I think this one falls under the annoyance category.
About a month ago I went to use my little Craftsman lathe that hasn't been used in a long time. Its 120 volt so I plug it in, move the switch to the on/forward position and the breaker kicks. Also some smoke rises out of the switch. Crap, burned up a switch for some unknown reason.
So I unplug the lathe and remove the cover from the switch. Crap again, whoever wired this thing must have bought the wire in 1/4" length increments and they sure didn't waste a dime on any extra wire. So I map out where all the wires go, 5 from the motor and some jumper wires. Remove the switch to find one terminal completely burned off.
Over the next couple days I get online and order a replacement 3PDT, On Off On, 125v. 10 amp. switch. Life is good, it even had free freight which little did I know, that isn't a good thing, at least not with this company it isn't. On Dec. 31st the company sent me an email saying USPS had the switch and gave me a tracking number.
Over the next week I watch the tracking number and the switch had never left the original post office. I figure I better get a backup plan in place so I find another company with the switch and no free freight so I ordered a switch from them. That switch arrived 3 days later so the following weekend I installed it. Checked all the wires to make sure nothing was grounded out, looks fine. Plugged in the lathe which immediately kicked the breaker, Crap. Take off the switch cover but can't find any reason for it to trip the breaker. Outside it is in the high teens below zero and my shop is holding about 10 degrees above zero so I call it quits and go watch a movie with the wife.
Over the next week (last week) I keep thinking about what the problem could be. I even talk to others that are orientated to electrical stuff like this. Everyone says I have wires shorted so pull all of them out and start over which would be a lot of work. Tuesday the tracking number for the first ordered switch says it is at the destination post office so I checked my po box that night, nothing. Wednesday same thing. Thursday same thing. Friday, same thing so I called the post office, asked if they had a package for me, lady says, nope. I gave her the tracking number so she could see what I was seeing. Sure enough, they found it and I picked it up that night, 23 days from when it was shipped.
Saturday I didn't have time to work on it so Sunday morning I am tracing out wires just to be sure there isn't something I have missed. Everything looks good so I figure the next step is to uninstall the 2nd ordered, first received new switch and put the meter on it. Sure enough, two poles are always closed regardless of what position the switch is in. No problem, I now have the first ordered, second received new switch. But I'm wise now, I'm gonna check it first. Crap, it turns out to be the wrong switch, it is an On On switch but I need a On Off On switch. I don't know if I ordered the wrong switch or if they shipped the wrong switch but either way it won't work.
Now back to the second ordered, first received new switch that shorts out. I took it apart, sure enough two of the rocking contactors are stuck in the closed position. After a few minutes with a small screw driver I was able to pry them out. Things are good now except I need to find that tiny spring that popped out when I took the top off the switch. While I am on the floor feeling for this spring, my wife walks up, asks if she needs to know what I am doing, I just say, nope. She walks away.
Finally the switch is all together and installed. Lathe runs fine, forward, reverse and stop. Life is good but it's too late to do anything so I go watch a movie.
Moral of the story is always check a new switch before installing it and be extra careful of free freight.
