It could also be that Sherline has much more and tougher competition these days. When I looked at getting a small mill 20 years ago, it felt like there weren't

It could also be that Sherline has much more and tougher competition these days. When I looked at getting a small mill 20 years ago, it felt like there weren't many options. Now every week it feels like there's a new Kickstarter claiming to "finally" make desktop cnc machining of metal (aluminum) parts easy. Some of the software on these looks pretty approachable for beginners, and the prices are often lower than what sherline offered too. I've never used any of this form factor of CNC machine so I can't comment on the quality, but at one point I thought long and hard about getting one and the newer designs seemed more appealing