OK, struggled with the topic name. I will show photos of how to disassemble the helm toggle switches of the vintage I have, and replace the lamp if need be.
First up, a photo of a typical switch after it has been removed from the switch panel. This switch is lighted, and a couple of mine would not light when the switch was turned on.
You just press in on the side clips to get it out of the panel. Pry sideways on the middle side of the cap to pop it off. If you had to buy a new switch, and could not match color and style, you might be able to use your old cap on the new switch.
With the rocker cap off, you can take a look at the lamp and see if the filament looks OK or not. The bulb is a T 1 /14 lamp, and seems to be held in place, sealing the switch, with an o-ring. So let's take a look. The next photo left is a closeup of the lamp. You can see the filament. It looks good, and in fact is good. The bulb is not burned out, there is some other problem. So take a sharp knife, and pry the top half of the switch away from the bottom half. Just release the clips on each side, it comes apart easily. The photo on right below is looking back up into the top of the switch. Note that there are 4 parts here that will try and escape to freedom when you pop the switch apart, so be prepared. They are: 2 connections springs, one plastic rocker arm, and the metal moving contact. The first rocker arm with roller end is seen in the right photo. Nice!! Like having roller rockers in your rat!
So above, you can see the wires from the lamp. (You can click on the image for a larger view) They go to two of four possible wire termination attachment points. When the springs jump out, and you don't know where from, just look here to see where they need to be. The springs make the electrical connection from the terminals at the bottom of the switch to the lamp wire leads.
The next two photos are looking down into the bottom of the switch assembly. The contact bar is missing in these photos. But measurements with an ohmmeter showed lack of contact between one of the springs and the contact lead that it should push against.
Looking closely at the bottom of the spring, which you can almost but not quite do in the right photo, I could see that the spring ends with the spring wire cut cleanly. This leaves the turn of the spring immediately adjacent to it with a wire thickness of air gap from what ever the end rests on. The contact lead extending under the spring did not cover the whole are, and it was possible for the spring to turn so the very end sat on plastic, not metal. The wire thickness is apparently about the same as the contact metal thickness, so no contact was assured, and none was made. Turning the spring in the hole fixed the problem.
One switch lamp fixed. :thumbsup:
First up, a photo of a typical switch after it has been removed from the switch panel. This switch is lighted, and a couple of mine would not light when the switch was turned on.
You just press in on the side clips to get it out of the panel. Pry sideways on the middle side of the cap to pop it off. If you had to buy a new switch, and could not match color and style, you might be able to use your old cap on the new switch.
With the rocker cap off, you can take a look at the lamp and see if the filament looks OK or not. The bulb is a T 1 /14 lamp, and seems to be held in place, sealing the switch, with an o-ring. So let's take a look. The next photo left is a closeup of the lamp. You can see the filament. It looks good, and in fact is good. The bulb is not burned out, there is some other problem. So take a sharp knife, and pry the top half of the switch away from the bottom half. Just release the clips on each side, it comes apart easily. The photo on right below is looking back up into the top of the switch. Note that there are 4 parts here that will try and escape to freedom when you pop the switch apart, so be prepared. They are: 2 connections springs, one plastic rocker arm, and the metal moving contact. The first rocker arm with roller end is seen in the right photo. Nice!! Like having roller rockers in your rat!
So above, you can see the wires from the lamp. (You can click on the image for a larger view) They go to two of four possible wire termination attachment points. When the springs jump out, and you don't know where from, just look here to see where they need to be. The springs make the electrical connection from the terminals at the bottom of the switch to the lamp wire leads.
The next two photos are looking down into the bottom of the switch assembly. The contact bar is missing in these photos. But measurements with an ohmmeter showed lack of contact between one of the springs and the contact lead that it should push against.
Looking closely at the bottom of the spring, which you can almost but not quite do in the right photo, I could see that the spring ends with the spring wire cut cleanly. This leaves the turn of the spring immediately adjacent to it with a wire thickness of air gap from what ever the end rests on. The contact lead extending under the spring did not cover the whole are, and it was possible for the spring to turn so the very end sat on plastic, not metal. The wire thickness is apparently about the same as the contact metal thickness, so no contact was assured, and none was made. Turning the spring in the hole fixed the problem.
One switch lamp fixed. :thumbsup:
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