Cleaning and Fixing a Crystal Table Lamp

Crystal is beautiful and makes a great material for lighting. For some reason (probably money) some crystals lamps were made with plastic necks. Necks are the pieces placed between the breaks. A break is a decorative part of the body of the lamp. This lamp is made up of base, neck, break, neck, break, neck, break, neck (from the bottom to the top). The old plastic necks have faded in color and look tarnished. Because they are plastic, there will be no polishing. We are going to replace them with brass necks. In addition to the necks, we will add a polarized lamp cord and a new threaded rod since the height of our lamp changed slightly with the new necks.

First we will need to disassemble the lamp. The socket shell is removed from the socket cap. The socket key is removed.

Cord slack is fed up the lamp body and the socket interior is removed from the cord.

The cord is pulled out of the lamp body.

With the cord out of the lamp, the socket cap is unscrewed from the threaded rod. The gallery and the shade ring are removed from the lamp.

The necks and breaks are removed from the lamp rod.

The parts are laid on the table in the order they belong on the lamp.

The breaks are washed with warm soapy water and some dish detergent. Since they are glass, they can be scrubbed. With all the parts ready and cleaned we begin to reassemble the lamp.

First we place a felt washer, flat washer and nut on the bottom of the new threaded rod.

The rod is then placed through the base of the lamp and put on the work table.

The new necks and clean breaks are placed back on the threaded rod in the order they belong.

The shade ring and gallery are placed back on the threaded rod. The socket cap is screwed back on the rod.

The lamp is placed on a level surface to make sure the shade ring and pieces are straight.

The shade ring needs some adjustment, so the socket cap is removed. The shade ring is adjusted by placing it on a level surface. With a screw driver the center washer is carefully bent back in place.

The shade ring and socket cap are re-installed and the lamp is tightened.

The new lamp cord is threaded through the lamp rod.

A UL knot is tied in the top of the cord it is attached to the socket interior. For polarity, the smooth wire goes to the brass screw and the ribbed wire goes on the nickel screw. The old socket insulator was worn and needed to be replaced.

The cord slack is pulled back through the lamp body so the socket interior is setting on the socket cap. The key is placed on the socket interior and the socket shell is snapped back in the socket cap. Tip: Galleries make the socket access a little challenging. It is always best to attach the key to the socket before snapping the shell into the cap so the key is in the correct position. 

The cord slack is tightened through the base. A few felt dots are added to the base of the lamp so the marble sits well on hard surfaces. 

A bulb is added and the lamp is tested. 

Crystal clear. Total Cost <$20  Total Time < 50 minutes