(Topic ID: 305181)

Contact Switch Blade - repair or replace

By BubbaK

2 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 13 posts
  • 7 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by BubbaK
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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#1 2 years ago

I've got a hot shot that had a few contacts that were loose on the switch blade, making intermittent connections. I was able to solder the contacts to the blades and it works properly. I had another blade the contact point fell out of. I had an extra point that I put on that blade and soldered that as well. Is this considered a reliable repair or should I change the blades at some point?

#2 2 years ago

Effectively a reliable repair. If the blade itself is mangled or wavy, might want to replace the whole blade, but otherwise, you should be good.

#3 2 years ago

Thanks.. The blades were in good shape and it looks like it took the solder well. On one switch, the Add hundreds switch on the score reel had a missing contact point. I replaced it with one of the small gold ones as this was all I had. It works, but I think this is supposed to be a big contact?

#4 2 years ago

Might want to consider ordering a quantity of replacement contacts from PBR, or other vendor, to keep in your parts bin. Usually, about 35-40 cents apiece, but a good part to have in inventory.

#5 2 years ago

Tap-tap-tap with a ball peen hammer -- good as new.

#6 2 years ago
Quoted from Runbikeskilee:

Might want to consider ordering a quantity of replacement contacts from PBR, or other vendor, to keep in your parts bin. Usually, about 35-40 cents apiece, but a good part to have in inventory.

I did have a few to make up the light duty switches. My next order I'll get some others.

Quoted from dr_nybble:

Tap-tap-tap with a ball peen hammer -- good as new.

I can do that when its on the bench, but I didn't want to disconnect a lot of stuff. I'm surprised there isn't a special pair of pliers to compress the rivet.

#7 2 years ago

I was able to peen a contact back on by holding the switch blade against a metal block and re-peening it in place. Was awkward though!

#8 2 years ago

Might help for a 2nd set of hands

#9 2 years ago

I just clean up then solder the loose contact to the leaf. The worst part (as you probably know) is finding those loose contacts.

#10 2 years ago

Another way to fix some of these, a heavy pair of needlenose pliers, I squeeze/crush the contact as hard as I can, usually works. High current contacts I tend to replace, always have spare pieces on hand.

#11 2 years ago

PBResource has new blades and contacts
http://www.pbresource.com/pfswitch.htm#common

#12 2 years ago

I use needle nose pliers as well and pad the contact face with a piece of plastic especially gold flashed ones so the plier jaw doesn't damage it.

#13 2 years ago

Thanks Howard. I did the repair to get the game running. I was wondering if my fix was a long term or short term fix. I have a few of the common switches in my next parts order to have on hand.

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