A Replacement Switch For An Articulated Lamp

[This is from the 'why didn't I think of this a long, long time ago?' department.]

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I have an elderly articulated lamp that long ago had its rotary on/off switch fail. I didn't have a replacement rotary switch on hand, but I did have an in-line cord switch. I figured I'd save myself the cost of a replacement rotary switch (they're not cheap), and make good use of an idle spare switch that would do the job, if not as conveniently.

Anyway, I installed the in-line switch, and that has worked fine for many years now. Here's a view of the switch.

The only downside to that is that the switch is a little awkward to get at, but I seldom used the lamp so I lived with it that way.

Just recently, I've made a change to how and where I do certain things in the shop, and the lamp has become much more useful to me. The switch's awkward location is now an outright nuisance, and my attitude toward nuisances is that they ought to be terminated with extreme prejudice.

I happened to take a long look at the head of the lamp, and it dawned on me, "What's to stop me from relocating the in-line switch to that exposed short length of line cord up top?"

Absolutely nothing, that's what. So, I'll relocate the switch to where I should have put it in the first place.

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And here we are.



Much better.

To reconnect the line cord where I removed the switch, I just installed a crimped butt splice, like so.

That may look a bit cheesy, but it's perfectly safe and secure

Anyway, that's well and truly done. I can get on with other things.

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FEEDBACK

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Poulan Model PLN 1514 Chainsaw Teardown

This old saw was given to me by a guy who cuts a lot of firewood at home for heating fuel. The saw is not well.

It occasionally attempts to start depending, it seems, on the armature's at-rest position when the trigger is pressed, but it will not run. The saw is probably a write-off, but I thought I'd tear it down for a look-see. If nothing else, I'll salvage the chain and bar -- the chain is in better condition than the one that's on my working, similar Poulan saw. Here goes.

Teardown Sequence

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NOTE:

- All screw fasteners are No. 2 Phillips recess, unless otherwise indicated.
- There's a PDF parts breakdown (such as it is) here.
- Exercise great care whenever working with motor armatures and field windings. A mishap can cause irreparable damage in an eye-blink.

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1) Chain-Drive Cap
- Two M4x40mm pan head threading screws.

2) Sprocket Support and Bar W/Chain
- One M4x9mm pan head shoulder screw. (Note the short shoulder -- this is not a common M4 screw.)
- Two M6 flange nuts, 11mm A/F hex.
That gets you to here.

NOTE that the two bar bolts are free to fall out at this point. Remove them. (They're M6x60mm, 11mm A/F hex head.)

3) Front Hand Guard w/Bar Bolt Receiving Items
- Bar bolt receiver (pull it out).
- One M4x14mm threading screw at left side end of hand guard.
- Hand guard.
- Oblong washer plate (it's down inside where the bar bolts go through).
- Two bar bolt sleeves.

Here's a view of what you'll have.

4) Motor Brush-End Cap
- Two M4x14mm pan head threading screws.
- End cap.

5) Chain Tension Adjuster
- One M3.5x12mm flathead threading screw.

6) Right Side Shroud
- One M3.5x12mm flathead threading screw. (Its head is low down in front of the motor at the left side of the casing.)
- Four M4x18mm pan head threading screws.

7) Chain Oil Tank w/Oblong Outlet Seal
- It just lifts out.
- NOTE the orientation of the oblong outlet seal. It resides at the lower front of the tank, and is likely to be much obscured by oily sawdust muck.

8) Chain-Sprocket/Ring-Gear (5 tooth/59 tooth; 9mm bore)
- Just pull it gently straight off its bearings.
- NOTE that there are two small roller bearings associated with it.

9) Chain-Sprocket/Ring-Gear Roller Bearings (8mm cage length)
- Just pull them straight off their 6mm diameter spindle.

10) Motor Output Gear (11 tooth; 8mm D-bore)
- Just pull it straight off the motor's output shaft. It may want a bit of coaxing.

11) Motor Output-End Plate
- Four M4x14mm pan head threading screws.
- Grasp the sprocket/ring-gear spindle and pull the plate straight off. It may want a bit of prying/coaxing.

12) Motor Armature
-NOTE the dark sealing material at the centre of the brushes-end motor bearing housing (pictured below).

- Drill that stuff out to 5/16" diameter.
- Apply a brass punch to the motor shaft's end through the hole you've drilled, and hammer lightly. The armature will dislodge and be free to come out.

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That's where I stopped dismantling the machine, because I could see that one of the brushes was stuck and wouldn't spring out to contact the commutator firmly. On to the parts washer tank.

