Expert: Rodger Knutson - 2/6/2010

Question
hi i have a sega mark 10 continental armed bandit it takes 1 pence coins but i can not get the reels to spin a full turn they stop short{ they move about 2 inches and stop,  and i can only play on free play as the coins get stuck in the top rail if i try to play with coins so if you have any pics that might help or any advice that would be grate thanks for any help Steve rimmer England

Answer
Hi Stephen,

Oh yes, the Sega Continental, what a fine machine! Before I start here, you might find a little more information on this by doing a search for Sega up in the search box here at allexperts as I have had questions on this machine before. Also here are links to two completed auctions here in the U.S.A. for this machine:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sega-10-Cent-Continental-Antique-Slot-Machine-Works_W0QQitem...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sega-Continental-Mad-Magazine-Slot-Machine-Vintage-10-c_W0QQ...

But I think these links are of the very same machine, being sold twice. As for the inside of you machine, it is all basic Mills type reel mechanism, and a little different coin escalator. So any mills manual will get you through it just fine, and if you need one, there are manuals located on this web site:

http://jackpot7.freeyellow.com/page21.html

Look for the Mills manual called the big one, it's a great do it yourself manual, or the mills high top manual there which is very basic and a much smaller manual, as the Sega mechanisms are almost identical to the Mills, with changes and add on's.

Right off the bat, your problems sound to me that this mechanism is dirty, sticky and needs to be serviced, maybe dissembled, cleaned, and greased and oiled. I could be wrong as I can't see it, but this, in my experience is what will happen when this hasn't been done in many years. The Coin escalator can be removed with three screws and dealt with separately in the cleaning. If a coin escalator is not working just right, it will jam up your machine, and cause other problums, its one of the most important items of the mechanical slot machine. Now as for you reel mechanism stopping early or right away, this could be a one problem or a host of different items would, or could, cause this to happen. To find this answer, you will have to remove your mechanism, and using a screw driver as a handle, play the mechanism and study it as it's kicked off, to see why its stopping right away. There is a clock, (item with a spinning fan) located on the base plate of the mechanism in back, right side as you look. This clock is wound up just before the machine kicks off, and it's job is to slow the mechanism down while it's in play, without it your mechanism would just kick off and stop right way without hardly even a spin. Does this sound familiar? When a mechanism is wound up and just before it kicks off, all the springs are stretched tight and without this clock to release all this spring tension slowly, the reel mechanism would just snap to a stop. So Stephen, now you have a general idea of how the mechanism works, so now you can study it's operation and be able to find out why this is not working as it should. This is about the best I can do as for helping you repair this machine, as I can't even see the mechanism to help you from here. If you watch the action of your mechanism very close, you will have a very good chance of being able to fix it yourself. If you get that manual, the Mills manual called the big one, it will have detailed information and photo's of parts, how they work, and what they do, sort of thing and most important, part identification and location. Again it is for a Mills machine, but Saga's were made using original Mills machineing stamps and dies, as Mills had three sets of dies, and when they went under, Sega bought One of the three sets, the set that was almost never used by Mills! So, Sega's are very good slot machines.

I hope this information is going to be a lot of help for you, and you can fix your machine, I know you can do it. Need any more information or help just ask, if you have photo's you would like to send, send them to me at Jackpot7@q.com

Thank You Stephan,

Cheers!

Rodger Knutson

Http://www.coinslots.com