ICT printer installed in a S+

[stayouttadabunker]

Well, congrats on the new looks of this site!
I finally figured out how to down load something to youtube and transfer it here.
When you click on the link to the short, silent 110sec clip, you really oughta view it in the "High Quality mode".
You'll see I played to get a couple of credits then put a dollar in the DBV.
Credits on the display then read "6", that's when I hit the "cash" button and out came the printed thermal paper.
The face plate wasnt bondoed or painted yet.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RX_IWz1DYGA&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/RX_IWz1DYGA&rel=0</a>

Edited to fix the embedded video.  -KN

[slot monkey]

The video is no longer available........... is it posted anywhere else?

thanks!

[stayouttadabunker]

I fixed it but it downloaded double for some reason.
This video is getting old now....lol
The machine has a nice gold face plate with a slot for the printer paper to come out of now.
I have since added colored panel switch lights as well!
I have also change the game to a Double Diamond Haywire since the vdeo was made.
I probably change the games about every couple of months or so....always tinkering with it

[tjkeller]

OK, so the printer is one thing, great job by the way
But where/how do I get the illuminated "This Machine Accepts...Bills" for S+???

[stayouttadabunker]

Tj,
First off...thanks for the compliments!
The Illuminated DBV signage comes from Blueridge Slots
Give him a buzz and see if he's got any left!
I think they now have slower speeds on the display, and different colors too....

[CommTech]

Congratulations on your success!! 

It's very hard to see the details in the video.
A couple of  questions ...

When you press the cash out button, does the credits come off the machine, or does the printer just print what is currently on the display?
Have you posted how you interfaced the printer to the machine yet?
Also, I noticed you have what appears to be an auto-spin function on your machine ... Very nice!! 


Joe

[slot monkey]

stayouttadabunker

Very nice!

Thanks for reposting the video.

Amazing how you tricked out your IGT!

[stayouttadabunker]

Congratulations on your success!! 

It's very hard to see the details in the video.
A couple of  questions ...

When you press the cash out button, does the credits come off the machine, or does the printer just print what is currently on the display?
Have you posted how you interfaced the printer to the machine yet?
Also, I noticed you have what appears to be an auto-spin function on your machine ... Very nice!! 


Joe

Yes,
When you push the "cash/credit" button, the credits run down to zero on the credits display (it comes off the machine)
-when it hits zero, that's when the printer spits out the thermal paper!
Basically ,it's an open/closed circuit when the credit display is counting off.
I wired the single input printer wire to the hopper's SSR where this signal is coming from!
There's a company in Long Island that's making "hopperless" units too.
But I like my idea better.
I modified the ICT printer to fit into where the the card reader used to be instead of cutting out a hole in the drop door like cherry masters.

[knagl]

So.... how did you do it??  Enquiring minds want to know!   

[stayouttadabunker]

Hah! I found it!
I sent a email note to one of our esteemed members a while back on this printer modification.
I ended up googling and voila! There it was....!

yes (name intentionally blocked),
I indeed went the hopper way.
There wasnt a complete open/closed circuit on that line so I went a little different route.
I took the bowl off, bolted on a piece of plastic where the agitator is. The plastic is basically a "No Tresspassing" signage, cut in a circle the size of a pinwheel. I first went with 12 slots but found that it took too long for the credits to count down. I made another one with 24 slots. It counts down beautiful. No 3100 or 3200 error code. I want to make a 50 slotted pinwheel so it's a lot quicker on countdown. As long as the slots are evenly spaced , it works fine. Bolted to the top of the hopper is
a common switch with a tiny metal tang I bent to activate the switch as a closed circuit when a the tang is between a slot on the pinwheel. The slotted pinwheel activates the switch marveously. Opening and closing the circuit which in turn, is grounded the the machine and the other to the credit-in wire to the ICT printer. When the motor finishes counting down, there's a momentary pause then the printer starts printing!
The TOTAL value of coins AND bills thats on the credit display becomes fully printed onto the thermal paper!
Still awaiting for the blank plate from john(wow rudy) to make the final installation.
-stayouttadabunker

ADD>>This was the hopper mod before the SSR modification

[StatFreak]

Any chance you could post some pictures of the hopper mod? 

[stayouttadabunker]

Okay ,
1st pic is the plastic hopper counter that replaces the bowl.

[stayouttadabunker]

This is the hopper optics glued in a little different spot with "Goop"...amazingly strong adhesive!
Also pics to show how it's lined up as to not touch the plastic pinwheel cut-outs.

[stayouttadabunker]

Now, here's the longed tanged switch attached to the top rear of the hopper.
Noticed how its tang is bent so the tang slips in and out of the plastic pinwheel cut-outs.

[stayouttadabunker]

Now, here's the power supply hooked up to the ICT printer.
Black from printer goes to ground on supply.
Red from printer goes the 12V on supply.
Yellow from printer goes to on side of long-tanged switch on top of hopper.
It doesnt matter which side of the switch you put it on.
The other wire from the long-tanged switch goes to other ground on the power supply.
Power supply plugs into machines power supply via the extra outlet.
picture 13 shows the 3 printers wires hanging.( Red,Black and Yellow)

[stayouttadabunker]

Now , here's the printer in action and I'm showing you an example of what can be printed on thrmal paper!

