Faulty work light switch

Ray Behner · May 28, 2021

I've got an Electrix work light for my lathe with the architect arms. It has a Pass & Seymour turn switch on the top of the shade. This is the third one. Made in China of course. Is there an American made switch, or must I continue with this shit?

Joe Gwinn · May 28, 2021

Ray Behner said:
I've got an Electrix work light for my lathe with the architect arms. It has a Pass & Seymour turn switch on the top of the shade. This is the third one. Made in China of course. Is there an American made switch, or must I continue with this shit?

Those switches are largely standardized. But need photos.

aliva · May 28, 2021

Bypass the switch and rewire directly, then add a wall switch

Booze Daily · May 28, 2021

No. You must continue with that shit.

Ray Behner · May 28, 2021

Booze Daily said:
No. You must continue with that shit.

Yes, I think you're right. This is a plain old ordinary everyday switch. Just plain junk anymore.

crossthread · May 29, 2021

I just finished dealing with that issue. I don't know if mine is an "architect" lamp or not but it is the type that has four exposed springs to counterbalance the light. Mine has a small black twisty switch built into the top of the actual light socket and it is not fixable (well not easily). I went to three different places trying to find the part to fix it and nobody seems to carry it locally. I needed to get it fixed sooner then later because it is over my lathe and I can't see crap without it. I bought one of those brass colored pull chain sockets and drilled a hole in the shade and brought out the pull chain. It works fine until I can find the proper socket or I may just leave it like it is.

Marty Feldman · May 29, 2021

aliva's idea, above, is a good one.

I like incandescent task lights for each of the machines in the shop (the exception is lathe lighting, for which I like the halogen work lamps with heavy, strongly magnetic bases and truly stay-put industrial-strength goosenecks). The incandescent task lights I have always preferred, for the other machines, are the old Dazors, or Dazor types. However, their switches have all caused trouble sooner or later, and the notion that they can be replaced satisfactorily by buying a new Chinese socket/switch is a joke. It is true that aliva's suggestion probably involves buying a Chinese "wall switch", but at least you can get a switch that has a strong positive non-fiddly snap and that will probably remain reliable over the long haul. You can also put it wherever is most operator-convenient.

-Marty-

Joe Gwinn · May 29, 2021

Is there space for a MIL-style toggle switch? These are very rugged. If so, machine a adapter plate to accept and mount the switch. Here are some examples: (I've used CK a lot over the years. Available from such as Newark and probably Digi-Key.)

MILITARY SERIES MIL-S-83731 TOGGLE SWITCH

Toggle Switches | C&K

And as always:

McMaster-Carr

doug8cat · May 29, 2021

Just get a reliable switch on electronic surplus site(s). Put it in be done wit it.
Or contact me and if you like I will do a repair for ya, pics first would help as mentioned before.

EPAIII · May 30, 2021

Go to McMaster's web site and get one that is rated for about 4 or 5 times the current. That gives you two jumps up on the problem: first, McMaster usually has good products and the extra factor in the current rating is the second one. Of course, look at the Voltage rating too and don't skimp there.

As said above, Newark and DigiKey are also good vendors. And Mouser. Stay away from Amazon and the no-name Chinese importers.

Of course, if you routinely spray coolant into it then all bets are off.

thermite · May 30, 2021

EPAIII said:
Of course, if you routinely spray coolant into it then all bets are off.

F**k if they are!

Salvage a glass-encapsulated Mercury "tilt" switch off any old line-voltage wall bi-metallic thermostat or a J.C. Whitless aftermarket trunk-or hood opening switch.

Fugabuncha "coolant" worry - or ever again "wearing out" - either one. Gravity matters. but it is reasonably reliable and predictable s**t, gravity is.

Mercury switch - Wikipedia

Or.... if "green" is your thing? A glass-encapsulated magnetic reed and slide you a magnet back and forth near it.

BIG worklight? Mercury-displacement 3-Pole contactors are still "out there".

I didn't buy ALL of them for "future proofing".

