Frugal fix: The Tri-light Zone

We have several lamps that were made to take tri-light bulbs. They can be clicked to low, medium, or high intensity. Two problems with this: tri-light bulbs are now hard to find and expensive, and a couple of those lamps needed repairs. The switch on our china lamp had suddenly stopped working, and one of the others turned out to be doing dangerous things inside its workings.

So Mr. Fixit took them apart and reconfigured them to take standard bulbs. He says that the biggest problem with fixing lamps these days is that you can only get certain types of innards, and they're not all compatible with older parts. But he has been doing these sorts of repairs for a long time, so he knows what's safe to mix and match.

The china lamp has a new on-switch spliced into the cord.

And the bedroom lamp is no longer coming on without warning.

Moral of the story: stay safe and make sure your electricals are up to date.