Remember the old woodshop electrical reels? The electrical sockets were loose and the ratchets wouldn’t return well.
The plan is to reuse them in the metal shop for specific purposes, so the sockets aren’t an issue. But, while it’s not as critical as in the woodshop, it would be nice if the ratchets functioned better. Apparently, the ratchet issues are often caused by gunk getting into them and the spring. So I’m looking for someone who can open the old reels up and clean the ratchet mechanism and maybe the spring as well, hopefully restoring that part of their functionality.
This is not a trivial endeavor; springs like those inside these reels are often laterally unstable, unwinding uncontrollably if not constrained carefully. Some have sharp edges and can be dangerous in that case. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do it if I thought them unmanageable, but keep your distance from others and use care if you attempt this. (If they do unwind, they can also be difficult to restore, but I am much less concerned about that.)
There are three of these reels, and they are currently on top of the electrical cabinet, the metal cabinet right next to the steward closet, in the new reel boxes.