How do I replace the light bulb in a K-Line bubbling water tower?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how to replace the bulb that is below the tube? If it can be replaced, what type and voltage of bulb can be used? The instruction sheet does not contain any info on this. I think that the bulb that is in the tower from the factory is too dim as the tube glows much less than the original Marx bubbling water tower. Also, does anyone know if the beacon on the top of the tank is illuminated by an LED or grain of wheat bulb?




Jim

[brianel027]

Beneath the metal base of the bubbling tower, there is a fiber board insert base with the two wire clips. This piece pulls right off revealing the light bulb and fixture, I forget whether it is a bayonet or screw base bulb, but I think it is a bayonet. I have long since modified and changed my towers so I can't recall the way they came.

You are right, Jim as the K-Line instruction sheet mentions none of this (version K131-100 publ. 1992) ... not exactly the reason they went out of business, but not very smart either.

The voltage of the bulb can be whatever accessory range you want to operate the tower at. I used a higher amperage 6 volt bulb which generates a little more heat. Of course, K-Line suggested the standard 10-14 volt range, which is fine too.

The top decorative red "beacon" on top of the tower does nothing as it. Again, I long ago modified my towers to have flashing lights, something I long ago told Mr. Klein to do with the towers and this was done on the later last versions of the bubbling water towers.

If my memory serves me right again, I believe the old MARX towers had a clear bubbling tube, whereas the K-Line ones have a slight orangey colored tint to them. Using a brighter bulb in the base should help with this, depending on your accessory volatage settings. I have a number of accessory voltage options as I have accessory coming from several sources, so I can play around a little bit - and I seldom leave anything at the as is 12-14 volt range.

Service tip The K-Line bubbling towers do not always start bubbling after the light has been on a few minutes. Try light tapping the glass tube with a small screw driver. Let me emphasize a LIGHT tap is all it takes. You want to start the bubbling, not break the tube. I've been doing this for the better part of a dozen years with no problem... it's seems to just be the way the bubbling towers are.

I also have several made at differing times, and notice slighty differing bubbling patters, just as another side note.

[Anonymous]

brianel027,

Thanks for the reply. I have a new K-Line tower and an old Marx tower. The fluid in an original Marx tube is orange. I think that the tubes containing clear liquid might be repros. The Marx tower and possibly some earlier k-line towers have a solid red piece in the top of the tank. My k-line tower is the recent Dairymens League version. It has a translucent red piece in the top of the tank with a light that blinks. Does your tower have have a red part on the base where the tube come up into the tower like the old Marx tower has? My k-line tower has a metal tube around the glass tube where it comes up through the base. Thanks again for the reply !




Jim

[Poppa_Zit]

Easy. Hold the bulb between your fingers and have two other modelers rotate the tower. [:D]

[brianel027]

I don't know about the newer versions like the Dairyman's version of the bubbling water tower. The earlier versions had a metal base with the red plastic piece you speak of Jim, coming from the base around the bubbling tube.

The top dome of the tower has always had the red dome to provide for a blinking bulb. Inorder to do this yourself, you need to work the dome off the tower walkway as it is glued on.

Maybe someone at K-Line figured it out, but I did personally sit in Maury's office and tell him the revisions and improvements I made to my tower (amongst other things), all of which were later done by K-Line. So maybe (at least sometimes) I actually do what I am talking about - at least when it comes to this hobby!

Making a modification to the earlier towers (I made a totally new base) with the bubbling tube inserted into a metal pipe with the light bulb inserted into this directly below the tube will increase illumination of the tube as well as keep the heat from the bulb focused more directly on the tube, thus assisting with the bubbling effect.

It's also quite easy to make other modifications to the tower allowing the mounting (and easy change) of billboard advertisements to the tower along with illumination.... another standard modification I have made to my towers.

[Anonymous]

brianel,

Could you tell me more about the billboards you made for your tower? I would like to make those.


