Sherline closing down

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

There is an announcement on the Sherline website that they are closing down at the end of October.

Another one bites the dust!! Great pity they made really nice equipment.

There seem to be some good closing down deals going.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I never expected that Sherline would go !

The machines are legendary

MichaelG.

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link, for convenience:

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO OUR SHERLINE CUSTOMERS

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Edit: U.K. distributor:

https://millhillsupplies.co.uk/price-list.html

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I don’t get it! Sherline make great stuff and it’s not overly expensive. I would have thought their order books were full! Especially from the American market.

I had heard the rumours, but hoped they weren’t true. So sad.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I note one reason given is “significant changes in consumer purchasing habits”. Too many people buying low cost look-a-likes from the far east.

Seeing the same thing with electronics test equipment and hobbyists. You can hardly give away a HP network analyser that originally cost £50,000 new and £2000 used 10 years ago because they can buy a handheld unit that has a colour touch screen and looks like it can do the same task for about £100. It’s fine for 90% of work but lacks the precision for fine work.

Robert.

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Point of information – the announcement explicitly says that they are NOT closing down completely. It says they are ceasing manufacturing, but will remain in business for spares and to support customers who have already purchased machines.

Youtube would have me believe that small US manufacturers are facing huge cost increases on materials, transport and fuel. I won’t go into why that might be but it is making doing business very hard for them.

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It is the 90% of people who don’t need the last bit of precision that have found other products cater perfectly well for them and can’t justify the added expense for something they don’t need or simply can’t get that last 10% out of anyway due to their level of ability. So if a 7x Mini-lathe will meet their needs they will go for that.

Infact it is probably 190% who will go for the minilathe as the lower price makes it affordable to those who could never have afforded a Sherline, New Myford etc.

It’s a shame as I was thinking about getting one as an indoor lathe for smaller items when I don’t fancy going out to a cold workshop but unlikely to happen now.  Not sure how long they will be able to keep supplying spares as it will depend on what inventory they have and from posts on other forums existing owners are making use of the discounts and stocking up.

[Adrian R2]

On Adrian R2 Said:

Point of information – the announcement explicitly says that they are NOT closing down completely. It says they are ceasing manufacturing, but will remain in business for spares and to support customers who have already purchased machines.

[…]

 

With the greatest respect, Adrian … I think your reading is the “glass half full “ version.

The harsh reality appears to be that existing stock will run-out, and they will not have the machines, or the people, to replenish it.

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I wish them every success in what they are doing [these are clearly very decent people] and I plan to make extensive use of that library of PDFs that they are kindly maintaining !

MichaelG.

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

Sad, but not really that unexpected.

Probably a case of many areas coming together to making the situation untenable, including :

Raw materials cost increases for the obvious, well publicised, reasons

Being based in the state with the highest tax, minimum wage & energy costs in the US

The age of the management – AFAIK the people listed as owners were original employees from when Joe Martin owned the company & moved it to an employee-owned trust.

I disagree with Hollowpoint WRT affordability – Sherline machines were always quite pricey (particularly in the UK) for what they offered. Current price on MillHill Supplies website for a basic model 4000 short bed lathe is £936 – add a 3 jaw chuck & drill chuck “package” and that rises to over £1100 – for a 3.5″ swing x 8″ BC lathe. A basic model 5000 mill is nearly £1100. Not clear from the site if that is exclusive or inclusive of Vat, but you have really got to want one for that kind of money.

I had a deluxe long bed lathe + a lot of accessories bought used for some years. Had fun using it, but after it sat unused for quite a while I moved it on – with some difficulty. Not much interest at all. What initially attracted me to the “system” was the large amount of well written, illustrated & presented documentation & it is welcome that they have stated the intention to keep this available.

 

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I don’t think around £1000 for a small, accurate, good quality and wholly American made lathe is OTT.

I Chinese C0 is currently around £600 and doesn’t even come close!

A proxxon is about £1200-1400 and is just OK at best.

A Cowells 90ME lathe is currently almost £4000+vat (admittedly it’s a very high quality machine).

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

I don’t think around £1000 for a small, accurate, good quality and wholly American made lathe is OTT.

Our perceptions of value differ then.

Out of idle curiosity I have just scanned down though the Accessories price list on the MillHill site and could see why prospective purchasers would be put off ! But to each their own.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

It’s a shame as I was thinking about getting one as an indoor lathe for smaller items when I don’t fancy going out to a cold workshop but unlikely to happen now.

Jason – how about a Taig from Rotagrip. Cheaper than a Sherline, but needing more work to make it ready to run than a Sherline out of the box. But with your skills that should be easy.

[Hollowpoint]

On Hollowpoint Said:

I don’t think around £1000 for a small, accurate, good quality and wholly American made lathe is OTT.

