Bally Slot Machine Repair

Posted on  by admin

Owning a vintage slot machine is one of those fun yet daunting ideas. Many old school one-armed bandits are beautifully designed and instant conversation pieces. Plus slot fans who own a machine don’t ever have to worry about losing money to the house.

Make Bally 6000 or 5500 Pro Slot No Hopper Pay. Using the PE Plus Poker Denomination Set Chip. S5500 Clear in machine. S5500 CLEAR IN MACHINE. Click icon to open/download PDF file. Bally E Series Service Booklet. Bally's, IGT, CEI. IGT Slot Machines; Bally Slot Machines; Williams Slot Machines; Specials; Claw and Crane Machines; Repair and Technical Information. Install or remove FutureLogic Gen2 Printer; IGT IGAME AND GAME KING. How do you set the time on an IGT IGAME Video machine? IGT IGame Key 22 Install Instructions; Converting a Game King from 13' CRT. Welcome to The Mantiques Network and Jim Schafer's Antiques. Studio and Showroom is located in beautiful Orange California between Angel’s.

Still, most antique machinery breaks down or wears out eventually and finding a repair person who knows how to fix a piece of equipment that’s over 50 years old can be tough. Thankfully, antique slot machine enthusiasts have figured out how to use the internet and uploaded plenty of great information about repairing these mechanical marvels.
Newer slots will require you to know a bit about computer circuitry, but the classics just need a screwdriver, wrench and a magic touch. (OK, you probably need more tools than that.) Watch the videos below to understand how the slot machines work and what’s required for common repairs. Even if you’re not ready to plunk down a grand or more for a classic slot machine, you’ll probably get a kick out of understanding what makes those coin swallowers tick. If you want to quickly itch your scratch for playing slots, you can also check out an online casino likeRoyal Vegas Online Slots. Finally, enthusiasts who are serious about buying a vintage machine may want to take a look at the Antique Slot Machine Pricing Guide.

Charles August Fey, a Bavaria-born inventor, was living in San Francisco when he invented his first gambling machine in 1984. His games grew to be so popular at local bars, he quit his day job and opened a factory to start mass producing them, most notably the Liberty Bell machines in 1899. A lot of the functionality from that early game remained in place through much of the 20th century. Watch this video to see the seven mechanical actions set into motion when you pull back the bandit’s arm. The inner workings are probably a little more complex than you expect.


Given that a lot of old slot machines are hand built, it isn’t surprising that coins can get jammed on their way through the mechanism. Big warning: If your machine jams, don’t force the arm or you can break, twist or damage a part inside. Different models and makes tend to have common jam points. The Mills model shown in the above video can have coins stuck in the “elevator” section that displays the last five coins dropped into the machine. Getting the slot working again can be as simple as cleaning the gunk off of an old part. You just need to be smart when you’re disassembling and reassembling the machinery.

Okay, there are plenty of more places where a coin can get stuck and the above video demonstrates how to fix a variety of jams. It also explains how to disassemble the major parts of the machine and where common problem areas are.

Machine

Slot Machine Restoration Near Me

Curious how an antique slot machine knows how much money a winner gets? This video shows the punch-card like communication that trips payouts and how. If you ever need to replace the reel symbols or calibrate the machine you’ll need to understand how these work. Even if you don’t ever plan on owning a machine, the metallic “circuitry” is interesting to see.

Bally electromechanical slot machine repair

Want to own a modern slot machine? New ones have plenty more bells, whistles and dings, and also a lot more advanced parts. If you plan on getting one, you may want to have an idea of what’s inside. In addition to the classic reels, there are speakers, motherboards filled with programming chips and plenty of wires. Unless you have a way with a soldering iron you probably won’t try and fix it. But in case you do, here’s a clip from Discovery showing what’s inside.

Did you know newer slot machines are smart enough to test themselves when a problem happens? This video shows you the procedure for having the machine check its own system. The host’s desert dry delivery is also enough to make this vid worth a watch.

