Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

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Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby jfjones1832 » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:37 am

So, after spending many years in an assortment of basements I finally have posession of my father's (you guys verify for me) Mills QT Chevron. He aquired it sometime during his Navy days (1948 - 1952) or College (1952 - 1955). He has long passed so I really do not have any more information on it. I do remember playing with it as a kid in the 60's.

Of course the keys are long gone. There is a remote chance they might show up once we clear out my step-mother's home. The photos show the current condition. The (I assume) serial number stamped near the coin slot is 8654. And there is 114 stamped in the wood at the top of the machine and near the coin discharge. No numbers on the coinbox or the rear of the machine.

Any suggestion on obtaining a set of keys? I really do not want to "break into" the machine. Thanks, John.

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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby 63mini » Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:00 am

jfjones1832,

Yes, that is a Mills QT Chevron. If I, was you, I would try and wait to find the key as it appears to be an original lock. Below is a photo of what it would look like.
Attachments
LockKey (2).png
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby oldslotman » Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:19 am

jfjones1832 wrote:So, after spending many years in an assortment of basements I finally have posession of my father's (you guys verify for me) Mills QT Chevron. He aquired it sometime during his Navy days (1948 - 1952) or College (1952 - 1955). He has long passed so I really do not have any more information on it. I do remember playing with it as a kid in the 60's.

Of course the keys are long gone. There is a remote chance they might show up once we clear out my step-mother's home. The photos show the current condition. The (I assume) serial number stamped near the coin slot is 8654. And there is 114 stamped in the wood at the top of the machine and near the coin discharge. No numbers on the coinbox or the rear of the machine.

Any suggestion on obtaining a set of keys? I really do not want to "break into" the machine. Thanks, John.

Mills #1.JPG
Mills #2.JPG


Mills #3.JPG
Mills #4.JPG


Mills #5.JPG

Contact Robert McCurdy . He can tell you how the try and get into it. He is on the forum
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby altort » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:20 pm

Re: Mills QT with no key
Postby altort » Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:30 pm

hope this helps you, the front lock has a leg that lifts up on a pivot mounted in the rear coin casting, that pivot will anchor to the front casting as indicated by screw driver, I removed that casting with the front casting locked, you will need to wiggle it a bit but it will lift out, the harder part will be to get to the back of the lock, you will need to bent the slug catcher some but should be able to get a long thin screw driver in there to spin off the retaining nut, then you will be able to move the lock enough the get the front casting off.

Now to get the mech out, once you get the front casting off if there is no coin box you can get a long screw driver back there to spin off the retaining nut, if you have the coin box in place you will need to take the two screws of that hold the coin bowl in place, a bit of an angle but doable, reach in to the back, you will need to be patient, and unscrew the retaining nut, move the lock out of the way and pull the mech out.

It will take some time but better than drilling the locks out, send the locks out and have keys made.

If you need more pictures of a different angle let me know.

Good luck
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby rtmccurdy » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:43 pm

The 114 could be an old operator's i.d. Contact Larry Debaugh at Cherry Restorations. He has some good advice on how to open a locked QT without damaging the castings. I believe the discussion on how to do it was on this site previously or on one of the Facebook slot groups.
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby sam2002 » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:47 pm

Those QT locks are quite $pendy! $$$
Take your time and try the altort method that he suggested, once you get to that point someone on here can point you to someone to make keys for you if you don’t find yours.
There are a couple of guys that rekey these worm cut locks.
It’s a nice machine
Best of luck to you!
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby altort » Fri Jan 21, 2022 2:56 pm

found pictures of previous tread
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Re: Starting to Restore my Fathers Mills QT Chevron

Postby jmac » Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:16 pm

Another Alternative to opening up a locked QT, is to remove the 4 carriage bolts attaching the base. If the back door is removable you can reach in and unscrew the nuts. Otherwise you can drill them out from the bottom. I have done this in the past, and it worked well. See the thread below:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1392
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