Mills Round Top pays out 2 coins all the time. Need Help!!

[Mendozaco]

Hello everyone,

First please allow me to give you a history about myself. My name is Alex Mendoza and new to this Forum (join on 7.21.12), slot machines and new to this wonderful hobby we all have in common. One day I came across this forum by mistake and I decided to keep on reading. I learned a lot from your posts, comments and help you give to each other and I was hooked from the start. I live in White Flint, Maryland and I collect coins. I travel all around Maryland, Penn, W Virginia and Virginia looking for coins. I noticed antiques slot machines in auctions in the past 5 years but never thought about owning one until I read this forum. Now I own 4 slot machines and I’m restoring them personally. One of them is a 1937 Chrome Diamond Front Bell and it works great with proper payouts. The other three need more work.
I’m working on two machines at the same time, a 1946 Golden Falls and a 1947 Twenty One High Top.
My wife always said I needed a challenge and now I have it and at the same time I’m in trouble. That’s why I need your help.

Status on the Golden Falls

I bought the machine for $800.00 and the Master Clock Gear was damaged. I disassemble the merch and I noticed a screw jammed in between the gears and a set of paw and spring were missing. I got a replacement part for $10.00 from Larry Zeidman two weeks ago when I was in CA for my sister’s wedding. Larry is the owner of L.A. Slot Machine Co., Inc in Los Angeles, California (http://www.laslots@laslots.com). Larry runs a multi-million dollar company; they export slot machines all around the world and he enjoys restoring antique slot machine the same as us. Larry took time out of his busy schedule and hosted my wife and me and gave us a tour of his shop. He gave me pointers about the hobby and ways to identify reproductions. What a great guy. Thanks for the gear Larry. Now the clock work as it did when it was new. Next week, I am going to assemble the Merch. I keep you posted. Here are some before and after pictures of the clock.

Status on the Twenty One High Top.

The machine pays two coins all the time. Everything else work as it should except the 2 coin payouts. I read in a post by “Marsonion” to check the lowest horizontal fingers. What do I check for and what needs to be done to the lowest horizontal fingers? What other areas should a check for to correct the 2 coins payout.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Mendozaco]

Here are the clock pictures

[marsonion]

[This response is copied from another thread that sort of "crossed in the mail" when the original post disappeared temporarily. Good luck!]

Mendozaco asks about a malfunction in which every pull results in a 2-coin payout, and what does that have to do with the horizontal fingers--? That's never happened to me (never been that lucky) but I think it was Dave who explained that stuck horizontal fingers (the stack of thin horizontal levers at the extreme bottom left of the mech when viewed from the rear, just to the inside of the coin slides) can put the cycle in perpetual payout mode. In this case, it must be the lowest horizontal finger that is unsprung, stuck or bent in the same direction as the vertical finger nudges it on a payout. Check on that and take whatever corrective action is required: lube or pliers. There is also a remote possibility that the associated vertical finger is bent, broken or shorted in such a way that it behaves as if it found a hole in the payout wheel whether it does or not; again, that's never happened to me, but such a situation is very slightly possible... I think.

Status on the Twenty One High Top.

The machine pays two coins all the time. Everything else work as it should except the 2 coin payouts. I read in a post by “Marsonion” to check the lowest horizontal fingers. What do I check for and what needs to be done to the lowest horizontal fingers? What other areas should a check for to correct the 2 coins payout.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Mendozaco]

Marsonion you were correct regarding the lower horizontal finger. In my case the problem that caused the 2 coins payout was lowest horizontal finger and two other items. These items were stuck to each other, bend and stuck to other parts which caused them to be static.

Issues:

1. The Support for the Payout Lever Guide was incorrectly installed ,
2. Lowest Horizontal Fingers was straight and hitting the wrong payout slide, and
3. Nonbeating Slide Lever was bended.

Solution:

1) The bottom “Support” that raises the Payout Lever Guide was installed incorrect. This item was install backward ( └ ) instead ( ┘). The top end of the Support touched the tip of the lowest horizontal finger (LHF) and it raised the lower two to the second and third lowest payout slides. This caused the tip of the LHF to move to the second & third payout slides (from bottom to top) and locked them. That’s caused the lowest payout slide to move freely causing a constant 2 coins payout. I removed the Payout Lever Guide and switch the support ( ┘).

2) In other to move the tip of the LHF, I bended one inch from left to right downward. It moved the tip of the LHF downward to the lowest payout slide. This prevented the payout slide from moving freely. I adjusted and bend upward or downward each tip of the horizontal fingers to connect in the center of each payout slide.

3) The final problem was the Nonbeating Slide Lever (NSL). The tip of the NSL was bending upward and it got stuck with the Support (Item # 1) that raises the Payout Lever Guide. I straighten the end of the NSL and it started to move freely.

Now the machine is paying out correctly on each combination.

Thanks Marsonion for the advice.

[Mendozaco]

More pics

[Mendozaco]

Status on the Twenty One High Top - Payout correctly thanks to "Marsonion"

More Pictures

[marsonion]

Medozaco-- You're very welcome, of course, but it looks to me like you tackled a much more complicated set of malfunctions and disorders than I could have imagined. Finding a guide that had been installed backwards and other misaligned moving parts is above and beyond the scope of adjusting a bent or unsprung horizontal finger! You did all that all by yourself. Nice work-- and congratulations.

Status on the Twenty One High Top - Payout correctly thanks to "Marsonion"

More Pictures