Re: Can the window switches be rebuilt?

Posted by HH56 On 2015/5/20 10:17:48

I don't know of any contact repair kit available for those switches. I looked into repairing some time back and was thinking some kind of rivet could be found to fit but had no success at that time. If you want to try your luck finding something, I'm sure it would be appreciated by others in the same fix. I have a few of those switches in need of repair too. There are some electrical contact places that sell contact rivets in various metals but the ones I looked at are all OEM or mfg supply places that want to sell a few thousand at a time and need special tooling to install.

The basic dimensions I measured are:

flat head side is .248 by .34 thick. That head fits into a recess in the plastic that is .250 wide. There is a .125 hole thru the plastic which was very hard to measure but I estimate the length is about .040 since the flat plastic is about .087 total. With the large head side recess and a small square recess on the narrow part of contact side it doesn't leave much. I was thinking possibly a copper or brass 1/8 shaft and 1/16 range rivet would work but didn't find one that small with a head that is 1/4" wide.

It takes a bit of patience and precision to drill the old contact out without damaging the plastic. Being able to press or expand a new rivet without damage to the plastic is another obstacle. Since it is usually the smaller side that is damaged, another possibility I was thinking of was carefully drilling the old rivet thru the shaft and threading it for a 2-56 or so screw. The head of the screw could possibly take the place of the burned narrow side of contact but it would require some precise work and probably some filing on the screw head to get it to a proper thickness.

Note that I don't guarantee those dimensions for all switches -- just the one I measured. IIRC, it was Craig that was trying to repair his switch by swapping parts and discovered there is a difference between 55 and 56 switches internally. Don't remember what he said it was.