FacTour

A SHERLINE FACTORY TOUR

Anyone who visits the San Diego area is welcome to stop by and visit our factory. For those of you who can't get to Southern
California, this page will give you a brief tour of the production plant and offices. Our new 66,000 square foot facility is now
complete, so production, assembly and our administrative offices are once again under one roof. We invite you to stop by and tour
the facility, but if you can't, please enjoy the following photo tour.

The main entrance to Sherline's building is on the

"back" side, away from the street. We chose to
place the offices on this side because the building
sits on top of a hill and this side faces a scenic
valley with mountains in the distance. When you
enter, the showroom is on your right. On the left
through a wall of glass you can watch the assembly
process. Offices are straight ahead up the stairs to
the second floor. We moved into this custom-built
facility in June, 2000. It is almost four times the size
(Click on photo for larger image.) of the building on Navajo Street that served our
needs for over 20 years until we just couldn't pack
in any more machines or people.

This photo from down in the valley shows the

hilltop location and gives a better idea of the overall
size of the building. The green area below the
building extends down to the highway and is a
protected "natural area". This means our view won't
be spoiled by new construction below us in the
future.

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The view South from the second floor offices.

The view West from Joe's office. The Pacific Ocean

can be seen on the horizon. We are about 4 to 5
miles inland from the coast.

To your right as you enter the building the

showroom can be seen through a glass
wall. Displayed are both the standard tool line and
the new line of industrial slides and spindles.

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Inside the showroom are examples of all Sherline's

tools and accessories. Demonstration models are
available for you to try. Harold Clisby's original
design drawing for the lathe is on the wall in the
background.

To your left as you walk in is displayed the Sherline-

sponsored 1974 vintage Spyder IndyCar built by
United Airline machinist Frank Fiore and restored
and driven by Joe Martin. Behind the car is the
assembly area. More on the assembly area later...
(Click on photo for larger image.)

The reception area is up the stairs as you walk in.

Visitors and callers talk to Brenda, Daren or Kim.
Kim manages the office and greets visitors when
they enter, as her office space looks out over the
entry area.

A new computer network from IBM and "Snap-to-

it" business software helps keep track of the ever-
increasing number of orders.

(Click on photo for larger image.)

A display area at the top of the stairs offers visitors

a chance to view not only older Sherline machines,
but also a collection of many interesting small
machine tools. Old Unimats, Dunlaps, Guilder
Model Builders, jewelers lathes, special fixtures
made from Sherline tools and other interesting
machines fill the glass shelves. (Click on photo for
larger image.)

Click here to see a Guilder Model Builder

Click here to see a tiny 1940's ManSon lathe

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The art department is where the instructions and

catalogs are produced. From here Craig also
maintains the web page and does all the product
photography. All the photos in this tour were shot
with a digital camera. They went directly from the
camera to the computer to this page...no film. I love
it! Large photos for the book and catalog are still
shot using a 4x5 film camera for highest quality, but
many of the small catalog photos are right off the
digital camera (with a little cleaning up in
PhotoShop).

The large 20" computer monitor is like sitting in the

front row at the movie theatre...a welcome addition
that is easier on the eyes. The drafting board at the
left still sees some use for artwork, but most work is
now done on the computer.

Now on to the production facility...

Material is unloaded at the North end of the

building using an overhead crane when needed.
Racks of new bar stock and packing crates
containing extrusion can be seen at the left. In the
right foreground is a cutoff saw to bring material
down to production length. The new layout provides
much better workflow, with room to move raw
materials and finished parts easily. The roll-up
doors on both ends of the building provide natural
air conditioning year around with a breeze off the
Pacific Ocean.

Looking from the second floor glass-enclosed

supervisor's room, some of the machining centers
can be seen. To the far right is the unloading area
seen in the photo above. Once again, plenty of space
was allowed between machines for safe and
efficient operation. A Mazak H400N is in the
foreground with two Bridgeport Torq-Cut TC-3's to
the right. The room in the back to the left of the
open doors is for the grinding operations. (Click on
photo for larger image.)

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From the same position but looking toward the

West end of the building, the Mazak FH-4800 can
be seen in the lower right. To the left is the CNC
lathe department. More on the lathes can be found a
few photos further down. (Click on photo for larger
image.)

Some of the manual machines on the shop floor. In

the center on the second floor above you can see the
windows of the supervisor's area and conference
room. Skylights and large windows all around the
shop area provide plenty of light for a good, safe
work environment. The large angled beams are part
of the earthquake bracing system. Unseen under the
slab are huge blocks of reinforced concrete about 5'
x 5' x 25' to stabilize the structure. New building
standards make modern buildings safer than ever
before.

