Sherline 1000 Hobbyist Lathe (3x8ish Inches)

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
Older Sherline Lathe, officially a 3x8, but the reality is that you will not be able to work much longer than 7".

PXL_20241123_212751627.jpg

What sets this apart from a modern Sherline? It's got adjustable gibs, which afford a level of control you do not get on modern hobbyist lathes, as well as magneto bearings in the headstock. The magneto bearings are of the same general design as "cup and cone" bearings on a bicycle, so can be set for exacting clearances.

Both combine to create a lathe capable of extremely tight tolerance.

This is a reasonable training machine for a larger manual lathe, since it has a similar gib setup. The motor has been serviced [requires oil on the bushings periodically], and the headstock/handwheels have been serviced/adjusted. The ways are free of defects, only having staining from lubricants.

original_fd513d09-43c1-4811-a3f6-3e2a10461a5f_PXL_20241123_212805859.jpg

Included is what is visible: The lathe (bed, cross-slide, headstock, tailstock, motor), and [cleaned/serviced] 3-jaw scroll-chuck, with tommy-bars.

Looking for $500 as setup. Some other parts (cutters, posts) may be added for an additional cost. Will consider selling the bare lathe--minus the chuck--for $300, if desired.
 
I've never used one of these but have always been curious about them and thought they looked reasonably well made. I almost purchased one to install in a glove box for a very specific task I was trying to figure out some years back.
 
I used to work for a company that manufactured spectroscopy tools. We would purchase crystals from Saint Gobain and (re)package them (occasionally grew our own) , the packaging was performed in a glove box due to the use of dangerous packaging materials (Galium?), occasionally something would go wrong in the packaging process and rather than scrap the crystals they were trying to get me, the machinist, to come up with a way to salvage them. The best option I came up with was to purchase another glove box and install a sacrificial lathe to open the containers at the weld joint.
 
These machines are made for work between wood and soft metal (brass/aluminum). The design of the milling machines allows more leeway for material.

They can cut steel, but it has to be mild/else you need to take extremely light passes due to the size of the tooling/posts. There are some aftermarket QR tool posts that have acceptable stiffness with a 3/8 tool with short extension to make 002-003 passes on steel. Carbide tooling helps, but you can't fix the flexing due to the size of the mounting points.

They're great machines for 1) modifying parts (here, things like screws/end caps), or making miniature things (jewelry, watch parts, small pivots, etc). Some people use them to make pens, rings, etc etc.
 
Gallium. Yeah.

We.had an alarm on the lab with gallium. If it went off, you put your head between your legs and kissed your ass goodbye
 
Back
Top Bottom