Tail/Whip replacement and stuck knobs

[Nephilim]

Two questions:

1) I have a 360Q with a tail that was badly spliced to a 15' extension; the splice fell to pieces when we struck so I now have a lampholder with four inches of tail sticking out. I can't see a way to loosen the strain relief in the base; any tips for how I could go about removing this OR how to do a safer splice? Furthermore, know any good West Coast suppliers of tail materials, and what conductor size/rating should i get?

2) While bench-focusing the other day, one of our S4 Jrs decided to jam the centering knob (the outer one) so that it's permanently loose. Is this a WD-40 solution or do you think something bigger is wrong? I have maybe 5 degrees of possible rotation before it sticks either way - but the base is still loose. The peak/flat knob works fine.

 

[ship]

Best solution: replace the lamp base and whip with a Altman #97-1580 improved 250c lamp base ) http://www.altmanltg.com/ which should last indefinitely and would include at least a 30" whip. Fiberglass sleeving as well as a high temperature ground wire would also be available from them, or TMB Califonia http://www.tmb.com/ should also have these parts in stock as well as a multitude of theatrical supply sources. Proper replacement of lamp base, ground and sleeve should run you about $25.00.

Otherwise, if absolutely necessary to retain the lamp base in the fixture and on a temporary basis only, this is what I would do to splice it. The distributers given are some of perhaps a few that might stock such specific splicing parts. It’s part numbers are for specific product types recommended and the one supplier that would stock such parts for sure.

McMaster Carr www.mcmaster.com has a L.A. branch (I was just looking for local San Francisco supplies today and had a look to see if it was local and it was not unfortunately.) From them I would use a 7289k1 crimp tool to crimp some #7971k42 high temperature but un-insulated butt splices to the wire off the existing lamp base whip. Splice that to 16ga SF-2 200c heat wire from TMB #7304k14 from McMaster - the same as used on the lamp base cord. Cover it with Scotch #69 fiberglass electrical tape #76455a29. I normally advocate #27 but it’s not rated as high as you need in this application. This will be a sufficient splice for the temperature rating of the fixture. Install #0 from TMB #WSLV-0B fiberglass sleeving over the SF-2 cord or #2592k51 - McMaster, or better yet #2573k14 for the silicone coated fiberglass either of which will protect the bare conductors properly.

You can do it this way but it’s cheaper and easier to install the new lamp base and throw out the old one unfortunately no matter how much being a pack rat is against our nature.

On the second question, I don’t work on them enough to have a mental picture unless the lamp cap were brought to me to physically see, so others would be better off in telling you it’s a strip etc. that will need replacement as I theorize..