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Is there a way to adjust the reels on a wms so they fall exactly on the line?   On a Bally there are screws to raise or lower the reel so the symbol lands exactly on the line.   I'm sorry I'm so anal but.... dead center is dead center  :72-

I don't know about Ballys, but on S+'s...I can loosen the reel shelf screws and raise or lower the shelf as needed.
The reel shelf has slotted holes for this reason.
I would think that the Ballys did the same...hope this helps ya! :89-

Bally's have a wing nut on each reel basket frame that lets you adjust the alignment of each reel. Of course, I maintain that the reason that they have it is that their machines are inferior to begin with and therefore need it, since the darned reels change their stopping positions slightly every time the machine moves the reels in slow mode. This happens at boot up and in certain test options.

JDK, I have not seen an adjustment in the Wms. However, with the dotmations, at least, the baskets tend to lean over after a while. :25-  I wouldn't say that the symbols were off the payline, but they were slanted, and it bothered me, so I know what you mean.

I don't know if your problem is from the same cause, but what I did to solve that problem was to make three shims by flat-rolling pieces of clear tape to the thickness that I needed, and then taping them to the bottom of the the end (right side) of the back black-plastic arm of each reel basket assembly that sits against the reel shelf to "straighten" out the reels.

I don't think that JDK is talking about the leaning issue, but rather that a symbol is landing just below or above the line when it's supposed to be on the line.

Yes, there is an adjustment.  Look on the reel basket and you'll see a little black "U"-shaped opto flag.  That's what tells the machine what is being displayed to the player.  Once per spin, that flag breaks the opto beam on the reel assembly which tells the machine where the reel is.

That flag is adjustable -- if you look closely at the part of the reel basket where the flag is, you'll see it's ribbed in that one section.  The flag can be adjusted up or down on those ribs to make the symbols higher or lower, depending on which way you adjust the flag.

Be careful.  They're generally a pain to move, and the reel baskets tend to be rather brittle.  If you break the flag or the basket you're not going to be a happy camper.  :60-

Oh, and the other thing.... since it only has the one flag to go by, it's not 100% accurate.  On one spin the symbol might be just at the right height, and on another it may be slightly off.  It's my thought that since the reel only has one point of reference, it can't be precise every time due to tiny variations with the motor, etc.  In my experience, the best you can do is get it really close, but it still varies from spin to spin.

K+ Kevin. I did notice a long time ago that the red LED comes on each time the flag passes that point, but I didn't know that those were adjustable. :71-

Yes of course there's a way to adjust this!
On the side of the plastic reel frame there's a small black
"U" shaped interruptor. this passes between the optic.
This black U plastic moves along the side of the plastic
reel frame. It will 'click' as you move it.

There's a diagnostic in the game (red button) that
lines up the reels. Use this test to adjust the reel
symbols so they are all even by moving the black
U interruptor.

Again, JDK like Kevin said be careful with the adjustment. The WMS reel baskets when older are a little sensitive, especially if you notice they are a little yellowed (they get brittle). Just take it slow and use an easy touch and you should be able to adjust with no problems.

 Dan (tacman)

great - I'll have a look at this and proceed with caution -

Stat was correct too- there is some leaning of the reels as well.    I think I'll get another set just to be safe.  How expensive are these? 

I leveled the reels and found the U interruptor and I'm all set to move it a peg or two to get the proper alignment.  Is the red button you are talking about on the front of the mpu door?   I guess I need help getting into the diagnostic reel test.

I wonder if the issues is by design... Look at this picture the reels look nice and lined up right?....  But certain stops fall below the line  :103-
I'll try to snap a picture of what I'm talking about.  It seems that some symbols are just not on the line. 

Are those original strips? or reprints from a place such as Express Imaging?
They'd have strips numbers on the back I would think...
It looks like the middle reel is just a touch low...is that middle strip in it's proper position on the reel basket?
Can you raise the middle reel a touch?

ADD>>> BTW very nice game!

Good Eye!!
It IS the middle reel that is off by the most.  I don't know if they are reprints or not.   Judging from the amount of dust on the inside I would say they are original.      I was just thinking because from this picture it is off a touch but a single bar could be completely below the line.  I also have to watch and see if it is all of one symbol or just where the reel has the symbols close together.

Yes JDK,
It does appear that some of the symbols are where normally (On an S+ for instance)
there would be a blank! Some of these symbols on your strips are indeed very close together... :89-
I saw a game once ( I can't recall) where there was so many symbols on the strips...
it's a wonder how they would ever line up for a win.... :96-

Basically, there was NO blanks...yow!

