Well my CQ9325A did it tome again.

In the middle of a project to make a ball turner the forward/off/reverse switch started to act up. You had to wiggle it to get it to work. This also happens to be the second switch in the lathe. The first one was replaced under warranty. I know that it had less than 1000 cycles on it. The second one has probably less than 500 cycles on it. 

The switch is a CA10-3C. This is a small stacked rotary drum switch. I had kept the bad one thinking I could use some of the parts like the knob and bezel for other things. I took the first one apart to see if maybe the the contacts could be burnished. No way it could be repaired, the problem seems to be the plastic cams that operate it. The contacts are also very small, 3/32. The seller of the lathe said the replacement switch was $21 and shipping. Not bad. He also stated that they were out of stock and did not expect any to arrive for 4 to 6 weeks. I decided to see what I could find on the web. I did find the exact same switch made in China and also one made in Europe, priced from 30 to over 100 dollars. The out of stock comment made me think that a lot of people are having problems with this switch so I decided to put a good American made machine switch on it.

I found a Dayton, reversing drum switch, 2X440 though my local Grainger supply company. ($52 and change) This thing is a beast. contacts look like they are made from a 1/8 X 1/2 bar. looks like you could put 100 amps thru it. Easy to wire and very simple operating mechanism.

Works great and I think that it will save money in the long run.

David