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This lamp harp is welded to the lamp so cannot be easily replaced. The screw for the shade was welded on and broke off. Any suggestions for how to repair? I've tried various glues with poor results. I don't own a welder but willing to buy a basic one if there's a good chance of success. Always willing to buy a tool and learn a new skill when appropriate. I'm trying to think of some mechanical way to do this with brackets or other hardware. Drawing a blank.

harp

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  • Would try grinding/sanding both pieces clean and soldiering them together or using epoxied glue. Welder nice for steel, but doubt you have steel there.
    – crip659
    Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 3:16
  • I've recently had some (surprising) success with those so-callsd "welding rods" you may have seen advertised on social media sites. They're really more like a flux-cored "silver-solder" which appears aggressive enough to be able to wet and join a variety of different metals. You'd also need a small butane torch or something similar to get the bits hot enough to melt the 'rod'.
    – brhans
    Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 4:39
  • A lamp kit is a lot cheaper than a welder and comes with a new harp. I would try a HQ adhesive like epoxy, gorilla glue (polyurethane), or JB weld first; there shouldn't be a lot of torque on it and if you build it up a bit it should hold quite well.
    – dandavis
    Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 17:17

3 Answers 3

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Your first consideration has to be evaluating the value of the lamp. There are various factors that would need to enter into the decision equation as to whether to repair or replace:

  1. Sentimental attachment
  2. Part of a set of lamps
  3. Cost of repair
  4. Replacement cost

If you land on the side of repair then I can see a number of possible options.

  1. Take the whole lamp to a lamp repair shop and get experienced parts replacement advice or leave it with them to repair.
  2. Take the lamp and broken off bolt to a machine shop that has a small TIG welder and get them to weld the bolt (or a replacement bolt) onto the harp. I do not recommend doing this as a first time DIY welder as welding thin small parts is an art that requires considerable experience and the necessary equipment would outstrip the replacement cost for most lamps.
  3. Consider the lamp socket holder itself on the lamp to see if it is removable. If it is it may be possible to purchase another type of replacement lamp socket assembly without the welded on harp. There are harp lower saddles that mount under the lamp socket and clamp into place. Then a new lamp harp can be clipped to the saddle with ease. The picture below shows what this would look like.
  4. If you have any metal working tools it may be possible to craft up a pair of small metal blocks that you could clamp to top of the harp with two screws through one half and threaded into the other half. A new shade retainer bolt could be a stud that fits down into a threaded hole into top of one half of clamped on blocks.

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Picture Source

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  • This is an excellent answer. If I follow it strictly, it would probably go something like this: I have a very nice lampshade that I like on a terrible cheap base. The socket is also welded on. The easiest and most sensible solution would be to buy a whole new lamp with a better nicer base, throw away the new shade and get on with life. However this being DIY I want an excuse to learn something new and I'm drawn to the several suggestions that I learn to braze. I might try brazing it, or maybe a variation of your #4, clamp something to the harp and braze the screw to the clamp.
    – jay613
    Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 18:38
  • I accepted this answer because it provides good solutions for various practical situations. I in fact went with solution #3 here. I fully disassembled the lamp, it turns out that what looks like the lamp socket holder in my picture is just a decorative harp base. The actual socket is inside it. It was not as easy as just replacing the upper half of a standard harp, but replacing the base shown with a standard harp base and standard harp was simple and looks great.
    – jay613
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 20:16
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Likely needs to be brazed and repainted if you want to do it right. If you just want quick and dirty, try using a grounding clamp. mcmaster.com/grounding-clamps/grounding-screws/

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  • Brazing was my first thought, as it's relatively inexpensive, reasonably easy to learn and well suited for a small item such as this.
    – fred_dot_u
    Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 15:16
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Per the accepted answer above, here is a picture of the old and new harps with their respective bases. I originally saw the old harp as "welded to the lamp" but in fact it was welded to its own base that was attached to the lamp in the usual way, and it was easily replaced as shown here.

I was excited to develop my non-existent brazing skills as suggested in another answer, but I'll have to leave that to another time.

enter image description here

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