First, a bit of a safety upgrade: we removed the field-expedient light switch from the old Famco drill press...

... and put on a slightly wider box, in order to fit a proper, modern easy-off power tool switch.

Much better! I think next I'll look into what it would take to replace that missing control lever knob. The lever is threaded at the end, but the thread, weirdly, doesn't match the two remaining knobs, which makes me think that entire lever got replaced at some point.

I think Dad thinks it's a little silly that I keep coming up with ideas for slowly restoring/updating the Famco, but, I mean, it's so cool. :)

Then, after a bunch of tool reorganization and whatnot that I didn't bother photographing, I went upstairs and made a small mod to the electric hoist we installed up there, namely...

... mixing up a little epoxy and gluing a small magnet (salvaged from, of all things, a small pencil sharpener) to the control box. Next time I'm up there, I'll take that electrical tape off, and then we'll be able to just stick the control box to the steel post instead of leaving it hanging there. It's the little things.

Speaking of the little things, here's what the lower level looked like toward the end of the day.

Nothing really profound to say about this; I just like how serene and relatively-tidy it is. Open floor, most of the random clutter from the long tile puzzle that was the move-in phase gone, populated shelves... it's nice. There's always more to do in such a shop (for instance, we could really use some better lighting--it looks fine in photos, but the old fluorescent lights in there are really kinda dim and yellow), but overall, I like where it's at right now.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.