My mill use to look just about like my lathe, not cleaned or painted in 35 years. I cleaned the mill then painted it. Sanded the metal to make it look nice and bought a nice new vise that I have been wanting for 30 years. Wife said, you need to buy that vise before you die, so I bought it a month ago. I did not want to put a brand new vise on a dirty mill. Now the mill looks too nice to use I don't want to get it dirty. LOL.
I cleaned the lathe up too it was 6" deep in chips on the front and 12" deep in chips on the back side. It looks a 100% better. If I can get motivated I might paint it too.
I am working on 3 new projects, oh darn I got the mill dirty.