Work bench light switch replacement

[Basstronics]

Need some advice on work bench lighting. I bought a light on an arm that has a fluorescent and a regular bulb. After not to many uses the switch started acting up now I cant get it to do anything.

It has a button in the center to turn them all off and a button on each side to work each light individually.

Anyone else have these issues and how did you fix/replace the switch? I would like to replace this with something bulletproof. Not another switch thats going to brake in a month...

BTW this light had a price tag of $128 on it. it wasnt a cheapie...

[m4a1usr]

Did you get the light from a local source? Depending on the store they might offer you some form of warranty. 30 days is well within most reputable companies acceptance.

But if your stuck with it then its time to take the switch apart. Since you cant get either light to function its got to be something with that center black button. Probably the contacts. They could be bent/ carboned/ something to do with not allowing the circuit to complete. Depending on how the other 2 switches integrate with the center one you could toss in a seperate DPDT contact swtich. But your going to need to add a few inches of wire (most likely 4-18 ga) and make another bracket too.

Be patient taking that swtich apart. At first glance it looks like the metal cover plate is bent over the edges. That will need to be unrolled. Use a small set of dykes to get behind it to start unrolling it. If you use a screw driver against the plastic/bakealite housing you could crack it and the whole thing becomes useless.

John