. It's a standard size in the industry. And about 90mm long. About 1mm thickness of material. (Don't think I gave that dimension correctly) one end is open to the size of the battery and threaded inside to fit a button or trigger. The other end is closed with an about 7mm threaded hole.
Forgive me I am not sure how to put into words some areas of the thing I am trying to make, I am sure I will become well versed as my adventures in machining progress.
Also I am very interested in using the lathe as a mill. I haven't done to much research into this process but I have an understanding of the concept.

There are some custom robotics applications that I would like to use the lathe for in the future but I will attempt those projects when I have a better understanding of lathes and machining.
This is good example of what I will be attempting to make.

970c849c3f2486b80cf4a237e62ad19d.jpg


Quick backstory, most of the Mods were made in America with US materials, then Chinese factories started copying the designs and selling them for 70% cheaper. That is where the term 'clone' comes into play. Clones are basically knock offs. My mod is made in america, the real deal. I know I could just buy a clone and save a lot of money, but I like the idea of saying I made it. Just like how I enjoy telling people that I put a new clutch, water pump, and head gasket in my truck.


Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top