This is probably a really stupid question, but hopefully someone can
help me out...

I have a pendant light fitting in my lounge (top half, lampshade,
bottom half, light bulb), and I managed to separate the two halves by
accident when I was changing the bulb. Now that I've done that, I
haven't been able to re-attach them.

I have a couple of (blurry) photos of the bottom half:
http://www.golgotha.org.uk/livejourn...fitting_tn.jpg (8k)
http://www.golgotha.org.uk/livejournal/lightfitting.jpg (80k)

Basically, the bottom half has two copper "pegs" that sit in the top,
and two springs that fit into the pegs. There were also two T-shaped
pieces of metal that sat inside the springs, but I've lost one of them.
Anyway, the idea seems to be that you hold the two halves together, and
then the springs squash between the pegs in each half. Then what? I'd
expect them to screw together (assuming that I unscrewed it by accident
in the dark), but there's no thread for that. What I've found so far is
that I push them together, then the whole arrangement goes "ping" and
scatters small pieces of metal across my floor (which is how I lost one
of the T-shaped bits).

I have a couple of other pendant fittings (with/without lampshade), and
I could take one of them apart to see how it worked, but I'm not sure
whether that would make the problem worse. Presumably these things are
supposed to come apart (to install the lampshade), so should go back
together. I've also had a look round B&Q, in the hope that I could just
buy a new fitting (assuming that they're pretty cheap), but all I could
find were more elaborate things (e.g. "chandalier style light fitting
to sit on top of pendant").

I'm sure this is something that's blatantly obvious to everyone else,
so I'd feel stupid if I had to call out an electrician, but I'm also
fed up of sitting in the dark so I'm having to swallow my pride. (I've
done several websearches, but couldn't find any answers, so I do
apologise if it's come up before.)

Thanks in advance,

John

In article .com,
says...
This is probably a really stupid question, but hopefully someone can
help me out...

I have a pendant light fitting in my lounge (top half, lampshade,
bottom half, light bulb), and I managed to separate the two halves by
accident when I was changing the bulb. Now that I've done that, I
haven't been able to re-attach them.

I have a couple of (blurry) photos of the bottom half:
http://www.golgotha.org.uk/livejourn...fitting_tn.jpg (8k)
http://www.golgotha.org.uk/livejournal/lightfitting.jpg (80k)

Basically, the bottom half has two copper "pegs" that sit in the top,
and two springs that fit into the pegs. There were also two T-shaped
pieces of metal that sat inside the springs, but I've lost one of them.
Anyway, the idea seems to be that you hold the two halves together, and
then the springs squash between the pegs in each half. Then what? I'd
expect them to screw together (assuming that I unscrewed it by accident
in the dark), but there's no thread for that. What I've found so far is
that I push them together, then the whole arrangement goes "ping" and
scatters small pieces of metal across my floor (which is how I lost one
of the T-shaped bits).

I have a couple of other pendant fittings (with/without lampshade), and
I could take one of them apart to see how it worked, but I'm not sure
whether that would make the problem worse. Presumably these things are
supposed to come apart (to install the lampshade), so should go back
together. I've also had a look round B&Q, in the hope that I could just
buy a new fitting (assuming that they're pretty cheap), but all I could
find were more elaborate things (e.g. "chandalier style light fitting
to sit on top of pendant").

I'm sure this is something that's blatantly obvious to everyone else,
so I'd feel stupid if I had to call out an electrician, but I'm also
fed up of sitting in the dark so I'm having to swallow my pride. (I've
done several websearches, but couldn't find any answers, so I do
apologise if it's come up before.)

It's knackered - it was either glued/welded together, or it was threaded
but the threaded bit has sheared off. You should be able to buy a
replacement fitting in a shed - some places may only sell them with the
rose and flex already fitted. They're probably with sockets and
switches rather than in the lighting section. Places like Wilko and
Woolies used to sell them, I don't know if they still do.

It's knackered - it was either glued/welded together, or it was threaded
but the threaded bit has sheared off.

Ah, ok, thanks. That's a nuisance, but it's useful to know, and I feel
a bit better now that I wasn't being a complete idiot by not being able
to reattach the pieces.

John