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Just picked up a 4 Reel Bonus Frenzy

So when I finally got a chance to get her working.. The reels were insanely noisy.. It was an embarrassment to even play it.. So i read just about ever topic on here regarding what people suggest do to fix this issue... The overall result was 4 reel Bally slots are just noisy.. But regardless I tried everything.. to no avail... And I was not going to settle for noisy reels.. I swapped every stepper motor, every basket.. still noise.. put tape on the stepper motor to tighten the fit.. still no fix..

I knew the stepper motors were old, and vibrating a bit causing the basket in conjunction with the reel strip to resonate and amplify the sound.. I read on here someone was putting a dab of silicon on the stepper motor shaft then sliding on the basket to kinda insulate the two. That got me thinking..

I was convinced that the reel strips were the problem.. I took them all off and cleaned them, separated the basket half's and put a dab of super glue on each mating point and snapped them all back together..  set a book on it and let it dry. I cleaned the reel strips and put a new piece of "carpet tape" on the end were they overlap. (carpet tape is super strong and super thin) Baskets were done drying, I reinstalled the reel strip. Then I took scotch tap and pulled the basket sides tight to the reel strip in 6 spots all the way around. I pulled the tap from one side across the front to the other side.. tape didn't hit the reel strip. Doing this took all the play between the real strip and basket. After that I took the trusty clear silicon and put a dab on the back side where the reel strip meets the basket. I did this between ever single black little nub. Took my finger and pushed the silicon right into the crease. Kinda like fixing a sink or tub. Once both sides were done I let it dry for and hour. Remove the the tape. Grabbed stepper motor and put a couple dabs of 3-1 oil around the shaft. put black tape around the "T" bars that aline the basket, and a dab of silicone in the hole on the basket where the shaft goes. Some silicon came out the stop where the C-Cllip and washer go and I left it there and installed the clip and washer. This way it will make sure it don't rattle.

I did this for every reel..

The result.. Absolute silence! It was incredible..    It went from not wanting to play because of the noise.. To absolute silence.. mind you when I left the machine on for 6 hours or so and came back the stepper motors were warm from sitting there and u can hear a bit of motor hum when spinning.. but its 98% less noisy then it was..

I understand I have mated the reel strips to the baskets for ever.. which is fine because I will never change this machine to something different. Besides.. I have extra baskets.. The amount of silicon used is so minimal it wont effect the stepper motors..  And The motor and basket will still separate will a little force.. (I Hope)

I had a similar problem before on a 3-Reel machine.. I spent hours messing around with the stepper motors and spent no time on the baskets/reel strips.. I didn't think of it.. I ended up wreaking 2 stepper motors because I pulled them apart trying to change bearings.. which didn't work out to well.. So for now on.. I will put my attention to the reel strip/basket before the stepper motors..

I know this wont work well on the back lit reels.. but next time i might try little dabs of super glue.. The reason I didn't use super glue this time is because its very thin and didn't want it to run.. or get on the front of the reel strip. Maybe a "thick" super glue will do the trick?

I hope this helps anyone in the future.. It worked for me..

Steve



 

Excellent post red7!  :3-
It's hard to determine exactly which particular procedure did the most work in silencing noisy reels.
Either the silicone in the hub or the bonding of the strips to the reel baskets or gluing of the reel "spokes" and baskets.

I don't mind all the other adhesive bonding but I would suspect that most of us
would like to avoid bonding the reel strips to the basket rims forever.

I wish you would have tried spinning the reels in actual gameplay with the strips installed to see
if there were any difference in noise levels.
If so, then what alternatives to gluing the reel strips to the rims could there be?
Perhaps a very thin layer of soft foam in the rim grooves instead?
Maybe a rubber-like removable cement that would double as an absorber and hold?

Hey,

How I determined that I needed to all of the above was I tried it after every step. before I used the silicone to hold the strips to the reels I installed them with the tape holding them tight.. It seemed to make a big difference..  SO I decided to hold it in place with the silicone. I thought of other methods.. But the silicone isn't permanent.. I assume it could always be pulled back off.. Would be a pain.. But like I said.. In my case I would never change the game so.. Its a Bonus Frenzy for life..


I'm going to try some other methods with some 3 reel machines..I will let you know how I make out..