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Hi Experts,

I have a LIttle Duke with the double jackpot. It's a very nice machine with lousy reel strips (dirty, parts missing, cellophane tape, ...). I cannot get the reel strips clean, though I have tried a lot ... even the film and negative cleaning solution Bill recommended. Is it time to replace the reel strips?

My question is about removing the reel disk bundle. I've attached some pictures. The bracket in front of the bundle has 2 screws at the top of the bracket. The very top screw attaches the bracket to the reel disk bundle. That screw looks strange, almost with a homemade "X" for the slot(s). Could that be original?

The bottom of the bracket has 5 screws, but the ones at the upper left and upper right have had their heads cut off. So, I don't have any idea how to loosen the bottom part of the bracket. Or, do I need to loosen the bottom part of the bracket at all? Is it sufficient to just loosen the top part of the bracket?

I do not wish to make a slit in the reel strips, so any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks, Steven

You first need to remove that small screw at the top, which holds the reel shaft in place. Then you remove a cotter pin from the clock lever and two screws on the base (along with that small bracket that holds the spring in place). Also need to remove two large screws and a locating pin to release the mounting. The idea is, to remove the front completely in order to get to the bundle. Yours is slightly different than mine, but the same idea.

Here is the front, with the clock, as removed from my mechanism:
http://www.ramegoom.com/john/little_duke/little_duke_mechanism_reelstop/clock_mechanism.jpg

Then the reels are self-explanatory as you pull the bundle out. Look for hardware that retains the bundle.

To disassemble the reels, you will need to loosen the big nut and slide reel 3 out. Then, the others are locked in place by a spanner nut. It's a bit tricky to do it, but you must make sure they're all tightened when it goes back together, otherwise, the symbols will shift during play.

Use oil, not grease, when reinstalling the moving bearings on the reels. Grease will slow the reels down too much. Don't ask me how I know....

John,

Thanks very much for your quick and thorough reply and the picture. That's a big help.

Thanks also for the recommendation for using oil, not grease. I think we went to the same school ... learning the hard way.

Steven