Slots didn't have blank spaces on them until some genius figured out how drastically they could improve profits and how blindly the players would accept a 50% reduction in potentially winning symbols. I believe that this practice started on the Bally EMs when they started making Jackpot-Only (JPO) strips as alternatives to the standard fruit strips. They had some that only had bars, spaces, and sevens (lightning), and some called "Jillions of Jackpots" that had lots of watermelons.

Jackpot Party Dot doesn't have any blanks at all. I have a Bally 5500 reissue of their Super Continental 4-reel EM. It's basically the same, although they increased the top prize to 10,000 since they now had stepper motors and virtual reels, but it is still a fruit/bar game with some added special symbols and no blanks.

Wms Big Bang is also not the only game to have some blanks and some contiguous symbols on the same reel. Bally Blazing Sevens does this as well, for example.

They've also returned to non-blank strips in video slots. After all, why not, since they can now completely control the number of symbols without it being too obvious to the player. They can also tweak symbol order to very carefully control what can appear together in the window by using computer-aided design and testing. Many video slots have a different number of stops for each reel. Blanks aren't necessary in these bad boys.

I lined up the reels perfectly and your right Stat  --- the symbols that are surrounded by spaces land on the line dead center.  The contiguous symbols do not line up.

To be honest, I haven't experienced that on the Wms, but the Bally's seem to always be off. They just didn't get the artwork spacing to precisely match the stepper motor stop positions so no matter which symbols you line up during calibration, symbols on other parts of the reel don't measure up. Sloppy design, IMO.

Calibration you say??  I have just been spinning until I get three of the same symbols then I open the door and adjust to perfection.   Could this be my problem?    I don't now how to get into cerebration mode. 

There really isn't one, but there is a reel strip test where it starts by spinning to the home position (all seams on the line), and then spins to each successive position. As I've recently learned, the Wms baskets have a U-shaped adjustment on the optics, but it is apparently fragile and difficult to adjust. However, if the artwork is off, as it is in the Bally ProSlots, then you won't be able to fix the problem. You will only be able to calibrate the reel at one position in it's arc of spin.

Bally has a test mode that does this as well. The problem with Bally's is that they have two spin speeds: normal, and noisy-slow, which they use in some of the test modes. The noisy-slow spins F#%K up the calibration of where the symbols land every time they occur. I find that I have to run a noisy-slow spin several times to get the reels as close as possible, and then adjust the basket positions by loosening the wing nuts and manually adjusting. What a PITA! IGT's don't have or need these adjustments.

When it comes to the Wms Dotmations, I'm in the "leave it alone" camp.

"I don't now how to get into cerebration mode."

I don't know how to get there either, is it Happy Hour??  :97- :97- :97-

 Dan (tacman)

I think I'll follow your advice stat - I got them perfect so I'll leave it be.   Celebration mode will have to wait  :72-

Here are a few pictures of what's going on.  Just so you guys don't think I'm nuts.  You can see that the reels are lined up in some but not others.

Boy, That's messed up huh?


Proves you're not nuts, JDK ! :96-

Anyways, That middle double bar is very orangeish and low...seems like there's a major gap above it...jeesh!

I'm now really suspecting wholly defective strips perhaps?
If not all three, for sure the middle strip....are they in the right order maybe?
Are they hard to remove from the baskets?
Lay them out on the table side by side and see whats going on with those screwed up symbols...

It's weird Stayout - but that's the way it's supposed to be.    There's a grouping of bar symbols that don't have spaces between them.   The double bar symbols are orange and it's only that grouping that seems to fall off the line.

It's almost like you need some one that has a game similar to yours to compare it to...

I have the exact same issues with my WMS machine.  Either the strips aren't perfect, or the reel doesn't stop in exactly the same place each time, possibly due to the single optic flag method of calculating the location of the reel.  In my experience, the best you can do is get it close.

I agree with Knagl, it seems to be the norm for these machines.  just keep your eyes on the dotomation screen and it wont bother you.

Thanks,
Wayne

lol That's what I do!

Thanks for your help everyone.  It's great to know that this is how the machine is supposed to be!

 :3-

You have to be careful, if you are hyperactive and/or obsessive compulsive, it magnifies the slot sickness tremendously. Take the Ritalin, a deep breath and count to ten!  :72-

 Dan (tacman)

Then what??! Huh?!!  Then what? :109- What do I do after counting to ten??  :126- Come on! I counted to ten, now what?! :127- I can't just sit here waiting..  :114- :118- What do I do next?  :39- :39- :39- :39-

"Which way did he go George, which way did he go?" :61-  [Looney Tunes]

 You should know! "Executive member in good standing of Rick's SMAA." There is no help! :97- :97-

Ron 

Post 273 hmm  that number looks familiar, now where did I see that before?  

Good Job Ron! The Karma's almost a match at 233. Maybe Jeff can "tweak" it for you. :72-