Two Bridgeport Torq-Cut TC3 machining centers

are seen in the foreground and several of the older
blue Mazak machining centers line the back wall.

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A Mazak H400N machining center removes metal

fast yet makes parts of very high accuracy. The
revolution in computer-controlled equipment is one
of the reasons Sherline tools are now made not only
faster but better than they have ever been made in
the past. Here John checks the plans while waiting
for the machine to produce another batch of parts.
You need to see machines like this in action to
really appreciate their capabilities. (Click on photo
for larger image.)

Jhon (yes, that is the correct spelling although he

often spells it Shon too) bolts parts to the pallet on
our newest and largest Mazak FH-4800 pallet-
changing CNC machining center. Machines like
this are capable of performing a number of
operations in each cycle. Some of our more
complicated parts like the mill saddle must have
operations performed on all six sides of the part.
Too much coolant is flying around inside to see the
cutting taking place through the window, but a door
on the right side allows you to see the tool changes
take place. They move FAST! The machine is
programmed from the keyboard and CRT screen on
the right side. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Near the West end of the building are the CNC

lathes. To the left and center are two Mazak bar-
feed lathes. Full length bars of stock are loaded into
the tubes. Parts are machined and parted off and the
bar is then fed into position to make another part.
To the right of the photo you can see the conveyer
belt that carries chips away from the Mazak Quick-
Turn 15N lathe just out of the photo to the right,
dumping them into the hopper with the shovel in it.
Material can be removed at the rate of two pounds
per minute, which makes for a lot of chips. (Click
on photo for larger image.)

The lathe shop seen from above shows the two bar-
feed machines at the top. The center machine at the
far left is the 15N described above. The other three
machines are another Mazak 15 and two Mazak
10N's. The windows in the background look out
toward the street and had been intended to be the
main entrance in the original plans. Joe moved the
offices and main entrance to the back of the
building to take advantage of the view. (Click on
photo for larger image.)

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Sherline's Mazak robotic loader can pick up raw

parts, place them in the chuck and return the
finished part to the table. Once an operator sets up
the machine and the raw materials are placed on the
special table, the machine will finish all the parts by
itself. From here you can also see the glass-lined
2nd floor office that looks out over the shop. (Click
on photo to view a larger image.)

The grinding department handles jobs like grinding

the tops of steel lathe beds, mill columns and rotary
tables. This part of the operation is enclosed in a
separate room to keep the abrasive grinding dust out
of the rest of the shop. The big grinder to the left
can now do up to 50 rotary tables at a time. A
number of smaller parts for chucks and other items
also require precision grinding, so this is a busy part
of the shop. It is also a critical part to the final
accuracy of the machines. The grinding shop is in
an enclosed area to keep the abrasive grinding dust
out of the other operations. In the foreground you
can see a pallet of lathe beds waiting to be ground.
(Click on photo for larger image.)

Deburring and surface sanding of parts before they

are sent out for anodizing also takes place in the
grinding shop. Here, Juan is using an orbital sander
to finish the surfaces of tilting angle table bases.
This particular part does not get an anodized finish,
so this will be the final finish. This is an important
step, because, while flatness and smoothness affect
how a part works, the finish also affects the
customer's perception of the overall quality of the
tool line. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Outside the grinding shop in a separate covered

area, several tumblers are also used to deburr parts
and soften sharp corners. In this photo, cast steady
rest bodies are being placed in the big vibrating
drum that contains water and abrasive material.
(Click on photo for larger image.)

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Back inside the building and next to the grinding

room, the chuck department assembles and tests
each 3-jaw and 4-jaw chuck. Here lubrication is
being applied to a batch of 4-jaw chucks. Over 25
years of making our own chucks has allowed us to
continually improve their accuracy while keeping
costs down.

An overview of the chuck department. You will

notice many Sherline machines being used here as
part of the production process. Here technicians
grind jaws to fit the slots in the chucks so each new
chuck is a tight fit and as accurate as possible. A
grinder trues up all jaw surfaces after the chuck is
assembled. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Here's a detail of a CNC collet drilling, boring and

facing setup using a variety of Sherline components.
Setups like this have reduced machining times
substantially and show why a large number of
Sherline tools find their way into industrial use.
Why tie up a large, expensive machine to make
small parts when a small but precise machine can do
the same job at far less cost? (A full line of Sherline
small industrial slides and spindles makes this even
easier. See www.sherlineIPD.com.)

