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Hello,
I have an Imp Ball Gum Vendor that is not working correctly. I put in a penny and it spins fine and stops as it should. But I cannot open the little gumball door.
I believe that it is NOT supposed to open until AFTER I have played a coin. Then, it should open so I can get 1 gumball. That, I would assume would prevent someone from taking all of the gumballs.
I have had this apart and the mechanism seems very simple. However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out the problem. Honestly, I am kinda stumped on how that part of the mechanism works. I can see that when the reels are tripped, that trips another little curved arm that then drops another little arm. That arm then interacts with the slide mechanism which interacts with the gumball door.
It all seems to be there with nothing missing, but just does not work. If I reach in from behind and push the little slide I can get the door to open.

Does anyone have any clue whats wrong? Is there anyone out there that understands these little machines and would be willing to help?

Jeff

Jeff,

The gumball door on an IMP should always be able to open with or without a gumball. When the mechanism is cycled, the slide retracts allowing a gumball to drop into position behind the door. When the door is opened it pulls the slide forward (with the hook on the back of the door casting). The slide is locked into this position by small lock lever tab, preventing another gumball from dropping until the machine is cycled again when the lock lever tab is pulled up allowing the slide to retract and drop another gumball.

Does this problem occur with or without any gumballs in the machine?

If you can post some photos of the gumball door and mechanism, maybe we can figure out what is wrong.

a1parrothead wrote:Hello,
I have an Imp Ball Gum Vendor that is not working correctly. I put in a penny and it spins fine and stops as it should. But I cannot open the little gumball door.
I believe that it is NOT supposed to open until AFTER I have played a coin. Then, it should open so I can get 1 gumball. That, I would assume would prevent someone from taking all of the gumballs.
I have had this apart and the mechanism seems very simple. However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out the problem. Honestly, I am kinda stumped on how that part of the mechanism works. I can see that when the reels are tripped, that trips another little curved arm that then drops another little arm. That arm then interacts with the slide mechanism which interacts with the gumball door.
It all seems to be there with nothing missing, but just does not work. If I reach in from behind and push the little slide I can get the door to open.

Does anyone have any clue whats wrong? Is there anyone out there that understands these little machines and would be willing to help?

Jeff

I had a similar problem recently with one of my IMPs. I corrected it by 1) loosening the tension on the slide/gate spring on the underside of the mech (depicted above), also making sure that the slide moves very easily back and forth (An overtensioned or otherwise sticky slide will also make the gumball door difficult to open); and 2) increasing the tension on the spring indicated by the red arrow. The gumball door should open easily whether the unit has cycled on a penny or not; the act of opening the door after the slide has retracted to deliver a gumball resets the slide, which is retained by the pawl on the underside. When the machine is cycled, the curved part you describe should hook a pin on the side of the drive bar and be nudged upwards to release the slide. However, if the slide is overtensioned or gripped too stiffly by the pawl, the curved hook part may merely tilt forward allowing the pin to pass instead of raising the pawl to release the slide. Tightening the indicated spring will keep the hook riding that pin instead of letting it pass by during the cycle.

Thanks! Got it working pretty good now!
Jeff