Okey Dokey, I been way to busy working on this one but I finally finished it! I was having trouble with the lights being intermittent on my 1950, 3600. So, I decided it was time to dig into the GM head light switches and see if they could be rebuilt. The first one I chose had the contact board warped pretty badly, was very rough in fact it was almost impossible to pull the knob out and failed a continuity check. The dimmer section was totally in operable also, passing no current at all. Most of the switch was rusted, i..e., frame, screws, wire washers, lugs.
This pretty much tells the story;
http://community.webshots.com/album/555161678EhIoCb?start=288 The new contact boards I made from 1/8” Garolite CE phenolic. The new copper contacts I made from 1/8” solid copper round head rivets. I made a die to reform the heads in the bench press. I duplicated the original contact design by making 120° flat heads with 1/32” thick heads at .220” in diameter. This was the design of the original copper contacts. One of the wire lugs was bad, thread was stripped and was moving around and touching the lug next to it. So I had to make a new one complete with the 1/16” dimple on the bottom side to hold it in position, another die set.
All in all it should work as good as the original switch when new and I see no reason that it won’t last another 58 years. I’ll bet that the reproduction ones from across the pond will be long gone when this one is still serving its master! Now all I have to do is figure out a way to hang around till I’m 123 years old and see it that holds true!!! I wonder if there will still be gasoline in 2066?
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
Ps. Don’t throw your old light switch carcasses away, send them to me! I’ll buy them.
