Within the last week I received news that a company I've been a customer of since around the start of this century is closing down.
The company is Sherline Products, makers of wonderful machine tools that are on the small side, but excellent for making small, "hobby-sized" projects. They're still taking orders for parts, accessories and the tools themselves, but they say:
We plan to continue building and selling machines, tooling, accessories, and replacement parts to the extent our remaining equipment, materials, staffing, and inventory allow through the end of October.
Some manufacturing operations, particularly those requiring our larger production equipment, will necessarily end sooner as that equipment is removed from service.
Because availability will change throughout this transition, some products may become unavailable before others. We appreciate your patience and understanding as our employees work to fill as many orders as reasonably possible during these final weeks of production.
If you've read here for a while, I've talked about Sherline tools and my adventures with them many, many times. If I can grab a short summary from myself, something I posted in September of 2014...
I was one of those guys who kept saying "one of these days" I wanted to get a lathe and into metal working. Mrs. Graybeard took me up on that about 10 years ago [2004] and gifted me my Sherline 4400 micro lathe for Christmas. I had never actually touched any machine tools at all at that point, so to say I didn't know jack is an understatement. After playing with that lathe for 6 months, learning how to make some chips, and reading the
Yahoo Sherline group(now at groups.io) regularly, an ad appeared for a CNC Sherline mill surplussed from a school system across the state in Tampa. After a 350 mile round trip drive, I pulled a CNC Sherline mill into my garage. The only problem was that nothing about it worked, except that the spindle motor turned. Like my lathe on its first day, this was the first time I had ever touched a milling machine.
That first Christmas present lathe was was my introduction to Sherline, and the CNC Sherline mill my introduction to CNC. I eventually bought a "CNC Ready" Sherline lathe, and learned to thread on that before I learned to thread manually on the Sherline. Not threading but just changing diameters is "falling off a log" easy. I now have three lathes: big and small non-CNC lathes along with that CNCed Sherline. I have two milling machines in the shop. Plus the CNC Sherline milling machine and a bigger G0704 that I converted to CNC via online posts.
This barely touches my 20+ year experiences with Sherline, making everything from an AR-15 from an 80% lower to engines that run from bar stock, guitar parts and more.
With Sherline having been a market leader that has been turning out good stuff for 52 years, I fully expect the vast majority of hardware needs we may have will have multiple sources. Right now, they're running a 25% off sale, bigger than any sale I can think of, so if you're an owner, spare parts are probably still available.
A screen capture of Sherline's home page taken 10/3/26.
They're closing - why? China, the EPA, death of the founder?
ReplyDeleteIt's right in the first section of their website that I linked to.
DeleteUnfortunately, the manufacturing environment has changed dramatically. The effects of COVID, increasing manufacturing and operating costs, and significant changes in consumer purchasing habits have made it increasingly difficult for a small American manufacturer such as Sherline to maintain the workforce and production levels necessary to remain competitive.
After exhausting the options available to us, we have reached the very difficult conclusion that continuing manufacturing operations is no longer sustainable.
Sadly, young people, and some not so young, are no longer interested in making something from scratch. Learning mechanical skills has disappeared in favor of something virtual and non productive.
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine that the reduced cost and simplicity of 3D printing of various types have also eaten heavily into the user base of people who want to be able to make parts themselves. There are some things you really want made out of metal, but even then you can think about printing a positive and then making a casting mold from it.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think of those as different communities because the model engines (steam, or internal combustion) I've been interested in don't do well as 3D printed plastics, but there's probably some overlap. I've had more than one person tell me I'm the only person they know with a 3D printer that doesn't do anime' or cartoon type characters.
DeleteOTOH, it's far easier to print a plastic measuring cup, a set of fractions of a teaspoon, or that sort of not-precise plastic stuff that fills Walmart than making measuring cups out of stainless.
Besides the offshore *new* stuff (of variable quality) there is also an ocean of used larger 'hobby' machines out there, Atlas, Logan, and even much larger professional stuff, Hardinge, Monarch, etc. Just checking Craigslist or FBM will given a dozen candidates, and if you luck out you can often get the tooling & materials as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad, I never owned a sherline - but they were always there in the background.
In a way, this is like the story about hamfests (https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2026/08/part-of-adult-conversation-about.html) I did back in mid-August. The market for the more expensive radios us old-timers lusted over 50 years ago is just disappearing because the younger hams can get a radio that's "good enough for what I want" in a much (MUCH!) smaller package for a small percentage of the price of a high end Collins, Drake, or other big name radio.
DeleteThe small, ready to run CNC, metal tools like Tormach are a good source to try to run down and see how those businesses are doing. Last time I looked they were another level up from Sherline, in both capabilities and price.