Just enough to last me 'till I could afford modern "Gigavac" hermetically-sealed no-Mercury tech.

They DO still ship this "impervious" s**t brand-new BTW. All of about seven bucks. Go Ogle Mercury tilt switch.

Fix it "right"? Your worklamp is OFF when put into "parked" position. Comes on when you extend it to working position. 100% sealed "No hands" switched.

Amazing whatcha can doo when Boozing Daily is NOT on your dance card, yeah?

Winterfalke · May 30, 2021

I have a nice supply of salvaged industrial buttons and switches, but I would also go straight to Mcmaster.
McMaster-Carr

Joe Gwinn · May 30, 2021

EPAIII said:
Of course, if you routinely spray coolant into it then all bets are off.

Well, actually there is a solution: The McMaster items are all rated to withstand washdown, so a little coolant will do no harm.

thermite · May 30, 2021

Joe Gwinn said:
Well, actually there is a solution: The McMaster items are all rated to withstand washdown, so a little coolant will do no harm.

Not quite so if the coolant builds up a wax, varnish, or gummy goey glueey residue that impedes MOVEMENT even if the guts are fully protected.

Hence the simplicity of a moving magnet acting on a reed... or a mercury tilt.
There need not be any "tight" fits.

NB: Impressed with the rubbery "boots" on MIL-SPEC gear (helicopter machine guns) and as also used on KB-Penta over their bat-handled toggle switches on their NEMA 4X "washdown" DC Drive housings?

I found you can buy those boots cheaply by the bag for the toggle switch of your choice. Pretty much, anyway. There aren't as many sizes of "hexseal" boot as there are of toggle switches. SO I stash BOTH that do match.

They are VERY effective. They last a long time. They are not expensive for what they do. Similar goods are made for "rocker" switches. They feel clumsy to me.

The "Hexseal" condomed toggle switch still feels natural to use, is even less slippery than polished metal is.

Toggle Boots | Toggle Switch Boots | APM Hexseal

Or Go Ogle "hexseal toggle switch boot" .. might be the simplest solution to Ray's worklight could be a common toogle switch with a condom?

Amazon.com : Toggle Switch Boots Black 5 Pack Marine/Boat : Sports & Outdoors

EPAIII · May 30, 2021

Not all the switches that McMaster sells are rated liquid proof. If you want that feature, then please do look for it. But do not assume that just you went to a reliable supplier you will automatically get that spec. or any other.

McMaster does make it easy to "drill down" the various specs. to select the ones that are important for your application. You can not do that on Amazon or on the web in general and you will use a lot of time to find a lesser item. Most of the well known electronic suppliers have a similar search facility. DigiKey, Newark, Mouser, etc.

Joe Gwinn said:
Well, actually there is a solution: The McMaster items are all rated to withstand washdown, so a little coolant will do no harm.

EPAIII · May 30, 2021

Getting a fluid tight component may be a good idea and although I am well aware of them, I certainly was not including them in my short comment at the end of that post. It was a joke but I guess you didn't get that.

If you are going to use a fluid tight switch, please remember that specification ONLY applies to the parts of the switch that are on the OUTSIDE of the panel that the switch is mounted in. They are not necessarily fluid proof in the rear. It is YOUR responsibility to keep fluids from reaching the rear of the switch. I somehow doubt that this light switch really needs to be fluid proof, but then I have not seen the OP's shop in operation.

thermite said:
F**k if they are!

Salvage a glass-encapsulated Mercury "tilt" switch off any old line-voltage wall bi-metallic thermostat or a J.C. Whitless aftermarket trunk-or hood opening switch.

Fugabuncha "coolant" worry - or ever again "wearing out" - either one. Gravity matters. but it is reasonably reliable and predictable s**t, gravity is.

Mercury switch - Wikipedia

Or.... if "green" is your thing? A glass-encapsulated magnetic reed and slide you a magnet back and forth near it.

BIG worklight? Mercury-displacement 3-Pole contactors are still "out there".

