To be proper, if you can
pick up a lamp with the
socket and give it a light
bounce in that lamp staying, it is ok. This assuming the lamp wasn't arc welded to the
base - you should start by removing the lamp and inspecting it's prongs for corrosion or arching damage, than do the
bounce test.
The aluminum framed
socket is the Sylvania #
PAR 1
socket. There is a few versions of this
socket and yes they are a
bit better - though you cannot open it up and adjust the spring tension on them. Spring tension adjustment one thing, arching or corrosion on what's loose another thing that cannot be repaired. Best off not re-tensioning the
lampholder.
You can somewhat save many lamps by way of taking a medium to fine grit silicone abrasive grinding wheel for a Dremmel tool to the prongs. This by way of grinding back to
flat or cleaning up corrosion as long as you are not taking away too much surface area/
thickness of the pin. see mcmaster.com part number 4630a19 for the best tool to use on such a lamp
base. This or a very fine grit of sand paper and followed up with 600 grit or
crocus cloth to remove the scratches from the pin. A lot of work.
Which ever way you go, remember that if pitted, don't attempt to completely remove such pitting, just get the prong
flat and smooth again. Any parts/blobs from the arc welding that's sticking up should be removed in re-surfacing back to the pin's width, but don't dig into the pin more than that. The thinner you make the lamp's pins, the less able they are to get proper tension to the
lampholder. That said, contact is about surface area for conducting electricity. A few pitts on this type of lamp won't matter much if planed back to the correct
thickness of the pin or slightly less, but more than that is a problem. More about removing what’s rasing the contact above the pin for removal as that would be a smaller surface area for contact, than a few pitts given other surface area on the pin to conduct with.
The pins are probably surface treated, and even if not, your pins are now fresh bright work which will corrode - oxidation don’t conduct that well. What ever you work on needs a coating so as to prevent the fresh bright work from corroding. McMaster part #7437k15 seems to work well in up to 5Kw for treating bright work/electrical contacts against corrosion. Otherwise Kraig Deoxident, I’m told especially the one with copper impregnated in it, also works well.
Sanding without treatment of the surface afterwards is only a temporary fix that will lead to problems later.