Introduction
I picked up a Commodore 64 at a Vintage Computer Festival that the seller disclosed had a broken power switch that would not move. I was able to get it at a significant discount hoping that was all that was wrong with it. Fortunately, it was!
Case Study
Replacement power switches can be found on eBay for about $5 to $10. I was able to salvage the one I used off a parts board.
The first step in this repair is to desolder the switch from the board. I used my Hakko FR-301 desoldering iron for this task. The holes are pretty big, and it popped right out without too much trouble.
The second step is to solder in the replacement. That is it!
Comments
This is an easy fix if you are handy with desoldering and soldering. Note that this switch was stuck and lost its ability to rock back and forth. Some switches get gummed up inside and lose contact rendering it unable to power on even the switch rocks. For these, I spray contact cleaner into the spaces and rock the switch several dozen times to loosen the gunk.