2011 - Volume #35, Issue #1, Page #23
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Precision Tools Designed For Small Jobs
You can buy a complete metalworker's shop with lathe, mill and other tools from Sherline Products for $2,400. With those tools, you could build your own mini tractor, car or practically anything else. The only catch is no part turned on the 3.5-in. metal lathe can be bigger than 1.8 in. in diameter or 17 in. long. No piece can be machined on the mill that is larger than 6 by 9 in. While these tools and their output are small, they are far from toys."Our tools are used by watchmakers, gunsmiths and medical device manufacturers, as well as craftsmen who like making very precise, working models," says Craig Libuse, Sherline Tools.
How precise? With the addition of a thread cutting attachment to the lathe, it's capable of cutting up to 80 threads per inch. While precision is to a certain extent a matter of the operator's ability, the company suggests a good machinist can make parts accurate to within a thousandth of an inch or less. How much less can be startling.
"We received an envelope in the mail one day from Jerry Kieffer, one of our customers," recalls Libuse. "In it was a 1/4-in. diameter, 3/4-in. long vial with a cork. At first, we wondered why, then someone thought he saw a chip in the vial. We put it under a magnifying glass, and it was a 1/10,000-in. diameter hex nut on a hex bolt."
When Libuse called Kieffer and asked why he sent it, he said, "I just wanted you to see what I was able to do with your machines."
Kieffer now does demonstrations with Sherline equipment at trade shows.
"For his latest demonstration, he drills a hole through a human hair for a 1/1,000-in. diameter wire with a drill and bit he made with our equipment," says Libuse.
Sherline has been making this bench top metalworking equipment since the 1970's. Joe Martin, design engineer and current owner, first imported and then modified an existing Sherline lathe made in Australia. Later he developed the first Sherline vertical milling machine. Since then, the company has been a leader in developing bench top metalworking equipment for small-scale output for industry and hobbyists alike. Today, all Sherline tools are made in the company factory in Vista, Calif.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sherline Products, Inc., 3235 Executive Ridge, Vista, Calif. 92081 (ph 760 727-5857; 800 541-0735; sherline@sherline.com; www.sherline.com).
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