1970's Ballys Slot Machine - How do I find out more?

[voodoo_ca]

Hi Everyone - new here.

I have been sitting on an older slot machine with some issues for a few years now. Basically an old friend passed away and I was able to buy it from his estate sale.

It doesn't work properly, and now that I have some more room in my house, I want to get it out of storage and start looking at what I can do to make it work again.

I am totally green to most of this, so I am not even sure I can get it working again - but I thought it was worth a shot to start looking.

It is a Bally Double Chance unit and has a few markings inside that lead me to believe its 70's vintage.

Where can I look on the machine to find out the "model" - or is there such a thing?

Thanks for your knowledge in advance!

Chad

[proten]

On the right side of the machine
below the handle is the ID plate.
Stamped into the top black area
of the plate is the date it was made.

[voodoo_ca]

Thanks proten,

I have included a picture of what I think you are talking about - but I don't think it has a date on it.

See what you think.

Thanks
Chad

[proten]

Didn't know that it's a Dublin machine.
They are different.

[mark the spark]

looks like a 1973 model 957 progressive continental is there by chance another progressive meter above the one shown in the pi9cture
must say looks in good nick post some pictures of the insides

[voodoo_ca]

Ok, Ill show you some of the insides!

[voodoo_ca]

And Again...

[voodoo_ca]

Again...

[voodoo_ca]

4 more to go!

[voodoo_ca]

And that's all folks!

[mark the spark]

so what happens when you plug it in?

[voodoo_ca]

When its plugged in most of the lights seem to come on.
There is a very loud hum that seems to come from the top of the unit - in where the progressive meters are.
The arm doesn't pull - unless I pull the lever forward that you can see in IMG_5296 at the bottom right corner - When I get it to pull, the wheels spin but they just seem to free wheel... and the don't stop spinning.
The coins seem to just drop right through the coin system down into the slot at the base of the machine IMG_5293 at the bottom right.
Return button seems to be stuck - at least it doesn't push down.

I don't understand why there are 3 possible routes for the coins - maybe someone can explain?
Coin return, coin into the dispenser at the bottom, coin into the slot that goes under the machine.

[OldReno]

Nice machine.  Make sure you find out where that hum comes from before you leave it plugged in for any length of time.  It might be a coil stuck on, and will fry if you leave it on.  Pull the top glass and isolate where it is coming from.
Also, you might oil your clock first off to make sure it can unwind(?), and allow all the switches to get back into the at-rest position, or idle state.  The clock is on the left side of the reels, and has a spinning fan attached to it.  Also, please download the Bally EM Manual which should help a lot.
You can find it as the first link shown here --
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=23910.0

[Op-Bell]

It's a model 1064 single coin machine made for the British market. Bally set up the Dublin assembly plant to reduce transport costs and avoid EC customs duty, though unfortunately by the time it got going the market had moved on. The parts are identical in every respect to American machines, though.

There seems to be a bit missing from your hopper - that would be a thing like a nerf golf ball on an arm that operates a microswitch. Its purpose is to send coins down into the cash box under the machine when the hopper is full. If it's sending all coins down that way, the diverter coil under the coin mech (see pic) isn't being operated by the hopper-full microswitch. You could try just bending down the tab to press the armature down so that everything goes to the hopper.

Talking of the hopper, why is there what looks like a turtle that fell into a blender stuck to the middle?

(edit) I'm going to answer my own question on that. It looks like the hopper shelf wheel has been turned down to take a pretty large coin. You can see the witness marks of the older, smaller coins on the wheel, not resting on the shelf. I presume the person who did that mod lost the nut. You may need to get a new hopper shelf wheel. It also looks like the magnet has been taken out of the coin acceptor, which tells me it's been used for steel coins, maybe English 2p pieces.

[voodoo_ca]

Thanks Everyone,

I will look over that manual and try and understand some things about the machine.

I noticed that the hopper had something in the middle - I didn't know if that was a rust/mould/oxidation kind of thing or a modification.
I don't completely understand your hopper shelf wheel - I understand the concept, but I cant completely see where you got the evidence.

I did find it interesting that there is a Canada Coin mechanism in the machine. I previously thought I saw something about our gambling commission here... but I may have been hallucinating.

I figured that there was a magnet or something where you marked the coin area in that picture.
I am able to divert the arm by hand and send the coin to different areas... but when its plugged in, it doesn't do it on its own.

How does the red coin return button "normally" work? It seems stuck... if in fact it should be pressed down.

Thanks again,
Chad

[mark the spark]

It's a model 1064 single coin machine made for the British market. Bally set up the Dublin assembly plant to reduce transport costs and avoid EC customs duty, though unfortunately by the time it got going the market had moved on. The parts are identical in every respect to American machines, though.

There seems to be a bit missing from your hopper - that would be a thing like a nerf golf ball on an arm that operates a microswitch. Its purpose is to send coins down into the cash box under the machine when the hopper is full. If it's sending all coins down that way, the diverter coil under the coin mech (see pic) isn't being operated by the hopper-full microswitch. You could try just bending down the tab to press the armature down so that everything goes to the hopper.

Talking of the hopper, why is there what looks like a turtle that fell into a blender stuck to the middle?

(edit) I'm going to answer my own question on that. It looks like the hopper shelf wheel has been turned down to take a pretty large coin. You can see the witness marks of the older, smaller coins on the wheel, not resting on the shelf. I presume the person who did that mod lost the nut. You may need to get a new hopper shelf wheel. It also looks like the magnet has been taken out of the coin acceptor, which tells me it's been used for steel coins, maybe English 2p pieces.

whats the difference between a 1064 and 957 ?
perhaps the coinage could be old british 10p they are a fair size

[voodoo_ca]

I just downloaded that manual and noticed that it goes up to Model 962 - Does that still have many of the same features of the 1064?

Chad

[Op-Bell]

The Irish machines are not included in my Bally database, but I see that models 1060 and 1068 were both made in 1975, so that dates this game too. There were no significant changes made to the Bally EM parts throughout the lifetime of the product, and the instructions in any manual will apply to this machine too.

The coin that fits that hopper, when set between the pins and resting on the inner disk, will exactly reach to the rim of the wheel.