Sherline Lathe User Guide and Specifications

Parting —The conventional parting tool is shaped like a dovetail when viewed from
above and is used to cut off work pieces by feeding the end of the tool across the lathe
bed and through the work piece. The Sherline parting tool instead uses a thin .040"
(1mm) blade which has a slightly thicker ridge at the top to accomplish the same job of
providing clearance for the tool while cutting. Parting tools thicker than .040" (1mm) will
be too thick for use on your Sherline lathe.
Boring Tool—Used in the tool post on a lathe or in an offsettable boring head on a mill
to enlarge holes in a work piece.
FIGURE 12—A Boring Tool in use.
Form Tool—A custom contour can be ground into a tool to produce a special shape like
a radius in a part. The width of the cutting edge must be less than 2-1/2 times the smallest
diameter. Cutting speed must be slow to prevent chatter.
FIGURE 13—Form tool and the part it shapes.
The clearances ground behind the cutting edges indicate the type of material for which
the tool may be used and the direction in which it is fed along the work. When grinding