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We produce all our plastic parts in-house with our

own injection molding machines. Joe Martin
designs and makes the molds for each part. The
small machine in the foreground is a 25-ton
machine. A larger hopper-fed molder is in the
background. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Laser marking is done in this department. A YAG

laser burns through the anodized coating on
aluminum parts to expose bright aluminum below.
This gives the look of a precise white painted line
against dark material. Steel is also engraved,
although the numbers aren't quite as easily readable
as they are on anodized aluminum. Our first laser is
housed in the tall cabinet to the far right. The newer
AB Lasers machine is in the center. (Click on photo
for larger image.)

The inspection department assures that parts are

made within tolerances. In the foreground is a
granite surface table and a selection of height gages
and measuring tools. In the background is a
coordinate measuring machine. The shelves and
cabinets on the left holds pin gages and other
measurement tools. Here John is checking a part
using a digital height gage.

An overview of the quality control area shows the

granite table seen in the above photo. To the right is
a large optical comparator...another bargain from an
eBay auction. Next to it is the coordinate measuring
machine shown in the next photo. To the far right is
a Rockwell hardness tester under a vinyl cover.
(Click on photo for larger image.)

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The Cordax coodinate measuring machine allows

parts to be accurately measured to be sure they are
within tolerances. For even a small machine like a
Sherline lathe or mill to work accurately, many
parts must fit together. A small amount of "slop" in
each part would add up to a machine that would be
useless for doing accurate work. Inspection is a very
important step in the production process to when
making parts to close tolerances.

The assembly department receives parts from the

machine shop and puts them together into sub-
assemblies to await final packaging for shipment.
Seeing the many bins and shelves of parts needed
gives you an appreciation of how many parts it
takes to make up both inch and metric versions of
every machine and a very complete line of
accessories. (Click on photos for larger images.)

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The assembly department takes the finished pieces

from the machine shop and builds complete
machines and accessories. Here motors and speed
controls are being assembled. Each unit is
thoroughly tested and run in for an hour before
shipment.

A new batch of CNC computers is tested before

packaging. A diagnostic test is run on each
computer to make sure the softwared is properly
installed and that everything is working. Francisco
is hooking up a gang of 4 stepper motors which will
be connected to a computer to make sure all 4 axes
are working properly. (Click on image for larger
version.)

The accessories are assembled and packaged in

another area. Dee is surrounded by parts bins and
many sizes of plastic bags and cardboard boxes. She
also prints the instructions that go with each
accessory, so she has a lot to keep track of in this
department. Here she is assembling a run of mill
vises. (Click on photo for larger image.)

The completed machine components are packaged

for shipment. Off to the right of the picture are
shelves of finished, boxed product ready to be
pulled by the shipping department as needed. Here a
long bed lathe is being put into a box along with one
of the motor/speed control units and accessory
boxes in the foreground. Mills are more difficult to
pack as each must be bolted to a piece of plywood
before boxing to keep it from shifting during
shipment. (Click on photo for larger image.)

(Click here to see mills being packaged.)

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The shipping department does the final packaging

for all orders--from small individual parts to large
orders for dealers. A UPS computer system helps
streamline the workload and track the packages in
route. Mike sees that everything goes out on time
and as ordered. A dual-height loading dock is
outside the rollup door in the background. Finished,
boxed machines are stacked to the left and
accessories are stored on the shelves to the right.
The big blue "balloon" in the background holds
packing "peanuts".

From here, Sherline tools come straight to YOU.

Despite all the emphasis on machines in this tour,

keep in mind that the ultimate quality of the
products we make are a result of the people who
work here. This shot of the day shift shows some of
the craftsmen and staff who make the parts,
assemble and ship the machines you buy.
Remember that Sherline tools are made in America
by 42 people who care.

COME BY FOR A VISIT!

...There's also a map on the back of your Sherline catalog.

If you are in Southern California, please come by and visit us. Vista is about 35 minutes North of San Diego on Interstate 5 and
about an hour and a half to two hours South of Los Angeles. We are always glad to show people our facility. No appointment is
necessary. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. The hours between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M are the best times
to avoid "rush hour" traffic.

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Copyright 2005, Sherline Products Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this web site, including the text, photos or illustrations, may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or by any means
(electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) for commercial use without the prior written permission of Sherline Products Inc.

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