Removing glass from ceiling light fixture

I've been trying to get the glass cover off of a particularly stubborn ceiling mounted light fixture and I just can't figure it out. Although there is some play in the glass cover, it doesn't rotate appreciably so it doesn't appear to be notched somewhere along the circumference in the usual way. It also doesn't pull down (though there's play that way too).

I slid by finger all along the circumference between the glass cover and the ceiling and found a knob or lever of some sort that looks sort of like the shaft of an allen wrench, but the knob/lever doesn't push in or pull out or pull sideways.

I am able to unscrew the knob/lever (I thought for a moment that if I unscrewed it that would allow the glass cover to drop out), but that doesn't seem to do anything and besides, I can see that the threaded part when you take it out is not nearly as long as the base from which it comes so there's no way that it reaches far enough in to get to the glass cover.

The first pic below is a pic of the fixture, and the second is the lever I found.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance

 

Try pulling down on it with two hands. Some have torsion springs, similar to what this fixture has.

Lithonia Lighting / Acuity 6G1BN-LED-M6 Directional Recessed 2-Sided Torsion Springs Mount Downlighting Gimbal LED Module; Steel, E26- Base

 

Thanks for the quick response. I had tried that and got nowhere. Any idea what that lever/knob does? Seems like that should be the key but I don't know how...

 

Welcome to the forums.

That looks like a setscrew that is removed with a hex key.
Could there be three of those around the light ?

If there aren't three then that one gets removed and the glass will probably turn.

Someone left a hex drive bit in place. You can use a 1/4" nut runner to remove that screw.

 

Good thought but as I mentioned earlier that knob/lever is threaded and screws out, and the threads don't go far enough into their anchor to get anywhere near where the glass cover rim would be. The first pic below is the threaded knob/lever unscrewed and all by itself. And the second pic below is what the anchor looks like when the threaded knob/lever has been removed.

Confusing!

 

Just checking. As Pete says, are there three of those around the base? Is the globe plastic or glass? Try screwing that hex all the way in, then push on it and see if it releases the globe. Or try pulling on it. If you were to turn the globe, does the whole fixture want to turn with it? That's all I got.

 

Thanks, but nope. There's only one. And the base the hex thing screws into seems completely immobile, whether or not the hex is screwed in. Can't push it in or pull it out, and can't slide is sideways in either direction.

But maybe here's a clue: I said earlier that in some places the glass cover has play in it (I can push it up a bit towards the ceiling and when I let it go it naturally drops back down). It turns out that it has play everywhere around the circumference except where that hex thing screws into its base. Any thoughts?

 

If the globe is tight in the area of that fitting then it may have to come out.

I'd be tempted to use a pair of needle nose pliers and try to remove that threaded fitting.
Try just pulling it straight out... maybe it's spring loaded.

 

Thanks. With the hex thing screwed in to that base, I grabbed the hex thing with vicegrips and pull out pretty hard. It doesn't budge.

 

Did you try unscrewing the base that the hex screws in to? You may be able to grip it with needle nose pliers. You might also try slipping different size small allen wrenches in the threaded base and see if one actually slips in place to allow it to be turned out. Sort of like a threaded insert for wood?