Blink lights malfunction

I just got a 1985 250 honda rebel, it runs ok, but a few problems start to happend, normal for a bike that old. Pls Help: The turning lights were working ok, and then they wont, the stop light work ok, but not the turning lights, so i monkey arround with the swith, and i notice that goes left and right, and up and down, so i monkey some more, and vuala, they worked agin, but then they stop working, i have been monky arround with the switch again but no luck this time. The truth is that I dont even know how they realy work. Some help pls.