S-1 Coin Hopper Won't Dispense Coins

[stayouttadabunker]

Got the email...you forgot to attach the pictures...lol
Anyways, going home for the day....I'll be back in the morning.
I'll check in to see if you can get it working correctly!

[davvet2]

My camera battery is dead, so much for that!

I'l try filing on the nibs in the 7:00 position and see what that does.

Thanks for your help !

Jim

[Jim]

if you have to make the knife LAY FLAT, THEN THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!  the knife has to be flat against the pinwheel (wheel with nubs) during every and all revolutions. it can never raise up for any reason.  that is why I asked you to put coins on the wheel and rotate it manually, one complete turn and see if and where the knife is raised. when a knife doesn't lay flat the usual reason is the metal part that it is resting on . the metal part is held in place with two countersunk screws, you usually have to reshape this so the knife will lay flat against the pinwheel.


Jim

   

[davvet2]

Jim,

Someone before me trimmed the coin knife guide -- there's about a 1/8" space between the guide and the knife

I have another coin knife guide coming -- should be here in a couple days

That leads me to believe that the problems I'm having were happening before I got the machine.

I did as you advised, took the cover off -- put tokens on the plate and spun the plate.

The knife didn't move that I could see.

Thanks

[stayouttadabunker]

I totally agree with Jim on the metal part behind the knife...it has to be completly flat so the knife lays flat.
Remove the knfe and undo those countersunk screws....maybe there's something stuck behind it raising the guide plate?
Debris can gather behind it if it hasn't been cleaned or serviced in a while.
Clean the coin gunk off of everything.

I'm also wondering since you weren't able to take a pic, the nibs on your wheel, are they vertical or horizontal?
I kinda wanna see the spacing and how much they are worn.

I've seen all kinds of hopper wheels made from like...everywhere!
IGT had all kinds of sub-fabrication done all over the world.

Here's a picture of one of my hoppers and you can clearly see there's a gap starting to open between the guide plate and the knife.
Won't be long before coins get stuck behind...esp. if there's paper or human hair in the hopper!!! Yes human hair!!! 
The paper comes from players tearing apart rolls and little pieces go into the hopper with the coins and the human hair?
Well, it's usually grey... LOL

Click on photo to super-size it if you want!...>>>

[davvet2]

Thanks for the PM and the photo here.

My hopper has the horizontal nibs. I cleaned the plate - it does have a little rust on it.

I'm looking into getting another hopper plate --

Jim

[stayouttadabunker]

The bottom front part of those nibs get worn and flattened too.
I actually like those IGT wheels with the horizontal nibs better.
They never touch the 2nd angle of the knife ever! 

Here's a couple of pictures of horizontal hopper wheel nibs...one with my camera flash and another without the flash...>>>

[stayouttadabunker]

A couple of TOP VIEW shots of the knife resting on the coin shelf of a hopper with horizontal nibs...>>>

[davvet2]

Thanks again,

The photos sure help. From what I can tell, the nibs are worn --- I'm going to look for a plate with the vertical nibs.

BTW: There is a orange/white wire that goes to a brass screw with a nylon nut on the hopper case.

Is that a sensor that tells the machine how many coins are in the hopper?

Jim

[stayouttadabunker]

When the hopper bowl is filled with enough coins to touch the bolt, it grounds out and sends a signal to the MPU computer board to then send a signal to open the coin chute divertor gate - at that point, any coins dropped into the slot machine will get diverted to the drop box into a bucket below the machine's stand.

You notice there's a bunch of vertical holes in the hopper bowl?
That's for the casino to adjust how many max number of coins they want in the bowl.
All you do is raise or lower the bolt and nylon nut to the height wanted.

I've located mine on the top hole as I don't have a bucket under my machine at home...lol
If you don't want any coins to drop into the hole under the machine, just wrap the bolt with electrical tape so coins cannot touch it.

[davvet2]

Cool !

I don't have but a couple hundred tokens, so oveflow wouldn't be a problem.....

Jim

[davvet2]

OK, got the new parts installed  - so far so good.

It paid out a 100 token jackpot non stop, then the 3300 code. 

Later I hit a 160 token jackpot -- it paid out 90 tokens before
throwing the 3300 code -- restarted it and it paid out the rest of the jackpot.

The good news is that so far, no tokens are getting behind the knife.

After every jackpot is paid (even if it's 2 tokens) it will throw the 3300 code - I have to open and close
the door to restart it -- there are about 300 tokens in the hopper.

Thanks -

Jim

[tkrozleski]

Can you post a pic of your hopper knife?

[davvet2]

Nope, my camera battery is dead and the replacement I ordered isn't here yet.

It's the black plastic one......

Jim

[stayouttadabunker]

If you notice...the knife has sort of a elongated hole where you tighten the two screws.

Loosen the two screws enough so the knife can move up and down and back and forth.
Try to make sure the knife is far forward towards the wheel as possible
and sitting fairly tight against the reel shelf and flush against the wheel face before tightening one screw.
Then tighten the other screw.

You want the knife's tip to be as flat as possible against the shelf.

[davvet2]

Readjusted it and I think it's flat against the wheel face -- but it still throws the hopper code after a jackpot payout.

Thanks,

Jim

[stayouttadabunker]

[3300] means the hopper is empty.
The hopper optics will throw that code because of timing.
If a coin doesn't pass through between the hopper optics within a certain amount of time,
the MPU will send a signal to the door panel to display "3300".
The hopper nibs wear out pretty good and have a hard time picking up the last few remaining coins.

I've also noticed that sometimes a bunch of coins will pile up on
the bottom of the hopper facing opposite of the wheel nibs (leaning away from the wheel face. )
and the wheel will have a hard time picking them up into between the wheel nibs.

This does not happen when the hopper has a lot of coins because the weight of the coins
will force the coins in the very bottom, <<< against the wheel face.
This tends to happen more often when there's only a handful of coins in the hopper.
So with this in mind, it's safe to say that your hopper is now functioning somewhat normally.
You need to get more coins to avoid the [3300] code from popping up.

[davvet2]

OK, thanks --

Now I need to find an inexpensive source for quarter tokens  --

Jim

[davvet2]

Just realized I made an error with the code number.

It's 3100 not 3300.

3100 is extra coin out isn't it ?

Would the comparitor electric eye cause this problem ?

I checked it for dust balls, trash, etc. and it's completely clean.

Even if the machine only pays out 2 tokens, it will set the 3100 code -
all I have to do is open and close the door to clear it.

The machine paid out 150 tokens without a problem, then set the 3100 code when done.

Thanks,

Jim

[stayouttadabunker]

Sounds like either the hopper brakes aren't stopping the wheel in time
                                        or
the wheel itself has extra wide spaced nibs made for those really big tokens?

[Buzz]

  did you find the word "nibs "  try " nubs "

[davvet2]

The nibs/nubs are the same size and distance apart as the one I replaced.

Could the spring on the hopper brake be too loose? I can try to tighten it up by shortening it.

Thanks,

Jim

[tkrozleski]

Make sure the brake is lubed and working freely. Any slugginish will cause issues.

[davvet2]

I read about some problems the brakes have, and took it apart - cleaned and lubed it a couple weeks ago.

I did notice that the brake spring is a little loose, probably from wear -- that's why I asked if shortening the spring might help.

I don't have another one -- and don't want to ruin it -- guess I could get a ball point pen spring and use it...............

Thanks,

Jim

[Buzz]

Ohhhh     your telling your age, the young pups on this site don't know what a " Ball point pen " is. 

Just bend the little tab that the spring hooks to.