.. and all for the want of a horseshoe nail

[threemonkeys]

I may have lost an old companion. For half my life, I have had the same lamp beside my bed - many a book has been read by its light. It is certainly the oldest piece of electrical equipment I own. Now the switch has broken. It isn't the first time, but last time I was easily able to buy a replacement switch at Dick Smiths and install it. Now I can't find a switch anywhere that will both fit and handle mains voltage - even jaycar don't seem to have a suitable one. It is going to mean major surgery to adapt a different sort of switch and the surgeon is an incompetent fool. I don't hold out much hope.

ETA: Fixed - thanks to some good advice from mundens

Comments

[markdeniz.livejournal.com]

This is one of those stages of life that are harder to bear when they shouldn't be really.

How about removing the whole cable and doing it that way?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I thought of that and looked for the sort of switch that goes in-line with the power cable but couldn't find one either - it still remains a more likely option. It is actually quite hard to get any sort of simple electrical components these days - it all comes in molded fittings built into a whole unit.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

If you want to save the old friend, post a pic, I have lots of old switches, some even unused.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks very much - I'll do that. It may take a day or so.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/threemonkeys/2328726070/)

Photo of switch - getting anything meaningful of the old light proved too much of a photographic challenge :-(

Basically it pokes through a 10mm hole in the metal base of the lamp and the screw bit holds it in place. Basically any mains voltage rated switch that can be poked through the 10mm hole and secured would do the trick. You wouldn't think that would be such a challenge to replace would you. 10mm and 240VAC rating seem to be the stumbling blocks - I can easily get one or the other but not both at once.

Thanks.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Ywp that's a standard pushbutton, I'll check to see if I have anything in 10mm

I did recently find a similar switch in a Mitre 10 MegaStore, BTW, so if there's one nearby you could check that as well.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought of Mitre 10 for electrical stuff - I'll certainly give them a go. Thanks.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

...and the news is good. Mitre 10 did have the switch I was after. Mind you, I got the last one they had.

Thanks for the good advice.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I've posted a picture of the switch further down the thread - then realised that you probably wouldn't get a notification. d'oh

[bytheseaside.livejournal.com]

Have you tried TradeMe?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Not until you just suggested it :-} However, I can't see anything even close really. The thing is that it is only a $2 item brand new.

[bytheseaside.livejournal.com]

I currently live with two people absolutely obsessed with TradeMe. The spend hours and big money searching for random and useless stuff.

Good luck with your hunt.