Sherline/Unimat

[david pierce]

Metalsmith,
I currently own two Unimats but have never owned nor operated a Sherline. I have always heard good comments about Sherline products so you probably have a very nice machine. In the 1960s, 1970s and possibly before those decades, the Unimat lathes were very popular with hobbyists but were never really accepted among watchmakers. The problems with mine were a lack of motor power, which I corrected by installing a 1hp motor on each machine, and the fact that the bed flexes when a cutter load is applied, which cannot be corrected . They are wonderful collectors items but when the Sherline lathe came out around 1970 people began buying more Sherlines and fewer Unimats. I have no plans to ever sell mine just because they are so cool but for a working machine for the catagory of work that the Unimats were preported to handleI I use a Taig.
david

[metalsmith]

I think the Unimat’s are a very good machine if they can do what you need them to, and it sounds like you’ve trained your’s pretty well!
I have a Sherline, it does what i need it to do but there is alot i still want to try such as threading and milling. I have to get material and extra time on my hand’s so i can experiment. I don’t have much else to say so until next time.

METALSMITH

[Author]

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