Tex:
Have you ever seen these types of surface mount switches?
These bring back childhood memories!!!
Originally they used to be made with a white porcelain base.
But now the entire device is made out of either Urea (ivory coloured), Bakelite (brown) in the case of Leviton.
Eagle makes theirs with a Melamine (white) base and either a Bakelite or Urea cover and toggle.
They usually go for about 2-4 dollars.
There is also a more heavy-duty (more expensive - from 7 to 10 dollars) variety available, although I've never seen it used anywhere.
It looks like this:
I also have a really old surface-mounted rotary switch. It was from a company called Diamond H and the cover is a paper lined brass cup on a porcelain base (about 3 inches in diameter!). It makes a loud KLAK noise when you turn the handle.
I don't think I want to hook that up anywhere...maybe one of these days I'll take pictures so you can see the guts.
[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 11-21-2002).]