Jim

[bibeaud]

QUOTE: Originally posted by brianel027


The top dome of the tower has always had the red dome to provide for a blinking bulb. Inorder to do this yourself, you need to work the dome off the tower walkway as it is glued on.
.....
Making a modification to the earlier towers (I made a totally new base) with the bubbling tube inserted into a metal pipe with the light bulb inserted into this directly below the tube will increase illumination of the tube as well as keep the heat from the bulb focused more directly on the tube, thus assisting with the bubbling effect.

It's also quite easy to make other modifications to the tower allowing the mounting (and easy change) of billboard advertisements to the tower along with illumination.... another standard modification I have made to my towers.

I would appreciate the parts needed and directions for twisting (without breaking) the dome off. I have the old style without the blinking red light and would love to illuminate the top with a small bulb or LED under the red lense.

[brianel027]

Jim, the billboard idea is utterly so simple, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it.

Velco. There's all kinds of ways to make you own billboards: ads from the glossy coupon slicks in the Sunday paper are a good source of material. Using a Mac-based computer with Quark Express (a graphic arts program) makes easy work of doing your own. Even in Microsoft Word you can set blocks and boxes of text to add to a billboard. I took a McDonald's Fruit Pie package, cut and trimmed it, mounted it to a piece of black 4-ply matt board with a reverse box of type I set that says something like "First exit one mile past the train station."

Once you make your billboard, you use self-adhesive Velco pieces on the tower and on the billboard, which enables you to change the billboards as frequently as you want.

If you repaint the tower (which means disassembling the whole thing) you can add an addition styrene tube on the inside along one of the posts running some wires up towards the top. Using a piece of basswood you can attach a mounting for what ever kind of lights suits your scrap box. I made one using a couple pieces of bent brass wire glued into the wood piece which is glued to the tower. A clear drinking straw with a piece of folded aluminum foil partially inside the straw makes the light shine downward. Inside the straw I insert a couple of mini CHRISTmas bulbs pulled out of their plastic socket with wires soldered on instead.

David, to remove the top dome you'll need a small straight jewelers screw driver in which you'll work around the diameter of the tower to pry it off of the black handrail base. It is glued on but it will come off without being ruined if you are careful. To illuminate the red dome on top, I added a couple wires running along the inside of one of the tower legs (as mentioned above) and wired in another mini CHRISTmas light bulb socket with a mini-flashing bulb. Using a scrap piece of gray packing foam, I cut a piece almost the inside height of the top dome. The flashing mini-llight socket goes through the center of this foam which I glue to the top black handrail base. The foam keeps the mini bulb aimed upright so that you can slide on the removed dome piece and have the top of the flashing mini-bulb protruding into the red beacon light dome which is also glued into the dome.

As I mentioned earlier, I've pulled apart all my towers right as I bought them. Primed them, repainted them, and then made some or all the changes as mentioned. I've also made new bases for mine to replace the somewhat large metal or plastic bases that come with them (depending on whether it is a spotlight or bubbling tower). I've made bases out of homosote or bass wood and paint them with flat gray to look like concrete. The smaller base is helpful on a small layout where space is at a premium.

I've also made or chopped bases for Lionel Diesel Horn stations and the MTH Animated Freight platform. I friend said I would never fit that animated freight platform in the space I had. I said, Yes I would and I did.

This to me is what makes the hobby fun. And as train products tend to get bigger and more scale proportioned, I find my little projects more necessary. Although in all fairness, some of the older postwar ones were a tad on the big side too. I carefully cut off the base and some of the pipe on my Lionel Banjo Signal, so I could mount it directly into a drilled hole in the layout allowing me to make the Banjo Signal smaller in height. There's one wire inside the pipe that I wired into another lead. And then I sanded off the paint on the bottom of the shortened pipe and soldered another wire directly to this - and it works fine. More importantly I looks WAY better on my small layout.

I could go on. I could probably write a very big book on the alterations and modifications I've made to existing products for my somewhat small layout. Who needs high tech? Low tech is pretty cool on it's own and also much more affordable!

[Anonymous]

brianel,

Thanks for all the information.




Jim