RESTORATION OF MILLS DIAMOND FRONT

[Montis Slots]

THIS IS A RESTORATION THAT I UNDERTOOK ABOUT FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.
I RAN ACROSS THIS SLOT MACHINE IN RENO AND IT HAD BEEN IN A CASINO FIRE IN, I BELIEVE ELKO NEVADA SOME YEARS PREVIOUS.
NEEDLESS TO SAY I GOT THE MACHINE FOR A VERY LOW PRICE AS I DO NOT THINK ANYONE WANTED TO ATTEMPT TO UNDERTAKE IT'S RESTORATION.
IT WAS THE WORST CONDITION I HAVE EVER OBTAINED A SLOT MACHINE IN, AND I HAVE SEEN SOME REAL SICK MACHINES IN MY 30 PLUS YEARS OF WORKING ON SLOT MACHINES.
ENJOY THE PICTURES. THIS IS A TWO PART POST AS ONLY TWO PICTURES ARE ALLOWED PER POST. THESE TWO PHOTOS ARE DEFINATELY PRIOR TO RESTORATION.
CIAO,
MONTI

[Montis Slots]

HERE ARE TWO MORE PICTURES, THE MECH BEFORE RESTORATION AND THE COMPLETED MACHINE.
ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, IT WAS A DIME MACHINE AND ANYONE WHO RESTORES OLD SLOT MACHINES KNOWS THAT DIME MACHINES REQUIRE ADDITIONAL ATTENTION DO TO THE QUIRKS OF THE DIME MACHINES. IT PLAYED AND PAYED PERFECTLY CONSIDERING THE UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT THAT BROUGHT IT TO ME FOR RESTORATION.
ENJOY THE PICTURES.
CIAO,
MONTI

[Yoeddy1]

Serious skills man!  I would kill to be able to do what guys like you are capable of when it comes to restoration projects

Cheers,
Jason

[Amachanic]

Monti.... That's one sweet restoration job... I just wish I had the patience to do what you just finished. I have 2 different Mills dime machines. One is a Diamond front like the one you just finished. The second is a 1934 Castle Front that had been in storage for 45 yrs. The pay tube still had silver dimes in it dating back to 1935.. What did the cabinet look like before the restoration? I like the color you painted it and the chrome pops..

Nice Job   Gary

[StatFreak]

You did a fantastic job restoring that machine.    I'm with Amachanic. I wish I had skills like that!    



By the way, I merged the two threads. There is no need to start a new thread for the same topic. If you have several pictures to post, just reply in your own thread and make as many posts as necessary.


SF
 Global Moderator

[stayouttadabunker]

To get the machine to look like that from the condition it was in - is remarkable!
Great job with it and thank you so much for showing us your handiwork! 
You have a magic touch...!

[mike]

very cool .back for dead slot ,great job//

[Montis Slots]

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES AND KIND WORDS,
I LOVE WORKING ON THE OLD SLOTS AS I USED TO BE A SLOT MECHANIC, AMONG OTHER THINGS, IN THE FUN YEARS OF THE CASINO'S, AT LEAST FOR ME, THE 60's AND EARLY 70's. THE CASINO'S OF NEVADA WERE A LOT DIFFERENT THEN.
WORKING ON THEM IS SECOND NATURE TO ME AND VERY ENJOYABLE, I ALSO HAVE SOME FOR SALE IF ANY ONE IS INTERESTED, YOU CAN EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT: montislots@thegrid.net IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO SEE PICTURES.
FORGIVE ME FOR FUMBLING AROUND THIS FORUM, I AM NEW TO IT AND I AM JUST BARELY FINDING MY WAY AROUND.
I AM MUCH BETTER WITH OLD MECHANICAL SLOT MACHINES THAN I AM WITH COMPUTERS.
CIAO,
MONTI

[Youngjedi]

Wow!   That was an awesome restoration.  That is a restoration that I love doing too...Something that looks like it just can't be restored.  You did a great job.

[Montis Slots]

Thanks Again for the kind words.
It was definitely a labor of love because when I sold it I could not in any way show my hours in restoration as part of the selling price.
I am new to this forum and enjoy the site.
My primary interest is in the older mechanical machines dating in the 20's, 30's up to late 40's.
I do have machines for sale from time to time if anyone is interested.
Ciao,
Monti

[Youngjedi]

Cool!   My friend and I started a Hobby/business where we restore the old Mechanicals.   We love doing it,  and always find it challenging.   Our main goal is to give the customer what it wants at a fair price.  Sorry if this sounds like a commercial,  but rather more of an attempt at networking.   Our site is up and we added a forum recently.   http://www.caslotrestorations.com/

My business partner has the exact Caille in his basement...looks identical to yours. 