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'Repair' And Reassembly To Testability

Brush Holders And Cleaning

The brush holders would not come out. They're either cemented in place, or they got so hot at some point that they slightly melted themselves in place. In any event, I did manage to coax the stuck brush to emerge, and move in its holder more-or-less as it should.

The oil-soaked sawdust that accumulates in a chain saw is a devil of a thing to clean away. It took a lot of solvent spraying and brushing and poking and prodding and air blowing to clear it all out of the saw's frame, but I got it reasonably well cleaned up. I've left it out in the sunlight to dry out thoroughly while I go for lunch and a siesta and a coffee.

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One Further Bit Of Teardown

I removed the two long screws and the cover that secure the field winding, so I could blow out all the cleaning solvent that got into the winding. Here's a view down the length of the empty saw frame.

It's not a great photograph, but at the centre of the photo you can see the brass brush holders and the protruding brushes. Both brushes are now free moving, but the brush on the left is appreciably more worn than the one on the right. I've seen that often in these universal motors -- one brush wears much more than the other. I have no idea why that happens.

Poulan does not offer replacement brushes; these saws are meant to be throw-aways.

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The Bearings

Both bearings look and feel ok.

The output-end bearing is an NMB 608Z shielded bearing.

The brush-end bearing is an Outdo 607RS sealed bearing.

Those are common bearings. Identical or equivalent replacements would be readily available were they needed.

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The Armature/Commutator

Judging by the appearance of the commutator, I don't think this saw has seen all that much use. I'll burnish the commutator on the lathe with No's. 600 and 1200 silicon carbide paper, and make certain that all the commutator segment gaps are clean.

Here's a view of the armature ready for re-installation.

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A No-Load Test

I cleaned up the motor's output-end plate, and reassembled the saw only to the point where I could try the motor; it runs. Here's a view of the motor clamped in my woodworking vise, merrily arcing along.

I'll fully clean up and reassemble the saw, and see how it behaves under load.

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Final Reassembly Sequence

NOTE:

- The following assumes perfectly clean, reassembly-ready components.
- The number in square brackets is the teardown sequence number of the item being reinstalled.

1) [10] Motor Output Gear
- The gear is end-to-end symmetrical. It can go on either way.
- A wee smear of grease on the motor's shaft prior to gear installation won't hurt.

2) [9] Chain-Sprocket/Ring-Gear Roller Bearings
- Pack them with a high-quality wheel bearing grease like Canadian Tire's Wheel Bearing and Chassis Grease prior to slipping them back on their spindle.

3) [8] Chain-Sprocket/Ring-Gear
-NOTE that this item was free of grease when you removed it. The ring-gear/motor-output-gear interface does not require lubrication.
- Slip it in place over its two roller bearings

4) [7)] Chain Oil Tank w/Oblong Outlet Seal
- As I was cleaning this item in the parts washer tank, I noticed that it leaked quite badly. The tiny 'nipple' that dispenses oil was torn. I installed the seal with Permatex Ultra Grey, and left it to cure for a few hours. Here's how it looks.

I tried it out in the parts washer tank, and my repair appears to be successful. The tank squirts fluid when the cap is pressed, but it doesn't drip or drool otherwise.

For the most part, I'm quite impressed by the engineering and construction of Poulan's electric chain saws, but these little oil tanks strike me as flimsy. They could have been better thought out, with a proper check valve incorporated.

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Whoops!

The seal came loose on me; the Ultra Grey must have adhered poorly to the materials involved. I let some CA adhesive wick into the seal/tank interface.

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That appears to have worked.^[1] What a finicky component the oil tank is. That's marginal/poor design in my estimation.

5) [6] Right Side Shroud
- NOTE that the trigger-switch and its associated wiring must be in place and properly arrayed prior to re-installing this item.

6) [5] Chain Tension Adjuster

7) [4] Motor Brush-End Cap

8) [3] Front Hand Guard w/Bar Bolt Receiving Items

9) [2] Sprocket Support and Bar W/Chain^[2]
- The hole in the sprocket support for the shoulder screw looked to me like it had been enlarged by wear, possibly from vibration while running with the screw not fully tightened. I recall that when I went to first remove the shoulder screw, it seemed loose.

I added an external tooth lockwasher, so I'd have a thin washer in place that I could really tighten the shoulder screw down on. I think that was a good move. Here's a view of it.

10) [1] Chain-Drive Cap

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All But Done

Adjust chain tension for 'no slack; no tightness'. Pour in some bar oil and see what it can do.