Bally Slot Machine Repair Manual

Restoration: Bally Slot machine 1090-29


Bally Slot machine
Make: Bally
Serial number:
Las Vegas Casino: Pioneer Club downtown
STOPS:
A slot machine’s computer contains what is basically a digital duplication of physical reels. Before the early 1980s, the probability of hitting jackpots, and their likelihood on any give spin, was tied to how many symbols and blanks—known as “stops”—were on each physical reel. This old electro-mechanical slots had 29 stops on each reel. By logging the symbols that landed on each reel, it was possible to perform calculations that would give you the odds of a jackpot landing on a given spin.

My goal is to rebuild the slot machine not to the point where it just functions, but a complete restoration when it left the factory, everything being complete down to the last screw.
Door electronic lock, meters, tower, switches, lights, etc.
Before:

Issues:
  • number one reel is locked and will not spin
  • the hopper is jammed
  • the wiring is butchered
  • it blows fuses
  • the upper cabinet and lower cabinet need repairs
  • handle pull is sluggish
  • the power supply is missing a ground
  • payout will not reset
  • 90℅ screws are ruined
  • inner door wiring is butchered, cut and spliced
  • all the lights need replacement
  • several switches, coils need service, cleaning, repair, full takedown
  • the belly glass is chipped, the middle glass is pealing
  • the coin drop is jamming
  • door has issues closing, change bowl panel has issues with the door
  • The key cylinders need to be serviced.
Goal: Repair all the issues, locate missing, broken parts.
After:






  • Number one reel was locked and would not spin, solution was service the reels, check each one, adjust the stop, service the complete reel assembly, serviced the piston assembly.
  • the hopper was jammed, I found a bearing upside down, I completely took the hopper apart and replaced most of butchered screws.
  • The wiring was butchered, I removed the wiring harness and removed all of the issues, I used Molex connectors, new wiring, re-soldered places that needed it, removed wiring that was 'dead'.
  • It was blowing fuses, I determined that the wiring had shorts, a broken fuse was causing a 'hot spot' which I repaired, the correct fuses was installed, everything is fine.
  • The upper cabinet and lower cabinet needed repairs, I cleaned, repaired, permanently attached both cabinets, I used brown caulking to finish the cabinets. I also disassembled the cabinet parts cleaning the inside using a wire brush.
  • Handle pull was sluggish, I disassembled the unit, cleaning the hard grease off everything, the unit is working fine, smooth pull, no more issues.
  • The power supply was missing a ground, I replaced the wiring to the wall connection, everything is new going into this slot machine.
  • Payout would not reset, I serviced a couple of switches that were butchered, cleaned the unit, the unit reset once I oiled the unit, it operated by resetting back to home.
  • 90℅ screws were ruined, I had to order all new screw by bulk and I replaced all of them.
  • Inner door wiring was butchered, cut and spliced, I had to replace wires, re-solder the wires, new Molex connectors, new lights, florescent parts, removed all of the splices, got everything working, the coin chute was replaced.
  • All the lights were replacement with NOS. The florescent parts are new.
  • Several switches, coils needed service, cleaning, repair, full takedown, everything was cleaned, checked out, made sure they functioned correctly.
  • The belly glass was replaced, the middle glass was replaced.
  • The coin drop was jamming, I found the coin chute was incorrect, replacing it with one that worked fine, dropping coins below. The 25¢ coin drop had to be adjusted, it was out of of adjustment.
  • Door had issues closing, the change bowl panel had issues with the door, I put new felt in the slot machine, the change bowl panel was disassembled, I learned the panel had swelled over the decades causing problems, I cut the panel to fit correctly, adjusted the parts, replaced screws, and after I adjusted the change bowl panel it slid into place, the door closes easily.
  • The key cylinders were replaced, all three are keyed alike to one key.

This is a example of a Bally slot machine base, this is a casino model and its identical.