Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Vintage Santa Clause Gets a New Heart

I love Christmas time and especially old Christmas decorations. When a customer brought in this vintage Santa Clause, we were happy to get him back to our workshop.


He was in generally good shape but with all things electrical, age has taken its toll. The cord was thin, short, and frail. The socket was crunchy and rusty.



So with a few lamp parts, Santa will be back in service and ready to spread Christmas cheer. We'll start by making a list, then check it twice. Santa Clause is coming to town!

For the socket, we'll use a medium base with side mounted bracket.

47700 - Med. Base Lamp Socket with side mounted bracket, screw terminals

For the cord, we'll use a 12 foot white cord set.

46721- 12 ft. Length, White 18/2 Plastic Covered Lamp Cord Set, SPT-1
First, simply remove the old socket and cord set from Santa.







Cut the old plug off the old cord and attach the new cord to the old cord with some simple tape. Pull the cord up and out the ho, ho, holes. Now the new cord is hanging out the top and the bottom holes.




Now we need to tie a UL knot in the cord and connect it to the socket. The smooth wire connects to the brass screw and the ribbed wire connects to the nickel screw.






Now connect the new socket bracket to the Santa body.





Plug in the cord and test it out.




That is a jolly good time. Total Cost < $12.00 Total Time < 20 minutes