Expert: Rodger Knutson - 5/25/2010

Question
I have problem with the coins following Thurs to coin tray and  the handle will not pull down, it feel struck  
the slot worked 5 years ago  I been looking for some help or someone to repair it.   

                              Thanks   David

Answer
Hi David,

Model 873 built in 1970, "Five Line Pay" Five times the money, five time the fun they say in the sales add. This sold for $1,695.00 when it was new in 1970. Five times the fun or five times the problems, or it could be anything causing these problems. This is a Electro/Mechanical slot machine and the perfect manual for it and the best for someone who does not know a great deal about it is the Bally Manual Number 2400. If you need one you can get it here:

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

Look for:
Bally Electro/Mechanical Manual Number 2400. This is about the best manual Bally ever made for the Electro/Mechanical machines, from the 700 Thu the 1000 model number series machines. Includes wire color codes which will tell you what solid colored wire is caring which voltage and what circuit that is for like the 50 volt coils circuit, etc. Also has detailed stepper units for some of the models. Very good book, good for learning and troubleshooting with. 131 pages of great information. Some of these Manuals may be too large to email, if so, you will receive a email with a link to where you can just click the download button there, and download it very fast and easy.

And this manual listed there, also would also be very helpful to you:

Bally Electro/Mechanical Trouble Shooting Manual/Guide. This is great help for finding those problems with your Bally e/m slot machine.

For something to do right off the bat to try to fix this machine, would be to wire brush the plugs on the back of the reel mechanism and on the back of the coin hopper, these plugs are made out of aluminum and when the sit, they corrode. If you clean the living heck out of these aluminum pins so they shine, this could cure your problems or at least not be one of the problems. I have found this is one of the biggest problem areas on this slot machine model and it is the very first thing I do when repairing them. Auto parts stores or hardware stores sell a wire brush that looks like a large tooth brush, and this works good. If you clean those aluminum pins enough you will most likely go through a couple of these brushes. It takes time, but this needs to be done. Later machines used a gold plating to cure this problem. The handle release circuit goes through these plugs. If the coins are just dropping through an being rejected, this could be a coin mechanism problem so try opening the door and flicking the coin switch wire under the coin mechenism to see if this "coins up" the machine. I am not sure if I know someone or not, who can help you repair this machine, if you gave me the city and state where you live I could think about it some. Try these few ideas, items or fixes first and see if this helps any. It could be other things also causing this, but where do I start without having the machine right in front of me? I would start with these aluminum pins and also inspect the plugs to make sure there is no damage to the "cabinet end" of these plugs from shoving in the reel mechanism and the coin hopper. Also check the fuses with a ohm meeter, don't just look at them as they can burn off on the ends, where you cant see it, and they could look just fine to the eye.

Thank You David

Rodger Knutson
http://www.coinslots.com