Thursday, July 14, 2016

Table Lamp with Gallery and Brass Key Get a New Socket

A customer brought in this brass table lamp the other day and said the socket wasn't working. Looking in the socket interior there are signs the socket has shorted and probably couldn't make good contact with the bulb. The rest of the lamp looked good with a polarized plug.



The only lamp part we will need to repair this lamp is a new 3 way turn knob socket interior.




The first thing we start with is to make sure the lamp is unplugged. Then we remove the brass key from the lamp socket. The key and key extension are attached by the tapped mandrel on the lamp and simply unscrews counter clockwise. Sometime the key is more stubborn so we use the hemostats to hold the mandrel while we remove the key. This key came off easily.





Next we will remove the socket shell from the socket cap. With a flat head screwdriver, apply some pressure to the shell next to the mandrel. Lift the shell from the cap. For this lamp we are reusing the socket cap and shell so we want to make sure not to damage any of the socket parts.





With the socket shell off we will need to pull the old socket interior from the lamp to unscrew or cut the wire from the socket. Make sure to feed cord slack from the base of the lamp up to the socket so you are not putting too much strain on the cord or lamp body.



This lamp has the newer quick connect socket terminals. Our replacement socket interior has screw terminals. We are going to need to strip the wire, so we will just cut off the old interior.





The lamp cord is stripped and the wires are twisted.


The new socket interior is attached to the lamp cord. Remember the ribbed wire goes on the nickel screw and the smooth wire goes on the brass screw. Note: Normally we always tie a UL knot in the cord. This lamp had a knot tied in the base of the lamp to act as a strain relief.




The plastic key on the new socket interior is removed and the socket interior is placed in the socket cap. The cord slack is pulled back through the lamp and the bottom knot is tightened. The key extension and the extended brass key is attached to the lamp.









The socket shell is slipped back on the socket interior and snapped into the socket cap.




A bulb is added and the lamp is tested.



Back in service. Total cost < $2.50 Total time < 20 minutes.

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