Hacking
a Sherline Lathe
Sherline makes a very good small
lathe. I have been very happy with
the one I got a few years ago. But
Sherline does not make all of the accessories that I
would like to have. So I hacked up
a few accessories Sherline does not offer.
Crossslide stop: Sherline has
a stop accessory that works by limiting the leftward motion of the saddle. It is very useful but when I'm doing
repetitive work (such as making a few dozen stanchions for a ship model) it would be very useful to have a
depth stop for the crossslide. I based part of the shape of mine on
part of the Sherline Follower Rest (part #1090) and
fasten it to the saddle in the same way. (See the downloadable instruction sheet at
https://sherline.com/product/1090-lathe-follower-rest/ to see how the follower
attaches to the saddle.)
Saddle Digital Readout: Sherline has
a digital readout accessory for the lathe but it measures the number of turns
made on the lead screw, which is only an approximation of where the saddle
might be due to backlash and imperfect screws etc. I prefer to have a measurement of the actual position of the
saddle. Turns out this is quite
easy & cheap to add.
Crossslide
Digital Readout: As with the
saddle, Sherline's digital readout reports turns of
the lead screw. Coming up with a
digital readout that shows the actual position of the crosslide
is a bit harder than for the saddle but not too hard.