Hey I ran into the same problem with the broken ironing board lever and fixed it.  Since NO ONE else out there was any source of help in any way (in fact it sort of pissed me off that one of the more common answers was to find a guy to do it, when I am one) I made my own site through yahoo to give  step-by-step process with pictures on how to fix broken levers.  It's definitely not the best website or the best photos, but fear not My ironing board has definitely been working ever since. 


Hope it helps you, and anyone else who reads this page (since it it is one of the first pages listed in google result when you look up how to fix one of these locks).

Enjoy
http://www.geocities.com/kaonyxmoon99