Subject: Experiences with two firms; Sherline CNC conversion

From: [email-masked] (Michael J. Edelman)
Date: 3 Jan 1994 15:22:49 GMT

A while back I asked if anyone had ordered from Eastern Machine Tools. No one 
responded, so I went ahead and placed a small order for some inexpensive Enco
imported bits and pieces- a bench block, a pair of 123 blocks and similar stuff.
Ordering was a bit tricky as I was shinted from one person to another; they don't
seem well set up to do individual (non-commercia) orders, but they are certainly
friendly and happy to take these orders, and their ad in HSM suggests. The stuff
arrived about a week later, and was complete. 

Given that they discount a lot of items- including Sherline- they do look like a 
promising source.

I also ordered a used Sherline lathe from Cardinal Engineering. They were very 
nice to deal with a very helpful. I sent them a personal check, and they sent the
lathe the day the check arrived. Very trusting. Cardinal mainly sells CNC equipment
and software, metal and plans (the Wood-Met plans and the Gingery books as well
as others) but usually has a list of used trade-in gear as well.

Oh, about that used Sherline: It was used in some vocational ed program as a CNC
training tool, and so has a pair of stepper motors attached, though it can still 
be used manually. As is typical with school machinery, it has been abused, but not
heavily used. That is, you'll find a lot of dents and scratches on school
machinery from the inexperience and carelessness of students, but generally 
there's very little wear as compared to a lathe used in a production environment.

Anyhow, I'm probably going to decomission the CNC part, which includes the
aforementioned stepper and one or two custom screws. (I haven't disassembled 
far enough to see if the leadscrew is a custom job, or is simply coupled to
the stepper. The transverse screw is definitely a custom job). They may be offered
for sale, so if you have a Sherline lathe or mill and were thinking of doing a
CNC conversion, I can get you started cheap...

--mike