Subject: Re: Smithy / Sherline experiences?

From: [email-masked] (BILLG63475)
Date: 10 Jan 1995 01:51:26 -0500

I dont have any experiences with Smithy, But if you are looking to machine
small parts, you couldnt go wrong with the Sherline Tools.
I have also converted several Sherline machines to CNC.
Someone also mentioned that there is a Sherline Price increase comming in
Feb.

Regards

Bill

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From: [email-masked] (Ron Ginger)
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 18:27:03

In article <[email-masked]> David Allen <[email-masked]> writes:
>From: David Allen <[email-masked]>
>Subject: Smithy / Sherline experiences?
>Date: 9 Jan 1995 19:42:32 GMT

>anyone had any experience with the Smithy or Sherline milling machines
>and lathes?  I'm a rank beginner and would like to know what to look 
>for in a system.  I'd also like to upgrade to CNC later.

>all comments appreciated

>da

I think this is about as much Apples and Oranges as you get.

The Sherline is a precision, minature machine.  High quality, American made. 
Only usefull for models, clock work, very small parts. I have both a Sherline 
lathe and Mill, they are excellent tools. I traded off a Unimat 3 to buy the 
Sherline, because the Unimat was grossly underpowered. I currently have step 
motors on my lathe and am doing some initial playing with CNC.

The Smithy is a combination machine, that from all reports is among the lowest 
quality of the Tiwanese imports. Its larger that the Sherline, but not nearly 
so accurate.

Ron Ginger
my signature is http://www.ultranet.com/~ginger

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From: [email-masked] (Mark McDade x6841)
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 15:52:14 GMT

David Allen ([email-masked]) wrote:
: anyone had any experience with the Smithy or Sherline milling machines
: and lathes?  I'm a rank beginner and would like to know what to look 
: for in a system.  I'd also like to upgrade to CNC later.

: all comments appreciated

: da

Hi David,

I've owned a Sherline mill for several months.  It's light and small and
perfectly adequate for work it will handle.  I spent the time a few weeks
ago to mount an indicator on it and shim it to better alignment than
the factory provides (the instructions suggest doing this).  The big
limitations are on cutter size (3/8" max shank with an adaptor) and on
rigidity.  You just have to live with the former, the latter you can
work around with solid setups and light cuts.  It works well with a small
fly cutter as well as end mills.  I own the boring bar for it but haven't
tried it.

If you buy a Sherline mill, I would say definitely get the oversize
handwheels with resettable zero dials (I didn't and wish I had).  Lately,
they've introduced a "deluxe" model with 3 more inches of y travel for
about $600.00 (still cheaper than a mill/drill but getting up there!).
There is also a $100.00 conversion available for using the unit with the
motor horizontal on a larger base - a different way to expand the size.
(The basic unit can work horizontally on the standard base - I've never
tried it.)

A side note - I've found that a cheap two-speed rechargeable Skill drill
with the end of an Allen wrench in the chuck makes a simple power feed for
the mill.  In particular, power drive is real important for setups with an
indicator where you have to run the table all over the place and back to
determine whether something is aligned or not.  Over time, I plan to make
a better coupler than the Allen wrench and possibly mount motors under the
table - for now, the drill works.  You do want some kind of power feed -
most cuts are going to be light with lots of passes and the lead screws are
0.050" per revolution - carpal tunnel stuff if you do it manually.

Something that's missing is provision for table stops and for mounting
dial indicators (or other cheap analog substitutes for a DRO).  There's
enough room around the edges to make something and I'm looking at how to
address these things.  Lots of people make CNC upgrade kits for the Sherline
stuff if you're interested (about $1000.00 + computer cost for the mill).

Mark McDade
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Ron Ginger)
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 18:47:22

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Mark McDade   x6841) writes:

stuff deleted...

>address these things. 

a friend of mine did a real clever thing with a Unimat. He made a sheet steel 
table top, about 2ft square, painted it well and mounted his unimat on that. 
He uses a magnetic base to hold a DTI. He can move it any where around the 
machine, to measure travel in ewither direction of either slide.

Lots simpler than building various barckets.

Ron Ginger