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Heyo! I'm in the process of repairing an old Mills castle front slot machine that used to sit in my Grandparents liquor store. It was completely inoperable, but a complete tear-down, unjamming, and re-greasing fixed almost everything!

Unfortunately the jackpot still doesn't work and does not pay out. Interestingly enough, the reserve still works, and dumps the coins into the already-full jackpot holder (apologies for any terminology mistakes, I'm new to all of this).
After watching some videos on the inner mechanics of the jackpot mechanism, I tracked down the issue to this piece on the side.





It appears to be locking the payout flap in place. The little arm seems like it should be pressing on something in the mech, but there doesn't seem to be anything to press down on it. It does look pretty bent up, though. Taping it down to the jackpot chute solves the problem, but that's a total band-aid solution. I was wondering if any of you guys knew what the purpose of this piece was and how I could fix it.

This is the older version of the Mills jackpot. I have this jackpot version on my Mills Black Cherry, however this lever on my machine is straight and
is designed to butt against the shaft of the reel stop levers. When the mechanism is placed into the cabinet, the jackpot lever will be pushed forward and
thus "arm" the jackpot. From the looks of your jackpot lever it appears it has been intentionally bent. Hopes this info helps.

As the above poster mentioned the lever in question is bent and should look like the one in the photo here!
Being bent in that fashion on yours prevents the front jackpot release flap from opening and releasing the coins within!
If this lever is correctly shaped when inserting the mech with a smooth quick movement will not allow the front jackpot to dump UN-neededly
as well as not allowing the front jackpot to dump on mech removal for servicing!
MONTI

MONTI wrote:As the above poster mentioned the lever in question is bent and should look like the one in the photo here!
Being bent in that fashion on yours prevents the front jackpot release flap from opening and releasing the coins within!
If this lever is correctly shaped when inserting the mech with a smooth quick movement will not allow the front jackpot to dump UN-neededly
as well as not allowing the front jackpot to dump on mech removal for servicing!
MONTI

6 Front Jackpot angled view back & left sidea.jpg

Monti
Thanks, one of my hi tops does that exact thing dumps that dog gone jp when the mech is removed or teplaced. For got all about it. Will sneak a peek at it and look into this. Damn thing pisses me off every time I pull it out!
Take care my friend

Howdy Sam!
Hope all is well!
Yes, the angle on that lever has to be right on as too much angle one way or the other and it will not operate correctly!
While pulling the mech out shine a flashlight thru the mech and as you pull it out as slowly as possible watch when the the lever catches on the companion lever on the front jackpot!
And also on insertion of the mech observe the interaction as well!
Sometimes a solid quick insertion of the mech during the last 1/2 inch of forward travel into place will prevent the Front Jackpot from dumping!
Definitely a pain when after you load the front jackpot, the main jackpot, and then insert the mech and it dumps!
Nothing worse than a premature dumping of coins!
MONTI