I Chinese C0 is currently around £600 and doesn’t even come close!

A proxxon is about £1200-1400 and is just OK at best.

A Cowells 90ME lathe is currently almost £4000+vat (admittedly it’s a very high quality machine).

It is when you think about what people could get for the money

If I went for a Shereline I’d be looking  at a 4400C package, full set of riser blocks, chucks, steadies etc and that would be in the region of £3000.

A 210 size lathe with ELS, chuck, etc is going to be the same sort of price as a basic short bed Sherlien and as I said would meet the needs and accurtacy of 90% of people looking for a lathe with the added bonus of much larger capacity, screwcutting and power feed.

I could get a mill the 210 lathe and a bunch more tooling for £3K and still be able to make the models I do now on import machines. Just not so easy to use sitting down.

Might just have to lug the Warco inside and stand up. The SX2.7 can be used sitting.

Might have another look at Taig but was hoping to get a metric machine.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Might have another look at Taig but was hoping to get a metric machine.

Jason, the TAIG carriage travel is a rack and pinion and essentially uncalibrated. The cross slide is a bit of 1/2 x 20 threaded rod – one turn is .050″, but the graduations on the handwheel are awful. One of the first things you will do is rig some sort of DRO (which is fairly easy) for both axes and then metric is simple.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

Jason – I think that is comparing apples to oranges.

They have completely different use cases imo. Your own needs highlight some of the advantages of the Sherline, the dedicated accessories are a huge plus as is being lightweight, portable and space saving. The good build quality and reliability is a bonus.

The Sherline lathe for me, fits a niche, and in the “micro lathe” category it sits very close to the top.

With that said, I always wondered why Sherline didn’t produce a slightly larger model to compete with the ubiquitous “mini lathe”. I think that would have been a game changer for them! As you may well know, I am not a fan of the C2 & C3 lathes. They simply aren’t reliable enough, and the build quality is quite often shocking.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Sorry Peter Cook 6 but your description of the Taig is wildly incorrect, the two I have perform faultlessly and have been for a number of years, the so called threaded rod is a rolled thread and the graduations are just fine. I have been making instrument parts on my machines for a long while and while modified with digital scales and a saddle feed by gearbox they make excellent parts. Perhaps its a skills thing.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Hollowpoint I totally agree that they have totally different use cases.

The point I was making is that a lot of people wanting a small lathe will not appriciate the Sherline’s features and will just go out and but say a mini lathe for £700 which will not need things like a chuck, top slide, ctrs, drill chuck, etc adding to the basic price. Most will be happy with it but a few may find they need better.

At one time there was not the choice so people went with the Sherline if they wanted a small lathe particularly in the US. Now that they have the choice of several small imported machines sales of Sherlines will obviously suffer.

To me spending £3000 on a Sherline with the accessories I would want does seem expensive compared to what elese I could get for that sort of money. I would still have size limitations on the Sherline so need a second larger lathe anyway so it is really only making use of it small size I’m paying for. Maybe I’l not in that 10% that needs anything better but you need more than 10% of the market you once had to survive.

The ready availability of quite capable CNC mills that we now see would also have hit them hard, again available at a fraction of the cost and all ready to run.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Immaterial now, but as they stand  the Sherline machines don’t comply with UK / EC product legislation. A part from open drive belts and no E-Stop Sherline know they don’t comply with EMC and sell a filter. Unfortunately that doesn’t meet UK regulations as it has an North American plug on it. From the website:
The noise suppression filter goes in-line between the speed control and the wall plug. This makes Sherline machines compliant with CE regulations regarding electronic noise. All machines shipped to countries requiring CE compliance must be equipped with these filters. All the customer needs to supply is a wall plug adapter from the USA-style 3-prong connector to their particular country’s style of electrical wall plug.”
Even if a UK suppler puts a UK plug on it it’s still not compliant as the cable has the wrong colours.
Pedantic? Yes, but that is the sort of thing I’d expect from a cheap lathe not a premium priced one.

Robert.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

If they dont comply how do Taig and shoreline manage to sell their products on the UK market and have dealerships as well, and as for saying its a cheap lathe you live in a different world to the rest of us. And having the most expensive kit does not an engineer make

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Hi Bernard,
They sell them because either they don’t know any better, don’t care or maybe a bit of both.
I didn’t say the Sherline was a cheap lathe. I said (indirectly) it was a premium priced one.

Robert.

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

If they dont comply how do Taig and shereline manage to sell their products on the UK market and have dealerships as well,

Taig kit from Rotagrip, their UK agents, comes without motors. They are roll your own. Rotagrip list a locally sourced motor – which would presumably meet Roberts requirements.

PS just looked at the cost of a Bergeron Watchmakers lathe on Cousins website – £7,395 plus VAT. 3 jaw chuck £1,725. Makes Sherline look cheap!!

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