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Dear Dave,

My Mills 5c Slot works fine except every now and then about 10 nickels drop down into the jackpot box and can be seen through the window. I assume the tube is full and causes this. But why so many all at once? After that happens, the trap door mechanism inside the box seems to move slightly each time the operating lever is pulled. Some nickels drop into the tray even though no payout is indicated. I have the Fey Service Manual, but it doesn't offer much help with this problem. I am unsure of how the reserve jackpot functions, either.

There is a shelf inside the top area of the JP and it deflects coins over into either the JP or the reserve located above it if it has one or is still there. The JP when hit, opens up the JP mech and dumps the coins into the JP tray, (if it is an older machine with 2 separate coin cups) After this, the next pull will close the JP and will allow the reserve to dump its coins into the JP area. Then the reserve will lock back into place and stay locked until the JP is hit again. If it fills up, then the extra coins will go into the cash-box. So there are 2 to 3 actions on the JP mech (depending on how you look at it), and it sounds like your JP is not closing and locking all the way. So every pull, it tries to open and dump the coins out but cant because the slides wont allow it. That is why I feel your getting a few coins drop out on occasion. If you can empty the JP and watch the window each time you pull the handle, you will see if that is the problem. Also, if you take the reel bundle and mech out of the machine, the JP will immediately dump before you get the mech all the way out of the cabinet. Take a pic of the machine if you can and pot it. It will help more with the proper fix on the machine.
Dave F