3 replies to this topic

[Phil Hackett]

It seems Sherline is closing its production facility at the end of October. The company will remain operating for parts and support.
 
More official information here:
 
An important message to our Sherline customers

[Dave Crevie]

Sherline made good desktop machines for the hobbies. But if you wanted pure precision, you have to invest in a true commercial machine. In my teens, I had a couple of Unimats, which were the hot item for very small machines for the guy working in metal, making small parts for models, and particularly slot racers. I wasn't working in tenths, so they were good enough. Sherline was a big upgrade from those. I'm sorry to see them go, but as home machinists have graduated to more substantial machines, I guess it was enevitable.

[Bill from NH]

I've had a Unimat SL since 1970. It's been very handy for building slot cars since. I have more money invested in its tools than the machine itself. I used to be able to order tooling from the Sears Tool catalogs. Today there are very few sources for parts and lots of them are no longer available. I wish I bought the headstock that used collets, but never thought I'd use them. I did find a Colorado camera company that made parts to bring greater accuracy to the threaded headstock.

 

If I was buying a miniature lathe today, it would be a Sherline. There was a Taig brand built too but I don't know if it's still available. dc-65x owns a Sherline and as a professional machinist, I've never seen him complain about it. I believe Sherline made miniature milling machines, too.

[Bill Seitz]

As someone that doesn't have the space to set up a shop of full-size machines, the Sherline products were always inviting. I always dreamed of a hobby workshop with these small machines, but never did manage it.

 

Phil has apprised us of the low-cost manual machine availability at auctions, and there are also an assortment of lower-cost, new Chinese machines for those that have the space for a semi-permanent installation of a large and heavy machine. These have surely impacted Sherline's business. It's sad to see them go, but not surprising.