sherline questions

[jor2daje]

Hey guys so I own both a sherline 4400 (long bed) lathe and the standard 10" milling base but because Im confined to a college dorm room I currently only have room for the lathe. However the other day I saw that sherline makes something that allows you to attach the z-axis of a mill to where the headstock goes on the lathe, using the same easy set screw method. I think Im going to get that base piece then take the z-axis off my milling base. After deciding this it got me thinking, if I take the z-axis off the mill base is pretty much useless so why dont I also take the x-axis off and put that in place of my cross slide? I dont currently have my mill with me so I cant measure to see that the dovetails would fit so if any one has both and would like to measure I would greatly appreciate it.

it would look like this only with the 14" lathe bed, and a much longer cross slide.

Other than the slight loss of z-axis rigidity from single point mount, and the possible awkwardness of a 13" cross slide on such a small lathe what do you guys think of the idea? Do you think it would be better or worse than the standard mill?

 

[b.lindsey]

I am not at home now to measure the dovetails but will try to do so tonight. It looks like a workable solution to your space problem. While it may not be quite as rigid as the standalone mill, I am assuming you have enough experience with Sherline equipment to know its capabilities so long as you stay within reasonable sizes, depths of cut, feed rates, etc. What types of projects do you have planned for the proposed new set-up?

Bill

 

[BillH]

Make room for the mill. You essentially end up with a 3 in 1 with all the problems of using a 3 in 1. I'm in the same boat as you are but have friends with the big stuff I can use, lucky me. I have a Taig lathe now, and over the summer will ship my micro mill from NY to where I live for milling operations.

 

[jor2daje]

thanks bill that would be great, I plan on making a couple small wobblers and stuff (<1") because theyll be a good practice, use less material and less chips to clean haha.

-George