[Montis Slots]

VERY WELL DONE SITE.
My restoration work is pretty much word of mouth referrals in my local area.
I am in Northern California pretty close to Reno/Sparks and am considering offering in home service for quick repairs, jams, Etc. and pick up and deliver for something more involved.
Probably local advertising as distant work can be a shipping nightmare, I worry about loss and damage.
Since I am retired, so to speak, I just enjoy looking at and working on all the old machines.
I have seen many machines, but by no means have I seen them all.
I have put a picture of a machine here that I ran into and never did really find out its origin, had a Mills mech but the casting was quite unusual.
Anyway, back to your site, I really like it.
I may have missed it but where are you located?
I may be able to send some people your way.
I will probably get more info from you in the future as even though I have some good contacts for parts and such being that I have been doing this for about 35 years, there is always something that comes up that is unusual and hard to find.
I wish you guys the best in this economy.
Lets keep in touch,
Ciao,
Monti

[FORDSBS]

 
Great job. NICE work

[poppo]

Great job. I would never have the patience or skill to do something like that.

[Youngjedi]

I found some info for that mills slot pictured above.  It was found in my slot machine book by Dieter Ladwig.  The Machine is nearly identicle to the Mills Heros made in 1930.  It was made for the German market and distributed by Rhein-Rurh-Automaten in Dusseldorf.   The only difference I have found with your machine and the one in the book is the absence of a center jackpot.

Hope that was helpful.   

[Montis Slots]

Thanks for the reply,
Of all the books I have, the Dieter Ladwig book is not one of them, and I do have a lot of of the unusual Slot Machine Books but they were all published state side.
I always thought it was for the overseas market, but the slides were perfect nickle size slides and worked perfectly for nickle play.
Was probably a casting that never made it overseas and at some point in time had a Mills nickle mech inserted.
Definitely was a conversation piece amongst my fellow slot restorers.
Ciao,
Monti

[Youngjedi]

The excerpt in the book also states that it was banned in 1935 by the Hitler regime.  Other than my book,  I have never seen something like that machine before.

[Montis Slots]

Well guess what,
I never cease to amaze myself.
I was looking through my library of books on Slot Machines and I found a book I picked up a long time ago, it is the Dieter Ladwig book and low and behold there is the machine we have been talking about on page 11.
Gee, don't I feel dumb.
I've always picked up books on slots every chance I had and I guess I should spend the time to read them after I pick them up. DUH!!!!
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Take Care,
Monti

[hd474]

Old thread, new answer...

I restored one of these:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4846.0

If you google for "Tura Bell" you will find more pictures.

They were called "Tura Bell", were made in Germany (City of Leipzig) using a Mills mechanism with many different cabinet styles. After the second world war many of these machines were converted to meeet the new german laws. Reel strips were changed, the new ones showed only numbers instead of fruits and more important, one game had to last 15 seconds minimum. As far as I know this conversion was done bei Rhein-Ruhr Automaten in Duesseldorf, Germany. Getting more details about this is rather difficult even for me and I live in Duesseldorf...!

Jens

[Montis Slots]

Yes, I am familiar with the European machines.
I have run across a few in my 35 plus years of restoration, ones that made their way back across the "pond", so to speak.
They either used a different clock mechanism or a modification to slow the game down.
It was my understanding, even though I may be wrong, that when the machines were made "illegal' here in the states, that Mills shipped mechs and cabinet casting overseas so as to continue the sales of their machines.
I have seen both the Hightops and Halftops with this modification back in the late 70's and early 80's, not to many around now, used to change them back as there was no call for the numbered reels in the states, people wanted them as they originally were made for this country.
The one I pictured here is called a Diamond Front, for obvious reasons, but there were many versions of this casting, Golden Falls, Cherry Front, Etc.
This particular casting, along with the Hightops, were reproduced in a large scale in the 70's, lot of reproduction castings out there, they don't hold their value like the originals produced from Mills Novelty Company, Chicago and the casting is slightly smaller due to duplication process.
Nice chatting with you,
Ciao,
Monti