Friday, February 12, 2016

Small Banquet Lamp Needs New Lamp Cord and Rewired

A customer brought in this lamp the other day and wanted it to be rewired. There were obvious signs of age and general disrepair. Some examples include the electrical tape on the cord instead of a plug, a loosened body that spun at the base and the gallery, and the worn out socket insulator on the socket.



The lamp parts needed for this repair include a new molded plug lamp cord and E26 or Edison size turn knob socket with bottom hickey.




All the other original lamp parts will be reused on the lamp. First step is to remove the bottom felt.



Then we loosen the knot in the cord so we can remove the socket at the top. To remove the socket we unscrew the socket key and unscrew the small screw holding the hickey on the socket base.




You can see the twisting in the old lamp cord. This is a result of the lamp body being loose and the lamp being twisted to attempt to tighten the body. Here we cut the old lamp cord from the bottom of the socket and pull the cord back through the bottom of the lamp.





Next we remove the nut on the base of the lamp and take the lamp body apart.






Next we remove the old socket hickey and place our new socket on the rod.







Then we slide the gallery up the lamp rod and over the socket. Since we replaced the socket the key hole in the gallery does not line up with the new socket's mandrel. The key hole in the gallery is modified slightly for the key to fit on the socket.









Next we start putting the lamp back together with the shade ring, vase cap, glass body, and base.





At the base we add the lock washer and nut on the threaded rod. Then we tighten the lamp.






Back at the top of the lamp, we remove the socket from the hickey. There is one small screw holding the socket to the hickey. Now the lamp cord is threaded up the lamp from the lamp base.





A knot is tied loosely in the cord and then it is fed up the threaded rod to the top of the lamp.






Next the socket is attached to the lamp cord. The smooth cord goes on the brass screw terminal and the ribbed cord goes on the nickel screw terminal. The socket is reattached to the hickey and the cord slack is pulled back down the lamp. Attach the socket key and place the insulator on the socket.








The cord knot is tightened and the felt bottom is placed back on the lamp.




A bulb is added and the lamp is tested.


Great! The changes are subtle but so important. Total Cost < $ 10 Total Time < 1 hour