Hacking a Sherline Lathe

Sherline makes a very good small lathe. I have been very happy with the one I got a few years ago. But Sherline does not make all of the accessories that I would like to have. So I hacked up a few accessories Sherline does not offer.

Crossslide stop: Sherline has a stop accessory that works by limiting the leftward motion of the saddle. It is very useful but when I'm doing repetitive work (such as making a few dozen stanchions for a ship model) it would be very useful to have a depth stop for the crossslide. I based part of the shape of mine on part of the Sherline Follower Rest (part #1090) and fasten it to the saddle in the same way. (See the downloadable instruction sheet at https://sherline.com/product/1090-lathe-follower-rest/ to see how the follower attaches to the saddle.)

Saddle Digital Readout: Sherline has a digital readout accessory for the lathe but it measures the number of turns made on the lead screw, which is only an approximation of where the saddle might be due to backlash and imperfect screws etc. I prefer to have a measurement of the actual position of the saddle. Turns out this is quite easy & cheap to add.

Crossslide Digital Readout: As with the saddle, Sherline's digital readout reports turns of the lead screw. Coming up with a digital readout that shows the actual position of the crosslide is a bit harder than for the saddle but not too hard.