Tour of Sherline Machine Shop, Setup, Layout With Custom Tooling, Lathe, Mill, Stuart D10 Feed Pump

I am a retired Mechanical Engineer. Much of my career was spent as a tool and die maker and prototype toolmaker/machinist. I set up a nice toolroom at home after I went on to engineering. I had a Hardinge HLV Toolroom Lathe, Bridgeport Milling Machine with an MX2 CNC retrofit, Moore 1 1/2 Jig Bore and a Harig Super 610 Surface Grinder. All of the machines were well tooled and I had lots of inspection equipment.

A serious motorcycle accident, health and time led me to the decision that it was time to give it all up, but I still wanted to be able to make or alter things and to be able to do projects that interested me. I decided to set up a micro-machine shop in my wife's old sewing room, (I gave her my old shop space).

I searched the internet and forums seeking a good shop layout and setup. I didn't find what I was looking for. I wanted to be able to use the machines comfortably, contain the chips and have easy access to tools. There also seemed to be room for improvement regarding some of Sherlines offerings, (I found this to be true with many machine tool manufacturers and I feel that Sherline has a nice variety of quality accessories). In the end I ended up either modifying existing tooling or making my own, (some shown in the video).

The point of the video is to share some of my ideas and hopefully trigger some new ideas that others might share.

After tooling up the machines I decided to make a boiler feed pump for my Stuart D10 steam engine. The pump and the modifications to the D10 require precision and the parts were made from castings of Iron and Brass as well as Bronze, Low Carbon and Stainless Steel, so it would show the strengths and weaknesses of the machines.

The pump and modifications came out very well and the machines exceeded my expectations. I miss my full size shop and machines, but it's a good miss and now I have a manageable little shop that won't be a huge burden to my wife after I am gone.

Thank you for watching my little video and please feel free to ask questions or critique my shop. Enjoy the journey.