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Hi All
this is a continuation of a previous topic
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3921

I have since replaced the broken cam and more or less gotten my Columbia Bell working. The problem now is the payout. When I pull the handle and get a payout, the magazine jams when it is trying to reverse (move left). Before it can move left a coin will drop and jam the mechanism. I don't know whether the coin should drop from the escalator faster or slower in order for the magazine to do its thing?

TIA
Randy

While I am on a roll, I have some more questions 8^)
I now have acquired several manuals and annotated pictures . Many of the pictures are so dark that they are useless.
I have thoroughly gone through the manuals, a few questions surfaced. Most of the parts are prefaced with A, B or C ( ie. A-120) what do these prefixes indicate?

The pictures in the manual don't seem to locate all the parts mentioned. Can anyone tell or show me what the following parts are ?

A-90 Star wheel guide
A-261 Reel Stop Lift Dog
A-115 Escalator Base Casting
A-20 Reel Stop Levers

TIA
Randy

randyjaco wrote:Hi All
this is a continuation of a previous topic
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3921

I have since replaced the broken cam and more or less gotten my Columbia Bell working. The problem now is the payout. When I pull the handle and get a payout, the magazine jams when it is trying to reverse (move left). Before it can move left a coin will drop and jam the mechanism. I don't know whether the coin should drop from the escalator faster or slower in order for the magazine to do its thing?

TIA
Randy

All of mine drop the coin out of the escalator into the available carousel slot before the leftward payout rotation occurs. Maybe your coin drop is delayed just enough to mess up your payouts? The drop can be advanced a little by bending the leaf spring to the coin gate forward a tiny bit. Wiggle it a little to observe the action and you'll get the idea.

randyjaco wrote:While I am on a roll, I have some more questions 8^)
I now have acquired several manuals and annotated pictures . Many of the pictures are so dark that they are useless.
I have thoroughly gone through the manuals, a few questions surfaced. Most of the parts are prefaced with A, B or C ( ie. A-120) what do these prefixes indicate?

The pictures in the manual don't seem to locate all the parts mentioned. Can anyone tell or show me what the following parts are ?

A-90 Star wheel guide
A-261 Reel Stop Lift Dog
A-115 Escalator Base Casting
A-20 Reel Stop Levers

TIA
Randy

No idea what the letter prefixes signify; possibly to designate that these are part numbers rather than serial, or lot numbers?

Aside from A-20 (the reel stops) which are pretty clearly indicated in my copy of the Coin Slot Guide #19 on pg. 30 (in an illustration lifted from the second page of "Hail Columbia Bells," where it's a lot clearer), the images below are my best guesses at the parts you're asking about. I had one machine in which this dagger-like thingy which I'm calling the "Star Wheel Guide, A-90" was bent in such a way that it jammed the star wheels cockeyed to each other-- instead of nudging them into full-stop position if they landed between symbols, which would appear to be its proper function. I doubt you have this problem, but it's worth checking while making sure that the payout finger A-85 (which it follows behind during operation) is straight and functioning properly.

What I'm calling A-261 is a little sprung pawl which lies just to the right of the reel stop pivot roots. If this little pawl does not trip and reset towards the end of the cycle, your next pull of the handle will immediately jam on the reel stops, and hard. Watch its operation and you'll see what it's about.

Thanks Marsonion. As I fiddled a little more with it, I noticed it was grabbing the newly dropped coin before the clock runs out. If you pull out the offending coin, the clock continues. I can't really see the mechanism below the magazine, but it is that under the high coin in the pictures.

Thanks for the pictures. They help quite a bit.
On the "Hail Columbia Bell" manual, the fifth page after the title page, the picture showing the exposed right side with the handle on it. Does that look like anything on your machine? It sure doesn't look like mine .

The picture of your escalator top doesn't look like mine either. Am I missing something? I don't have that ball mechanism. The Hail Columbia Bell manual doesn't show it. I seem to have an indention and a hole for a staked post. Is this something critical?

Randy

randyjaco wrote:Thanks for the pictures. They help quite a bit.
On the "Hail Columbia Bell" manual, the fifth page after the title page, the picture showing the exposed right side with the handle on it. Does that look like anything on your machine? It sure doesn't look like mine .

The picture of your escalator top doesn't look like mine either. Am I missing something? I don't have that ball mechanism. The Hail Columbia Bell manual doesn't show it. I seem to have an indention and a hole for a staked post. Is this something critical?

Randy

That HCB illustration shows the handle linkage for a Deluxe. Apparently the Groetchens figured that their Columbias were being disregarded by players and operators alike because they're just too damned small, so they puffed-up the cabinet to make the whole thing look bigger, and therefore more respectable. That included putting the mechanism up on a pedestal, so they rigged a longer-looking handle to complete the effect.

As with any other line of slots, there's plenty of variability of manufacture across the years of Columbia production. I think the ball-tilt gizmo represents a later edition of the coin entry lockout, because neither my serial# 1579 nor my serial# 8860 have it, but my serial# 22111 does. No, I doubt that stuff makes much difference overall-- certainly not to the "value" of the item-- but it is important that all of that flimsy hardware works well enough to at least allow your coin to make it to the detector rod, so the machine will cycle. Hope that answers your question...