[CommTech]

K+! Nicely done! Well documented now. 

[jay]

I think its an awsome system.....totally ingenious.

Ideally I would like to see the hopper replacement be a totally solid state plug....hoppers are becoming rarer and while the ticket printer is appealing I don't want to sacrifice a hopper.

I am still looking for a Coupon IN system for the S+... you see brief mentions of this being supported on some of the S+ PSRs..... one day.

[knagl]

Very nice.  So... the only thing I don't get now is how the printer works.  It gets pulses from the microswitch that gets hit by the plastic hopper wheel.  ...how does the printer know that each pulse = $0.25 (or whatever), and how does it know that the hopper is done paying?

If you were to just reach in there and click the switch once with your hand, would it print a ticket for $0.25?

[Ozzy]

Very nice.  So... the only thing I don't get now is how the printer works.  It gets pulses from the microswitch that gets hit by the plastic hopper wheel.  ...how does the printer know that each pulse = $0.25 (or whatever), and how does it know that the hopper is done paying?

If you were to just reach in there and click the switch once with your hand, would it print a ticket for $0.25?

IT'S CALLED         "M A G I C "

[stayouttadabunker]

Very nice.  So... the only thing I don't get now is how the printer works.  It gets pulses from the microswitch that gets hit by the plastic hopper wheel.  ...how does the printer know that each pulse = $0.25 (or whatever), and how does it know that the hopper is done paying?

If you were to just reach in there and click the switch once with your hand, would it print a ticket for $0.25?

Yes,
Clicking the switch just once will print a ticket for 0.25 cents.
Clicking the switch is the same thing as taking the ground side wire of the long-tanged switch and touching it to the inside of an S+ cabinet wall - everything inside an S+ is grounded.
Just the plain act of removing the ground wire from the power supply will trigger one credit to the printer.
Soon I will post how I found that pulse in the hopper's SSR - thus eliminating the long-tanged switch altogether.
That was my next modification after this and I succeeded.
Now for my next trick....lol....I'm presently working on hooking up a remote car starter to an S+.
The buttons on the car starter will take the place of the "Bet One Credit" switch, the "Cash-out" switch, the "Play Max Credit" switch and the "Auto-switch".
This way I can play my S+ from my lazy-boy chair...using the car starter's key fob!
-mark

[stayouttadabunker]

Finally,
The ground wire that was on the side of the hopper bowl now should be moved and grounded to the hopper itself.
Behind the hopper down below is a nut that contain other grounds.
Remove that nut, rerun the bowl ground down to that, tighten it back up and the coin-divertor on the door will divert coins-accepted to the bucket (Drop) below.
Also, the printer only prints a ticket when there's a slight pause in time after the hopper has stopped turning.
It's not very long, less than 2 seconds, then the printer begins to print.
You can program the ICT printer with a laptop or desktop computer.
You use the windows based "paint" program to even make logos if you want onto the ticket.
There's only one funny little quirk to all of this though, that I havent tried to figure out yet.
On a 3CM game-if you put in 4 coins (One too many) -instead of the hopper spitting out a coin into the tray (which it cannot do anymore) the printer prints out one ticket for the value of your denomination, a tix for $0.25 for example.....lol

[uniman]

That's very ingenious Mark. Even though I don't have an IGT sure enjoy seeing cool mod's!!
Can't wait to see the car starter. Always wanted to try a TV remote on mine. LOL

Shouldn't the forth coin count towards the next game?

[StatFreak]

Now , here's the printer in action and I'm showing you an example of what can be printed on thrmal paper!

"Stat's famous Pig in a Bun hotel & casino" 

Thanks for taking the time to document all the work that you did Mark. That is quite an inventive solution. The optical switch continues to talk to the S+ CPU so no other modifications to the slot are needed, and your physical switch sends the pulses to the printer so no electronic ties between the slot and the printer are necessary. It was also clever of you to increase the number of tangs (slots) on the plastic wheel to increase the payout speed.

...
Shouldn't the forth coin count towards the next game?

Only with Montana credits (that would solve your problem stayouttadabunker).
With a normal SP chip any extra coins inserted are returned to the player via the hopper after the spin is concluded. Since his system doesn't change the machine's behavior in any way, he's going to get a ticket for the extra coins. I tested the tolerance once, and I remember that the S Plus will spit out at least five extra coins, but not eight -- I don't recall the exact outcome. If too many extra coins are inserted the machine will produce a coin-in tilt instead of returning the coins. The only time there is enough CPU lag to get that many coins inserted before the reject circuit trips is on that one-in-a-hundred pull when the computer writes to the motherboard.

[knagl]

There's only one funny little quirk to all of this though, that I havent tried to figure out yet.
On a 3CM game-if you put in 4 coins (One too many) -instead of the hopper spitting out a coin into the tray (which it cannot do anymore) the printer prints out one ticket for the value of your denomination, a tix for $0.25 for example.....lol

Exactly for the reason that StatFreak said -- on a normal machine, the hopper would spit out the extra coin at the conclusion of the spin.  Your hopper is activating for one coin and stopping, causing you to get a $0.25 ticket.