Rewiring a lamp may be necessary to repair a broken lamp.
Rewiring a lamp with tight corners can be a challenge, but it's not impossible. A few preliminary steps can help to straighten out those difficult spots. Lamps may be smooth and finished on the outside while on the inside you may find a course surface and tight corners. By adding a few household items to the rewiring job the project can be simplified.
Instructions
1. Unplug the lamp and set it on a work surface. Remove the lampshade.
2. Remove the light bulb and set it aside.
3. Lay the lamp on its side. Pull up the felt covering, starting at the edge, on the bottom of the lamp to remove it, if your lamp has felt.
4. Hold the base part of the light socket -- the cylinder that the light bulb was screwed into -- and pull the top part of the socket up, removing it.
5. Loosen the two screws in the base of the socket that were uncovered by the removal of the top part of the socket.
6. Unwrap and straighten the part of the wires that are not insulated and are wrapped around the screws you loosened.
7. Unscrew the base of the socket from the lamp body and remove it by sliding it up over the ends of the wire.
8. Cut a length of thread the length of the lamp. Tie this to one end of a pipe cleaner and set it aside.
9. Twist the wires where they are not insulated together to form one combined wire. Bend the combined wire into a "j"-shaped hook.
10. Tie a loop in the end of the heavy thread on the spool. Put the loop over the wire hook. Bend the wire hook back on itself and wrap the hook's tip around its base to keep the thread from falling off.
11. Hold the insulated wire at the base of the lamp and gently pull the wire out of the lamp. When the end with the heavy thread comes out at the base of the lamp remove the thread from the wire hook. Set the lamp wire aside.
12. Tie the end of the sandpaper cord to the heavy thread coming out at the base of the lamp. Grab the thread at the top of the lamp and pull the sandpaper cord into the lamp. Hold onto the end of the sandpaper cord at the base of the lamp. Use a sawing motions to smooth the inside wire pathway. Pull the sandpaper cord out of the bottom of the lamp and remove it from the thread.
13. Set the pipe cleaner with the thread tied to one end next to the thread coming out of the base of the lamp. Tie the end of the thread coming out of the base of the lamp to the end of the pipe cleaner that does not have thread attached to it. Pull the pipe cleaner up through the lamp and then back down to clean the inside of the lamp.
14. Replace the pipe cleaner with a clean pipe cleaner. Use a bar of soap to coat the . Pull the thread coming out of the top of the lamp to draw the pipe cleaner into the lamp and lubricate the tight corners, and then draw it back down. Untie the pipe cleaner and set it aside.
15. Open the lamp rewiring kit and remove the new lamp wire. Twist the two non-insulated wires into a "j"-shaped hook. Slip the loop that is on the out of the lamp's base onto the hook. Bend the hook back on itself and wrap the hook's tip around its base.
16. Use the bar of soap to coat the portion of the lamp wire that will travel through the tight corners of the lamp. Pull the thread gently to move the wire up from the base to the top of the lamp until the insulated section starts to come out the top of the lamp.
17.Untwist the hook and remove the loop. Separate and straighten the two parts of the non-insulated wire section.
18. Select the base of the lightbulb socket from the kit. Pass the non-insulated wire section through the bottom of the socket base. Screw the base into the top of the lamp.
19. Wrap one of the two parts of the non-insulated wire section around the base of the head of a screw. Repeat this action with the other part of the non-insulated wire section around the other screw. Tighten the screws.
20. Push the top of the socket into place on the base.
21. Glue the felt back in place and replace the lampshade.
Tags: pipe cleaner, base lamp, thread coming, non-insulated wire, section