I rarely use the prop stick. I just lift it all the way up so its leaning on the backbox. Its definitely heavy

I use the support arm, but yeah... it always feel a bit precarious. all the widebodies seem to lean to one side - it undoubtedly puts stress on the playfield. I'm just now realizing, I have 7 games and 4 are widebodies. My 2 JJP games don't even have a support arm - maybe that's a sign.

Haven't noticed issues with mine. The toughest one I have is Data East Jurassic Park. No service rails. Tuff to get out and lift, and tuff to lower and shove back.

I never use the prop stick, especially not on TZ which is a heavy playfield. If you’ve ever tried to use it you can see it twist as it rests on it. I rest it on the rails or if I need to get underneath it gets propped up against the backbox.

I wanted to share details of the custom television set topper I've made for my TZ. It's constructed of 3/8" oak plywood and pine. The screen is a 10" LCD from an old netbook computer. The TV is running on a Raspberry Pi Zero and is running software from MP4Museum which loops a B&W TZ video file I've made with clips of the old episodes. Blue LED strips on the back door illuminate the silhouette when the lights are off.

I haven't decided whether it will be an actual topper or I'll just hang it on the wall. It is quite large and I'm not about to drill holes into my TZ to mount it. I've considered using neodymium magnets to keep it up there. Open to suggestions on that. Thanks!
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awesome man!

That is fantastic! I think you’ve one-upped me:

Almost identical setup. Mine is loaded with twilight zone episodes, old horror film trailers and pinball promo videos!

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That is freaking awesome! Amazing job!

I've been trying to think of ideas for my own topper and considered something like this. Good to know it can look so good! I really wanted one of those slot machine toppers but dear LORD did those get overpriced.

I confirm this, for me, personally, it's really a pain too.
I got side art decals and it's really an effort to pull up the playfield straight without scratching them. I got to take extreme care each time, and got to try few times before playfield locks or I can pull it straight.
My prop stick also looks like being stressed to the limit and so I use another two I did made by myself, to keep playfield steady when lifted.

This was it. Ive used tons of these and I guess they have always just came adjusted to the maximum from the factory. I never even noticed the adjustment pot. Fixed. Thanks!

Awesome!

Could anyone share the process of replacing the bulbs inside the clock? How much of taking it apart is involved? Photos would be great if anyone ever photo documented the replacement. Time to stick in some leds in there, finally.
Thanx

It’s not hard, about 6 screws. Lay down a towel, there are tiny parts which fly everywhere and which you will never find if they roll away.

(This is from memory)
Make a note of where the hands are! Take a photo! You need to replace them exactly the same way

Unscrew the clock housing from the piano hole area, and unscrew the clock from the front. Remove the small pin from the clock hand spindle. Remove the small hand and large hand. The clock face should be able to slide out now. This should give you access to the bulbs

If you power up the game first, the hands should come to the 12 o'clock position. This makes putting the hands back soooo much easier.

I took apart my clock a year ago to clean everything. Its not as hard as it may look, just document each step with your camera and reverse when assembling again.

I had some gooey sticky grease that I removed at the same time (added some new grease that others recommended but cant remember the name) and the clock got quieter afterwards.

Here: the most 90s possible tutorial.

Here's what I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-21030-Synthetic-Grease/dp/B000XBH9HI/ref=sr_1_2

Super Lube Synthetic Grease. As it is a synthetic, it won't do any harm to the plastic gears, and it really does quiet the clock down a great deal.

If you only want to change the origianl bulbs, mightbe, the installation guide for my clock board caan help you disassembling the clock, see here:

https://www.german-pinball-modular.de/tz-clock-instruction-english.html

Thanx so much everyone, I’ll be sure to follow the guidelines . Much appreciated.

And just buy Ingo’s clock board please. That will save you all the trouble. LEDs? Yes. Fixes opto clock hand issue.? Yes. Different led colors available? Yes. Works with LEDOCD? LITERALLY THE ONLY MOD WHICH DOES.

I second this. Just cut to the chase and get this; it will eliminate sooo many clock problems.

Thirded! I don’t know what clock boards I bought 10 years ago but the original boards aren’t worth keeping given the available alternatives.

+1

Get Ingo’s clock board, rebuild the clock and you won’t have to do it again.

Also +1 on Super Lube on the gear teeth, I also used a drop of sewing machine oil on the shafts. Made a massive difference to the noise the clock made, and has been running fine for months.

Before lube+oil:

After lube+oil:

Assembling the clock is easier than the instructions make it sound. I would definitely recommend taking the whole thing out of the machine and taking it apart on a towel or something. As has been said there are several tiny parts including E clips that will fly off if not careful.

The key thing is to make sure the gears intersect each other at the correct points. I wrote a mini guide here:
https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/today-i-worked-on.39368/post-252882

(Sorry to link off site)

Hope that helps!

