SAVE that original air grabber switch !!!!!!!!

[DoubleDlover]

I was fixing a couple of my switches ive collected over the years. and thought... hey. Maybe theres someone out there that has a nippleless switch and could use a proven way to fix it... So I thought id share if anyone is interested. You get styrene tube from the hobbie store. 1/8 inch. (.125) I used an 1/8 in. drill bit. It was tight. So maybe a thousands bigger might be better. But the best thing to do is do a test fitting. drill a hole in a scrap piece of plastic and see how the tube fits. adjust the drill size to your liking and then go from there.  As you can see. You CANT drill all the way though. You will destroy the hole size the factor uses to control the vacumm. You can see the small holes in the middle of the holes I drilled. That's the hardest part of this all. You have to know how far to drill down. But not to far and pop out the other side. Maybe a drill stop on the bit might be helpful. Its a press fit. But I still put a little super glue on the OUTSIDE of the tube. NOT the inside of the hole. You will plug up the hole with glue.  That REALLY bites hard onto that styrene. Holds it solid along with being a press fit. Push it in while twisting a little. Then look at it from the sides and push it til its coming strait out. You have to be quick. Then cut off with a dremil or exacto saw. file smooth and bingo! I cut them a little longer then original. So you get a real good seal in the rubber head. I'll post the other pics in the following posts.  ron

[DoubleDlover]

oh yea. You have to file the broken studs down flat and smooth before drilling. r

[DoubleDlover]

Hopefully its ok to post all the pics. I think it could help someone. Im not trying to spam. r

[Dino]

Excellent job!   

[B5 Charger]

Awesome, I love posts like this that show you how to fix these old parts yourself.   

[Scaregrabber]

Nice work! I remember trying to fix mine when I had my 71. I ended up wasting $100 on a new repro back then.

Sheldon

[PlainfieldCharger]

  Great repair post!! I can think of couple switches this will work on.

[skip68]

Excellent job.      very crafty.   

[DoubleDlover]

wow thanks for the positive responces. I can supply the exact name and part number of the tubes if anyone would like them.  Or if anyone has any questions about a certain part in the steps.  oh. I did do some trial and error on scrap pieces of plastic. drill a hole. See how the tube fit. drill a smaller hole. See how it fit. till I got it where I liked it. You get the idea. It really does need to be a snug fit even with glue. But like I mentioned. The depth of those holes is the critical part. You have to go slow and really be careful. If you do pop though. It will still work. Its just a lot more work to fix it. ron

[tan top]

 Clever , idea DD , nice work 

[john108]

What did you use to get flat bottom holes.  After getting the holes started, where did you get end mill type drill bits?

[DoubleDlover]

I didn't. I just used the drill bits. You can get bits with less of an angle. But these bits are so small I don't think it would make a big difference. It works just fine with a regular bit. r

[FJ6N96]

Awesome information!  My switch has been broken for years and I will be able to fix mine now!

FJ6N96