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A Done Deal

It cuts wood.

I don't know how much life there still is in the saw, but I don't do much chainsawing, so this machine may yet give me long service. (The price was certainly right.)

One wonders how much of this sort of gear is in landfill because of stuck brushes.

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A Parting Word About Poulan's Electric Chain Saws

This is the second Poulan saw that I've torn down and 'overhauled'; I also have an old Model 1420 that I got working.

From what I've seen, Poulan's saws are well-designed and well-constructed machines EXCEPT for the chain oil tanks -- those are cheap, flimsy little leak centres.

I'd be interested to see how other manufacturers deal with the matter of chain oil delivery; surely there are better ways to go about it than Poulan's silly little 'nipple'.

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NOTES:

[1] No it didn't. I could not get the oil tank to work properly. I've got it sort of dispensing oil, but it's still going to leak.

The simplest way to deal with the problem is to hang the machine up by the hole in the nose of the bar when the saw is idle; oriented that way, the oil tank won't leak.

[2] Getting the bar and chain back on can be a clumsy, aggravating chore. It's helpful to have the saw held immobile in a woodworking vise.

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One-Piece Toilet Won't Stop 'Filling' -- Broken 1B1X Lever

The failure pictured below is infrequent, but inevitable, on the 1B1X fill/float valve.

At the centre of the photograph, note the crack in the white plastic lever. That crack renders the lever no longer rigid -- the lever can flex. Consequently, the rising float can never exert enough downward force on the valve to close it, and the water just keeps on running and running and running.

I can see no practicable way to repair that, short of replacing the valve/lever assembly. Home Depot has a replacement part, as probably do many other places.

Ordinarily, this failure only results in wasted water; the needless water flow just goes down the drain. In the unlikely, unfortunate but conceivable event that the failure happens to coincide with a clogged toilet, that's another story. Such a coincidence of trouble will result in quite a spectacular flood unless the toilet's water supply valve is turned off right quick. (And please don't ask how it is that I know that.)

Anyway, a new valve/lever affair is in order, and that should be an end to this problem for another thirteen years.

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The New Part Just Arrived -- MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Here's what you get if you order Home Depot's JAG part.

It's the entire float valve assembly along with some tubing and a new float rod.

The last time I had to deal with this, back in May of 2000, I was able to get just the top portion of the float valve with the lever from a plumbing supply house, and only replace that much of the float valve assembly. I wanted to do the same thing this time by simply transferring the new part's top portion to the old valve body, but I couldn't.

This part 'looks' identical to my old one, and it's no doubt functionally identical. It's not quite physically identical, though.

On the top of the old valve is embossed, "1B1X SHEATH BALLCOCK  COAST FOUNDRY & MFG. CO.  MADE IN U.S.A.". On the top of the new valve is embossed, "Anti-Siphon Fill Valve  33270". On the new valve, the three fastener holes lie on a slightly smaller radius than do those on the old valve. Hence, the top portions of the two valves cannot be interchanged.

Then,  when I went to replace the whole valve, I discovered that the old diverter valve wouldn't fit the new fill valve. Time Out!!

This was rapidly going south, and I was thinking to return the part to Home Depot and just start from scratch with a proper plumbing supply house. I decided to sleep on it. The next morning, the obvious occurred to me -- why not swap only the levers? -- it's the broken lever, after all, that's the problem.

That meant grinding off the peened ends of two pivot rivets, but that's easy to do. So, I did that, and the toilet is working properly again. Here's a view of the new lever on the old fill valve.

I used a 1/8" cotter pin for a pivot pin -- it fits perfectly.

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A Tip Regarding The Use Of Adjustable Wrenches

When using an adjustable wrench in an awkward spot like the underside of a toilet tank to tighten a fill valve's nut, I find I'm forever messing up the wrench's adjustment and having to reset it. Here's what I've taken to doing:



I wipe the wrench's head clean, set the wrench for the subject fastener, then I apply masking tape to both sides of the wrench. That works very well for me, and saves me a lot of aggravation.

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In Conclusion

Something is not right about the Home Depot's part.

When one sees a part/specification number like '1B1X', one expects that to mean interchangeability with any part calling itself '1B1X'. That certainly wasn't the case here. If you ever run into a problem with an alleged '1B1X', my advice would be to take your actual part with you to an honest-to-God plumbing supply house, and seek their help with it.

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Update -- THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019

The toilet's been leaking again. It's a flawed design, and I've had quite enough of it. It's been replaced by a Kohler two-piece toilet.