That being said, after shopping the TZ I found (~3yrs ago), I just cleaned up the clock connections, oiled the gears, and replaced the little burned out bulbs with LEDS, and my clock is working since.

No opto has an infinite life, but my originals should be fine for home use, however I did swap my flipper opto boards for new since I didn't want to wonder if they were causing any weak flipper issue, after experiencing one bad one.

I like the clock noise.

My restoration is finally complete! Thanks to everyone in this group who helped me out with my never ending questions and photo requests in the past months!

Final post with finished product image dump:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twilight-zone-restoration-2/page/2#post-5248966

Shot for shot before and after gallery:
https://imgur.com/gallery/Kc4ovOp

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Looks great. That flying streaming rig is interesting. It must be tricky with the bundle of cords.

The cable setup isn't bad. Kind of like gen one HTC vive. Doesn't get in the way for the most part.

I purchased a TZ without a clock, if anyone has a spare lying around they would like to sell let me know. Can't wait to get this up and running.

Clock isn't needed for game to function. Don't bother waiting to fix/play while trying to source your clock.

I disagree with the majority about replacing the clock board. You can easily wire 555 LEDs to the old board. Why replace something that is functional and easily modded?

Industrial velcro works very well for attaching toppers.

I got a used boardset, wired 4 LED strips directly to the board, replaced one opto, and am now done. It can indeed be done.

I just replaced my original clock board set with an ingo board. The original boards are clean but the hour optos were not registering. I'll sell them cheap if anyone needs them.

Hello TZ Owners,

I have a TZ project I am working on which is made up of a bunch of parts but is also very incomplete. I am trying to collect enough parts to really take it on as a restoration project. That said, I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has any spare parts that you may want to get rid of or if you know of a source for the following.

Specifically I am hunting down the following at this time:
1) Twilight Zone Apron
2) Mini-inside wire chute assembly (by gumball) - A-16058
3) Right wire chute assembly (By shooter lane) - A-16056
4) Center Deflector (piano) - 01-11063
5) Small subway chute from skill shot to main subway - 03-8826
6) The mini playfield front support bar assembly
7) Some of the ball guides (the really long one that wraps around the playfield A-16796 is missing, many others are very rusty)
8 ) Any of the lamp boards (I may end up just using lamp sockets)

I have been looking for a parts machine or partial playfield, but I just have not had any luck so far. So I am searching web sites and owners to see what I can uncover. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the zone soon!

I found some of them
Here are some lamp pcbs
https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=Lamp+pcb
Here is the shooter gate
https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/a-16965p.html
Here is the switch plate assembly
https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/parts-by-machine/williams-parts/bram-stoker-s-dracula/c-11615.html
Their is a mod apron or alternative apron at pinballdecals
https://www.pinballdecals.com/PartsByGamePages/TZ_Page.html#

Thank you Parker_TZ! I ordered the shooter gate.

- The switch plate is actually out of stock but I think I can find the parts I need at Marco.
- I saw that apron a bit ago but I am holding hope for an original. I just like the original with scorecards better. But maybe I won't have a choice!
- I will look at the lamp boards and see if I can find some that look right.

Thanks again!

Coming soon, the dump of the L-5

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Will that be different to the TZ ROMs PPS host on their site?

I thought we went from L-4 to 9.2 to 9.4 to 9.4h. How does L-5 fit in?

That's something I'm asking to myself since I got my tz. Finally found someone with a rom programmer to dump it. Then with a disassembler I'll try to understand the differences.

Presumably check_switch_26 could tell us, if he feels he is able to?

Given the aftermath around 9.4ch it seems unlikely that “L-5” would be the work of anyone who was originally involved with the design of TZ.

This is not a rebranded 9.2 or 9.4H, because it doesn't have the "last ball free ride" setting... Free ride only works on ball 1. It does have the "Powerball Jackpot" audio call like L-4 unlike 9.2 or 9.4H. coin operations was perfect.

My mini-playfield stopped working all of a sudden, magnets doesnt move balls anymore. Entry-switch as well as magnets works in test. I'm clueless.
Could it be something as simple as the balls or where should I start?
Also the gum ball Popper doesnt work, How do I check if the Opto is broken or clogged or whatever the fault might be?
Could it all be connected and its something with the opto-board?

Start by checking all the fuses with a multi meter. My TZ likes to pop a solenoid fuse if I lift the playfield will the balls installed in the gumball machine. Because of that I always remove all the balls before lifting the playfield and never had a problem again. If you lift the playfield with the balls in the gumball machine one always falls into the opto sensor path and causes the solenoid to fire when you turn on the game. It seems that extra power draw is just enough to pop the fuse.

Has anyone created custom TZ coin reject button inserts? Searched but didn't find any...

Mine are pretty simple.

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Not really good unless you have 3 coin slots, but here are mine.

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Both cool.

I've been experimenting. My red buttons limit the options though.

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