Sherline Crosslide Stop.

This article describes making a depth stop for the crossslide on a Sherline lathe.

You can buy a headstock stop for the Sherline lathes but, for repetitive work, such as turning stanchions for a ship model, it is very helpful to also have a depth stop for the crossslide, something that Sherline does not offer.

Sherline offers a follower rest and it seemed to me that one could easily make a depth stop that mounted in the same way that the follower rest does. Figure 1 shows the base of the Sherline follower rest. You can see that the follower rest has a fork at the front with a set screw in it to clamp to a flange on the lathe saddle

Figure 1: Sherline follower rest attachment fingers

I milled out a 6" piece of 1 ¼ square aluminum bar stock to make a crossslide stop that would mount on the lathe in the same way as the follower rest does.

Figure 2 shows the whole crosslide stop. The stem is about ½" square, the spur that serves as a holder for the stainless steel rod that serves as a stop is about 3" long. The fingers on the left that surround the saddle flange are about .4" thick with a 0.320 wide slot. The outside finger is drilled and tapped for a 6-32 cap screw. The spur on the right holds the stop rod itself and a knurl headed screw that is used to clamp the rod into position. The spur is drilled for the 3/16 inch stainless steel rod. It is also drilled and tapped for a 6-32 clamping knurl headed screw.

Figure 2: crosslide stop

Figure 3 shows the fingers and the cap screw. The fingers are about 0.4" long.

Figure 3: attachment fingers on crosslide stop

Figure 4 shows the offset for the fingers from the trunk. The offset is 0.35". Note the cutback to clear the lathe bed.

Figure 4: another view of crosslide stop attachment fingers

Figure 5 shows the stainless steel depth stop (a 3/16" rod) and the knurled knob with an 8-32 stem that is used to clamp the stop in place. The stop keeps the crosslide from going back too far.

Figure 5: adjustable stop of crosslide stop

Figure 6 shows the depth stop installed on the lathe.

Figure 6: crosslide stop installed on lathe

Parts list

I’ve included links for the parts at Amazon. The same parts are available from other suppliers if you would rather not deal with Amazon.

Aluminum bar 6061 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 12

Stainless Steel bar – 3/16

Knurled knob screw 8-32 x 5/8”

Set screw 6-32

2024-09-05