I didn't buy ALL of them for "future proofing".

Just enough to last me 'till I could afford modern "Gigavac" hermetically-sealed no-Mercury tech.

They DO still ship this "impervious" s**t brand-new BTW. All of about seven bucks. Go Ogle Mercury tilt switch.

Fix it "right"? Your worklamp is OFF when put into "parked" position. Comes on when you extend it to working position. 100% sealed "No hands" switched.

Amazing whatcha can doo when Boozing Daily is NOT on your dance card, yeah?

thermite · May 31, 2021

EPAIII said:
Getting a fluid tight component may be a good idea and although I am well aware of them, I certainly was not including them in my short comment at the end of that post. It was a joke but I guess you didn't get that.

Well the joke is the other way-round, actually.

I spent many years in active duty, then cold-war DoD contracting Northrop-Page and not-only, then dominant-carrier global telco (Cable & Wireless pension, here) - satellite and undersea cable - where our "product" or internal system WAS/WHERE for use in the mud, blood, and sewage of a battlefield, under rivers and oceans, or in outer space.

So "impervious" goods became the "daily-driver".

For as seldom as I need such things, NOW?

I still prefer them and pay the premium, yet today.

If even there IS a "premium", given NOS MIL-SPEC goods or "carrier-grade" telco goods that never found their way into a contract deliverable can be had about as cheaply as brand-new Chicom El Cheapo's.

Digi-Key got their start that way.

A number of us - including several "two letter call" hams (those who were active BEFORE the FCC Act of 1936, such as K4TJ) in pre-internet daze sending TTY / RTTY messages that despite a "catalog" on cheap-ass newsprint and an address in "Thief River Falls", Digi-Key actually HAD the mil-surplus goods we wanted, shipped expeditiously, and were good folks, all-around, not scammers.

The rest is now history.

Digi-Key has a Helluva lot more than four to a dozen pages of low-grade newsprint worth of goods, long since!

And I no longer have a "cable address" (WBHACKER) tied to an ASR-33 in my den over an RDM Coupler and Graphnet service contract, plus a dedicated landline.

Steven-Canada · May 31, 2021

I"ve had a few of these in black that work ok

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Bottom-Turn-Knob-Socket-Black-R50-04155-051/100356978

2 Year warranty

Mexico, is that better than china ?

thermite · May 31, 2021

Steven-Canada said:
Mexico, is that better than china ?

How much uncommitted time do you have spare to burn-up on the discussion?

NB: PM is not where it takes place, lo 12 thousand years or so and counting as to how best to optimize the extraction and processing of the wealth the Earth can provide - where it happens to lie, not where we need it to be - to greatest benefit to a tribe .... or an entire civilization.

Some hints?

- "Beaker" traders and Tin.

- On-site metals refining, Anatolia, 8000 years ago.

- mass-production of dyed textiles, Mohenjo Daro.

Miners Left a Pollution Trail in the Great Lakes 6000 Years Ago - Eos

- "Pale Ink" Henriette Mertz .. back when any well-to-do Chinese had visited the Grand Canyon .. and more... Rome not yet but a wide spot on the banks of the Tiber.

"etc".

This is not "new news", IOW.

Management decisions. Ordinary "day job" responsibility of merchants and feudal leaders (the only kind humans ever have, regardless of branding) since before Sumer had their little water problem.

NB: By 3500 BCE in present-day Iraq? Sumer, the so-called oldest of mankind's civilizations? Was NOT so old, after all.

Humans do have this habit of forever f**king themselves up until we get it right.

Or sometimes just wrong, again.. but in a novel way we had not yet fully explored the subtle nuances of?

'T'was ever thus....

Scottl · May 31, 2021

What I've done with older lamps is to ID all the switch specs and search ebay for NOS USA made switches. Start with the P&S number molded into the switch but if no hits you'll have to cross reference by specs.

I 100% agree that the made in China crap isn't worth the bother.

Faulty work light switch

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