Just ordered a Sherline 4400 CNC Jobbo

[palmermethod]

Just bought a used Sherline 4400 CNC Ready, including stepper motors. I have placed a For Sale ad on this site to sell my midi wood lathe chucks, which are 1x8" TPI and the Sherlines are 3/4-16TPI. If you are interested in midi woodlathe stuff check it out. I need to sell them to buy more stuff!

Got the metal lathe because I can make better turnings than I'm able to do anymore. Still will do penturning but we'll see how that works.

It is also CNC ready and I have a CAD program ordered and hope I can figure that stuff out. This lathe also has manual controls so I can always use it.

I actually ordered a 7X from HF but had to wait for $$ to roll in. So poked around on the net and liked that Sherline was made in the USA, and has a lot of loyal followers. I know, it's "not the tool but the operator" but hey, it's my birthday. Someday.
PM

 

[studioso]

happy birthday!
I have purchased on ebay the CNC mill as well as the CNC lathe. unfortunately I got burned on the lathe, and ended up spending an extra ~400$ replacing too many pieces.

hope you have better luck!
what I have experienced is that a sherline lathe has a really small throat. ad a jacob chuck, a scroll chuck, and you are seriously limited. and the sled doesn't fit under the chucks, which limits you even more.

also, you will find that you need so many accesories! every job I tried had set me back in the hundreds, by the time I got the right tools.


BTW, you have the stepper motors, but d oyu have the drives? usually they are insdtalled in the PC that comes with the CNC lathe, unless it was an aftermarket mod. you will need them, before you can use it.

also, what software did you buy?

 

[PTsideshow]

I have the lathe and mill with Dro's only, I like it for what it is. A small table top lathe. They have a couple of wood turning items mainly tool rests, they also have riser blocks for the head and tail and tool rests. To increase the distance from bed rails to spindle centerline.

I have used mine and have enjoyed it
I would suggest that you also get the book called Tabletop machining by Joe Martin from there web site. It explains, how to use it, and everything that they have as accessories for both mill and lathe. They use to have a seniors/retirement discount. I haven't ordered any thing in a couple years.

Sherline's web site They have pdf's of all the instructions of their equipment, along with parts diagrams etc.

I also bought a expanding collect chuck from Lee Valley that fits the spindle of the lathe.

They are very helpful on the phone and if you see them at one of the shows they attend.

Only a very satisfied long term customer.
:clown:

 

[palmermethod]

happy birthday!
I have purchased on ebay the CNC mill as well as the CNC lathe. unfortunately I got burned on the lathe, and ended up spending an extra ~400$ replacing too many pieces.

hope you have better luck!
what I have experienced is that a sherline lathe has a really small throat. ad a jacob chuck, a scroll chuck, and you are seriously limited. and the sled doesn't fit under the chucks, which limits you even more.

also, you will find that you need so many accesories! every job I tried had set me back in the hundreds, by the time I got the right tools.


BTW, you have the stepper motors, but d oyu have the drives? usually they are insdtalled in the PC that comes with the CNC lathe, unless it was an aftermarket mod. you will need them, before you can use it.

also, what software did you buy?

Man that's a crummy deal getting a bad machine. Guy I bought it from has a 30 day return policy so it sounds OK.

Tooling? Oh yeah.. just popped $200 for the minimal cutting tools, holders a few other necessities. I ordered a couple books Sherline recommended and will try to make some tooling accessories myself.

I have a new 64bit computer with Win-7 which I did not need or want but had to get. Old computer totally died. So I tried installing Linux and open source CAD software but just can't get it sorted out so.........

I ordered Turbo-Cad ver17 for $40 on Ebay. Will mess around with that for a bit but the lathe also has manual controls as well as stepper motors.

No controller or computer is included and the one the seller used is ~$600 so that will NOT be on my list. Once I get comfortable with CAD programming then I'll worry about the controller.

Fortunately I have some acrylic and wood blanks for pens, yo-yos and something else. So initial turning will be on those materials. Oh, forgot about my flyreel turning. Which is why I got the metal lathe to begin with.

I do need the mill also. But have to wait on that. Probably I will try the milling fixture for the lathe first.

I joined the Sherline forums on Yahoo as they have a lot of interesting plans and mods for download. I'm going to try some profile turning on the Yo-Yos, and maybe need to get a special toolholder for that. And I'd really like to try making my own.
Regards,
Bob S. (aka: PalmerMethod)
Broomfield Colorado

 

[palmermethod]

I have the lathe and mill with Dro's only, I like it for what it is. A small table top lathe. They have a couple of wood turning items mainly tool rests, they also have riser blocks for the head and tail and tool rests. To increase the distance from bed rails to spindle centerline.
:clown:

PT' I think I made a big mistake getting the CNC steppers included. Guess I never thought about the DRO option. Which sounds better to me as I can read numbers than program CNC. Plus there are some issues using manual controls with the stepper motors. They will generate current if turned too fast.

Are the DRO's from Sherline? Thanks.........
Bob S.

 

[mredburn]

Sherline sells its own dro units