I had one push switch on an akai tape recorder that stopped latching. It was
the mains switch. They sent me a new one and it worked for six months and
the same thing happened. After looking at the old one there was a kind of
metal finger and a metal piece biased one way that it slid along and it was
supposed to spring at a point stopping it from going back until a second
press. All that was wrong was the little metal slider was jamming on its
pivot due to too much friction and or poor spring. I respran the spring a
bit, a sod to get back on but then it worked flawlessly until the deck
itself wore out. Odd how a very competent piece of engineering can be let
down by minor things outside of the makers control.
Brian

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

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Tim+" wrote in message
...
williamwright wrote:
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?


I've come across similar issues with cord pull switches for lights and
showers. Work perfectly in your hand, screw them to the ceiling and they
stop latching. Never could work out why.

Tim

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