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Sherline Tools is Going Out of Business

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Sherline Tools is Going Out of Business

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ToolGuyd > CNC Machines > Sherline Tools is Going Out of Business

Sherline Tools is Going Out of Business

Sep 16, 2026 Stuart 13 Comments

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Sherline Tools, a USA manufacturer known for precision lathes, mills, micro-machining accessories, and more recently small CNC machines, has announced that they are "winding down manufacturing operations."

Following are some highlights from Sherline's recent message to their customers.

Sherline Products, Inc. has begun the process of winding down manufacturing operations

When we took over the company in 2017... we invested in new products and designs, modernized our computer systems and manufacturing processes

Unfortunately, the manufacturing environment has changed dramatically. The effects of COVID, increasing manufacturing and operating costs, and significant changes in consumer purchasing habits have made it increasingly difficult for a small American manufacturer such as Sherline to maintain the workforce and production levels necessary to remain competitive.

we have reached the very difficult conclusion that continuing manufacturing operations is no longer sustainable

We plan to continue building and selling machines, tooling, accessories, and replacement parts to the extent our remaining equipment, materials, staffing, and inventory allow through the end of October [2026].

Some manufacturing operations, particularly those requiring our larger production equipment, will necessarily end sooner

some products may become unavailable before others

We plan to maintain an online presence and make replacement parts available as inventory permits. We will also continue to address warranty issues in accordance with our warranty obligations.

Sherline emphases that they won't simply disappear or leave customers without support. They also say they will maintain their archive of technical and educational information and resources.

They also mention saying goodbye to employees.

Production is coming to a halt. Equipment is being "removed from service," which sounds a lot like a liquidation sale. It seems Sherline is effectively shutting everything down and is likely closing the doors.

Update: one of the owners posted to a Facebook group page, saying:

We are not sure of the actual final day, but it would suffice to say that by the end of the year at the latest, Sherline will no longer be in business.

Such sad news for a storied USA micro-machining brand.

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Sections: CNC Machines, Machinist Tools, Made in USA, Metalworking Tags: lathes


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Joe Martin will be rolling over in his grave:

https://www.sherline.com/joe-martin-in-memoriam/



What a sad and surprising moment. I have long had one of their miniature lathes and a miniature mill. Beautiful little pieces of equipment.

If I had a to guess it is the newer generations of CNC desktop mills that wiped Sherline out; they had some CNC integration with their mills but it wasn't very modern.



According to the owner's posting on Facebook, there simply wasn't enough money being made. They targeted specific needs with new products, and each category saw small growth that together wasn't bringing in enough money.

The market for their types of products has grown too small.



There's a huge market for small machines. They failed to innovate.



This is a huge bummer. I have much of their traditional catalog and use the lathe regularly. Agree on not innovating - their CNC tools were not competitive.



It's always sad to see an American manufacturer close their doors, but I can't say that I am surprised.

Sherline is in a difficult spot: Asian imports undercut them on price and there are now the various different desktop CNCs like jack brown mentioned. I think that the average hobbyist would be more drawn to machines like that. I'm also sure that 3D printers and desktop lasers cut into the market share as well even though they are not exactly the same tools.

There is always a need for small but precise machine tools for certain industrial/professional applications, but Sherline never had that market: their tools are too lightly built and have minimal features, any machine shop that wanted to make tiny precision parts considered the Sherline a toy and instead had something like a Hardinge HLV, Emco, or a Monarch 10EE if they wanted a manual machine, or Citizen (yes, the watch company!), Brother (the printer/fax company!), or Tsugami if they needed CNC.



In their Facebook post, the owner laments that Sherline fell behind in search rankings behind cheap import machines. But what did they do to change this? What did they do to spark conversations?

They failed to innovate, and failed to do much on the marketing or communications front. I know it's difficult to do that when a company is bleeding cash. Maybe trying to innovate or adapt would have hastened the company's drain and demise.

I wonder how Taig Tools is doing, and how this news will impact or steer them.



I'm not really sure what they could have done. If they added features that professional users expect they have now priced themselves out of the hobby market.

They could have done a better job with their CNC versions, but there's no way they'd be able to compete on price with Asian imports.

They could have diversified into other "maker" tools like 3D printers but then they'd still be facing competition from cheap imports.

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