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A Gate Latch Modification

This old gate latch is rugged, and it works ok.



It has this neat feature of being padlockable.

If you slide the latchbar over fully to the left, the latchbar becomes a bolt that can be padlocked. That's all well and good, but I've never had need of that feature, and the ease with which the latchbar is dislodged from its normal operating position makes for a bit of a nuisance at times.

The simplest solution would be to install a single screw through the latchbar, at a point where the screwhead will limit the leftward travel of the latchbar, like so.



Note the black, T30 socket-head screw that I've added. That's a 10-32 x 3/8" screw that I drilled and tapped the latchbar to accept. The screw does exactly what's needed, and it seems to cause the latchbar to operate perfectly smoothly and consistently on closing -- much better than it used to. In the unlikely event that I ever need to padlock the latch, I can just temporarily remove the screw to regain the use of the padlocking feature.

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An Electric Heater Modification

I have this ancient, but very nifty, radiant electric space heater.

It works fine, and it looks likely to last forever, but it has a little oddity that I'd like to rid it of -- it can't be turned off.

The thermostat has its range, from low to high, but there's no 'off'.

The only way to be sure the heater is off is to unplug it. I find that inconvenient, and inconvenience irritates me something fierce.

The solution is pretty obvious -- install an on/off switch. Serendipitously, a couple of ideal switches just turned up the other day, when my son brought me another raft of stuff from my deceased father's garage.

I'll return to this soon, and document the switch installation.

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Switch Installation -- TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

The electrical compartment at the lower rear of the heater is held on with six screws, then two more screws give access to the rear of the thermostat. I disconnected the heater's resistance element so I could more easily manipulate the compartment. Here's a view of the thermostat and the area where I'll be installing the switch.

The switch's shank wants a 15/32" diameter hole; I'll locate it as far down from the top of the compartment as the thermostat is up from the bottom (1 1/4").

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Here's the switch installed.

It's a double pole switch, so I shorted the poles together to make it a single pole switch with redundant contacts. I had to tape it completely because of its proximity to airflow openings in the sheet metal. All that's left now is to reassemble the electrical compartment, and try the heater out.

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All done.

And it works as I intended it to.

Imagine that -- a heater that you can simply switch off when you don't want it on.

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A Stripped-Out Wooden Knob

This item has been in service outdoors for years as a gate latch chain-pull. It's given me no trouble at all until just today, when its threaded insert pulled out.

It's a fine little bit of hardware, and in its intended, indoor environment, it would have lasted forever. But the elements outside got to it, and the brass threaded insert tore out. I'll put it back together with five minute epoxy, and see how many more years of abuse it can take.

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Here it is reassembled with an epoxy-laden threaded insert interface. I'll leave that to cure overnight. (Five minute epoxy sets and hardens quickly, but it's still best to let it fully cure overnight before putting a repair in service.)

All Done

I sealed it with CA adhesive in a few places that looked like they could use it. Here it is back on the job for a few more years at least.

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A Broken Glare Baffle

I have an old Circline articulated drafting lamp (a Luxo "Combo") that had spent a long time idle up on a high shelf. The other day, I found I had a new use for it, so I went to fetch it down. The glare baffle fell out of it and promptly broke, like so.

The two pieces don't want to mate back together snugly, and the plastic material they're made of looks to me like the sort of plastic that no adhesive will truly adhere to. I'll have to come up with some way to 'wire' it back together.

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Here's what I have in mind for a repair method.

Those 3 1/4" lengths of 3/16" diameter dowel will serve as 'rib' reinforcements; the 20 AWG enamelled copper wire is what I'll use to lash the 'ribs' in place. This may not turn out to be the most elegant bit of work I've ever done, but it should serve.

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Here's the first rib firmly wired in place.

This is working better than I'd hoped it would.

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And here's the completed repair.

Not a bad outcome at all.

I mentioned earlier that the baffle's plastic material is unlikely to take adhesive well, but I applied CA adhesive to all the rib interfaces and wire twists anyway. I figured it couldn't hurt.

Here's a view of the baffle back in place in the Luxo lamp. (I tried to photograph it with the lamp lit, but the camera wanted no part of that action.)

Were I doing this again, I'd use smaller (1/8" diameter) dowel for ribs. What I did here has worked out ok, but I was pushing my luck a little for clearance above the baffle to the Circline with the 3/16" diameter dowel.

Anyway, that lamp pictured above is excellent. It has a 22W Circline fluorescent tube, with a 60W incandescent bulb in the middle. The light it sheds is superb for any kind of fine, close work.

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