Santa Shops on Craigslist!

In my previous post, I told of making a special cabinet for the Make717 maker's group, to hold accessories for their new Sherline lathe. I had spent a good bit of time using that small, precise lathe and was very impressed with it - so much so, I thought about buying one for myself. However, they are rather expensive, and I talked myself out of it.

But then... I "accidentally" typed Sherline in a Craigslist search, and there was one, just a few miles from our house! I went right over and found this:

Even better, it came with a wide range of accessories, and it was less than half the price of new equipment. A no-brainer, because I can sell this on eBay anytime for what I paid for it. I loaded it up and brought it home!

The owner was a man named Pat, and he had quite a range of maker interests. When we walked into his garage where the lathe was set up, there was a car underneath a cover. I recognized the profile immediately, and exclaimed, "A Cobra!" He was pleased that I knew what it was, and suggested we uncover it. It was truly gorgeous:

We ignored the lathe for a while as Pat showed me his build photos and the assembly manual for this Factory Five kit. Normally, those are made using a 90's Mustang GT as a donor vehicle, but Pat said that he didn't want any used parts on his. I believe he said there was $65,000 worth of parts in the car, including an $8,000 Ford Motorsport big-block crate engine and a Tremec 5-speed transmission. He spent another $8,000 on that gorgeous paint. The stripes are painted, not tape.

Once I got the Sherline lathe home, I started messing around with it (Christmas came early!). One difference between mine and the one at Make717 is the tool post, which holds the cutting tools. Make717 has the expensive "quick change" tool post, which makes it much faster and easier to change tools. Mine had the basic "single" tool post, held in place by a Socket Head Cap Screw (abbreviated SHCS - you might as well get used to that if you're going to hang around this blog):

Not a big deal, but I reasoned that a dedicated turn screw for the tool post would make adjusting and changing the tool post easier. I made this:

A photo comparing that clamp screw with the original SHCS makes it clear how I made it, using commercial steel threads and brass for everything else:

The mildly interesting bit of constructing that was how I held the shaft while I drilled the cross-hole for that handle. I used my collet block with the right ER-32 collet to hold it snug while I aligned and drilled:

Yesterday was Christmas, and I discovered that Santa had done a bit more shopping on the Sherline website! First, he brought me the "double" tool holder, which as you might guess, holds two instead of one. Here it is compared with the single:

Santa also brought a "rear cut-off tool post." A cut-off tool is a thin blade that cuts grooves in a workpiece, including one that goes all the way through, cutting the piece off. I had experimented with the one at Make717, so I already knew it worked great. Some experts feel the rear post works better than the standard one, and having now used both, I agree. But the huge benefit is that it stays mounted in place, so you don't have to fuss around changing tool posts to use it:

So, my new setup looks like this. I can quickly turn, face, and chamfer (the three basic lathe operations) by simply loosening my custom clamp screw and rotating the tool post. It's even quicker than changing tools on the quick change tool post!

The Sherline is small, so the largest workpiece that will fit through the chuck is only 3/8" in diameter. But it will work on much larger diameters, by reversing the jaws in the chuck. Here it is holding a piece 2.23" in diameter, with room to spare:

Here's that standard facing operation, putting a flat and smooth face on the piece;

On the other lathes I've worked with, there are actually two sets of jaws for the chuck for the standard and reversed (wide) configurations. Sherline cleverly avoided that by configuring the jaws so that they can be reversed, but there's a trick - they have to go in different places! I didn't know that at first and didn't have the manual handy, so I had a frustrating time. Once I found the instructions, I scanned them and put them in my phone. I'm saving them here too, so I'll always know where to find them. You have to study that picture very closely to understand which jaw is which!

I'm very pleased with my new acquisition. During the winter months, I'm actually keeping it at home. Our garage is heated, so if I only have a few minutes, it makes sense to work at home to avoid the time and expense of warming up the Grant St. Garage. Not to mention, during the past two winters there have been periods of time where I was actually snowed out of Grant Street for a few days! This will give me something to play with on snow days.