I'm pretty sure my Hougen isn't the only mag drill to do this; when the drill motor is off, magnet current is reduced and only comes full on when actually drilling - I have several curious cats, and I constantly fight condensation/rust, so I tried an experiment - I found that leaving the magnet turned on but NOT drilling, doesn't use that much current, DOES keep the drill above dewpoint (so no rust), does NOT let the cats knock the drill off onto the (gravel) floor -
Then if I'm not gonna be using the drill for a few days, it gets moved back into its cabinet in the garage. (The drilling station is under roof, but NOT "secure")
This is my setup, the small table the drill sits on has a 3/4" top, a 6x12 XY table with 2 dp vises, and the opposite end of the small table is also the fixed vise jaw of a 6" Wilton reversible vise. Gives me lots of options... Steve
If you don't have cats (or monkeys, etc) another way would be to get a small power strip with it's own on/off switch, then ONLY plug the drill and a clamp lamp into that strip. That'd give you an indicator that, under some conditions, could ALSO be a work lamp...
