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In my very small amount of evening free time in the last months, I managed to work on a couple little projects in my hamshack. Both of these things are related to the small workbench area I built for myself. I purposefully kept the workbench on the small side, because I've found that keeping a space small forces me to be deliberate about organization and tidiness. The end result, is that I end up with more usable work space, because I keep it clean, then I would have with a giant workbench covered in debris (Although I'm far from perfect in that regard...)
The first of these projects was re-wiring an old task lamp. My wife's grandfather passed away a few months back, and one of the things in the pile of stuff that we had to go through was an old desk lamp. It was a really neat looking florescent fixture, being made of all metal, with a nice heavy base. It looked old, so I figured I'd better inspect it before using it - I was glad I did! It turns out that it was made in the 1950's. I know that, because the base, where the open-frame (!) ballast was located, was stuffed with newspaper (!!) dated 1951, to hold the ballast in place.
The newspaper had the requisite singe marks on it from where things got a little toasty at some point. The wiring was also all cloth-covered cord that was fraying all over the place. I pulled all the old wiring out, and did away with the florescent fixture parts. I replaced the wiring with modern wire appropriate for the task, added a new switch on the base, and instead of a florescent fixture, I attached 3 strips of led lighting from wired communications onto the light reflector. I now have a neat vintage looking task lamp, but one that runs on the same 12 volts as my other shack stuff, and won't burn down my house if I have it turned on for a few hours!
The other task that I've completed recently, was to get some organization in place for my small parts that I use most frequently at my workbench. Step one of that project was to grab a sheet of metal from the hardware section at the big-box-home improvement center, and step two was to snag a 20 pack of magnetic spice jars from Amazon. Presto - small parts organization!
And lastly, what better way to exhibit both of these items, than to showcase them being pressed into service by a future member of our ham radio clan, hard at they're work!
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