Recently I helped a dear friend with her garage sale. A friend’s garage sale is always the best place to make great finds…they usually like the same things we like.
She had a cute little brass lamp that had a broken on/off switch. She was about to toss it when I asked if I could have it. I had had a few lamps and chandeliers re-wired, but I had not attempted this repair myself.
I headed to Lowe’s with the mission of purchasing a lamp re-wiring kit. Instead I ran into a knowledgeable Lowe’s employee who recommended that I just purchase the 3-Way Knob Socket replacement (about half the price of the re-wiring kit).
Pointers that he mentioned:
- The electrical cord has a smooth edge and a ribbed edge.
- The ribbed side gets tightened under the silver screw. The smooth side gets tightened under the gold screw.
- I might be able to replace the screw on the switch or the socket without having to change the base.
Armed with the directions from the socket replacement I purchased, I gathered two small screw drivers and a pair of needle-nosed pliers with a built-in wire cutter. First I checked the cord and plug to make sure they were in good shape.
Having passed inspection, I then checked to see if the new on/off switch would screw onto the old on/off switch. It would not, as the screw diameters were different.
I then removed the socket shell, insulation sleeve and socket. The base was in fine condition and the new socket fit into it, so I did not switch the new and the old bases out.
I could not find the ribbing on the electrical cord. The directions said it could be white, ribbed, have silver strands or a color tracer on the side of the wire that needed to go under the silver screw. To be safe, I compared to the two sockets. They were exactly the same, so I put the wires that were under the silver screw under the new silver screw, repeating for the gold screw.
Afterwards, I added the new socket, insulation sleeve and socket shell. I then screwed the black on/off switch onto the new screw.
I did not have the appropriate 3-way wattage bulb on hand, but a regular bulb proved that I did it correctly! I LOVE my new little lamp. The brass is so in style and the shape is perfect. I tested the “look” with this suede shade from another small table lamp.
If you are not sure of the various parts of a lamp, Google “parts of a lamp” and you will find several good descriptions or click here.
