Does seem odd, I have a bulgin one from maybe 20 years ago on a light which
was a replacement for the useless rocker it did have and its never had a
problem, Its true these days, only my cleaner uses it, but nonetheless the
toggle is metal and the thread is metal but the back is plastic.

I used to fit these in a hole with either a flat or a spigot so it could
not turn, clamped between two nuts with a shakeproof washer on the inside
one. If you bolted them down to the body, then the plastic could bend and
suffer intermittencies etc.
I suspect modern switches are nowhere near as substantial.

The ones I used to buy in Tandy all those years ago, made in Mexico were
really very well built.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"williamwright" wrote in message
...
1. I only realised today that normal toggle switches that need a nominally
half-inch hole have (at least) two incompatible threads and sizes of nut.

2. I have a panel that includes a toggle switch that controls the mains
supply to a row of sockets, to which are connected a desk PC and two
monitors. (Other peripherals (scanner, printers, etc) are on a different
circuit). This switch is only operated twice a day. It has to be replaced
quite often; maybe more often than once a year. The replacement is always
rated at 250V, 15A. The switches have been from RS and Rapid (not all the
same batch then). The mode of failure is mechanical: the toggle springs
back to the ON position when switched towards OFF. Sometimes once the
faulty switch has been removed it then works perfectly! It's as if simply
being fixed into the panel is stressing it in some way. The switch body
doesn't touch the panel. Other switches on the panel never fail, including
one that does exactly the same job but supplies a different PC. I'm
puzzled. Chance?

Bill