Instead of using #86 bulbs with the diodes and drilling of holes, I
simply
used #84 bulbs. These are bulbs that have the same profile as the #86,
but
only require 40 mA (or .04 Amp) per bulb! Thus the total power
dissipation
for four bulbs will be approximately 1 Watt! I noticed when I was
reassembling
the clock, that there is about a 1/8th inch gap above the back wall to
the top of the clock. I don't know if this was intentional, or if it
was added on the later version of TZ, but it should provide enough
ventilation
for 1 Watt of power dissipation. I must state that the light intensity
of the clock is considerably less now. However, I prefer the lesser
intensity
light; it gives the clock a mysterious (ghostly) feel as opposed to a
bright happy feel. Somehow that seems more appropriate for the Twilight
Zone theme. As I recall, most of the TZ TV episodes were dark in
nature.
BTW, the #84 bulbs also have a 20,000 hour life expectancy. Also, you
could
still add the diodes and reduce the power usage to 0.5 Watts, but I fear
the intensity of the light would suffer too much.
Another thing that I did to my clock to try and reduce the noise from
gear chatter was to use a lithium based grease on the gears and gear
posts. This seemed to have worked very well, as I can barely hear the
clock
running now. Before, the previous owner used a light machine oil to
excess, and it actually leaked out of the clock onto the play field.
I had to fully dismantle the clock to clean up the nasty oil and apply
the lithium (white) grease. The grease should have a tendency to stay
on
the gears and not leak out of the clock. Also, white grease is
"cleaner"
in nature than machine oil. I'm a little upset with myself for not
using
the white lithium grease on the moving parts for the gum ball machine,
but I
didn't think of it at the time. BTW, if you didn't know, the hardest
part of
dismantling a TZ play field is doing the steps for removing the gumball
machine;
what a pain.
Note: The usual disclaimers apply.
Best Regards,
John Hermann