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A collector friend of mine told me to stay away from columbia slots. Says they are junk..I've seen a couple and for some reason am having trouble resisting the urge to buy one. Any advise here as to what I should do?? Thanks for any help.. PJ (currently have four mills machines only)

HI

I had a good one years back. The metal was good and it worked well. Most of the machines had metal inpurity in the casting of the coin handler and wrarp and fall apart. This is the reason to keep your mills and stay away from the Columbias.

Columbia's are fine... when they run.
The problem when they don't run can be related to the main castings of the mechanism... THEY ARE MADE OF POT METAL... which dries / cracks / warps with age.
Occassionally... they can be repaired.
Many times... they can't.
Last I heard...granted, technology has made progress... pot metal cannot be welded.
I have known guys that have spent months working on Columbia's, and they still would not work.
And... if you sell one to someone, and, it eventually breaks... then YOU have become an *%#@"%$## (insert your own explitive) for life, and possibly soured what could possibly have become another collector.
Guys that like them, swear by them... a lot of people bought Vega's and Yugo's also....
Also, bear in mind that parts are virtually non-existent.
Occassionally, some one will be parting one out on ebay. Do they know what condition the pot metal parts are in? Will they tell you if they do?
There are enough other machines out there to invest in.
Personally... I would spend my money elsewhere.

pj waelti wrote:A collector friend of mine told me to stay away from columbia slots. Says they are junk..I've seen a couple and for some reason am having trouble resisting the urge to buy one. Any advise here as to what I should do?? Thanks for any help.. PJ (currently have four mills machines only)

Columbias are fun, and a quick look at the "sold" listings on eBay will reveal that they are fetching respectable prices when properly repaired and restored. Simply put, you have to know what you're doing if you want to get one running and maintain it. I can help with that, because I've repaired and restored several and even have one underway right now, working fine... parts are in fact readily available (from a fine gentleman in Minnesota), and I've never had any of the problems with the die castings that everyone carps about, aside from a few parts that had obviously been broken by "monkey-jacks." Once they're up and running and properly adjusted, Columbias have given me no greater trouble-- nor any more frequently-- than any other mechanical slot. Like a Mills or any other machine, random coin jams and other mechanical problems can occur, but in a Columbia they occur in very different places and for very different reasons because it's a very different machine. Most problems have simple and quick solutions, but the typical hater will just cuss it and toss it into a corner. That's why there's so many derelict Columbias out there that can be had for cheap. I get them running pretty, for myself and others. (No, I haven't sold any, I just return them to their owners.) Again, it's all simple if and only if you know what to do. PM me if you decide to get one and have any problems or questions about it.

Most all "Columbia" slots, fit in to the category of 'hit & miss', with most collectors. Personally, they have never been
at the top of my popularity list. We own only ONE. Mainly because my wife thought they were cute, and wanted one,
many years ago. I think I payed somewhere around $450 - $550 for it. The machine was a 9, out of 10. Complete, nice
wood, blue wrinkle w/red stripes, nickle play, fruit symbols, twin JP. A few of the pot metal parts of the mechanism,
showed very little 'checking'. The most notorious problem with these machines, is getting the coin-carousel adjusted
properly. Once they are, they don't stay that way forever. I just tweeked ours, when I first got it, and have never done
a thing since. Every so often, the carousel will not rotate perfectly, and will stay in a 'free-play' mode, until it decides
to adjust itself. It plays 'very smooth & quiet', and has very precise 1-2-3 stops, due to a excellent reel bundle design.
Even though it doesn't get much attention around here, I do shake hands with it, about once a month. I just went over
and played it, and 'it still works'! I am not looking forward to the day that I blurt-out an "Oh S**T", when I hear a
'crack or crunch', and it no longer spins the reels.
Some "Columbia" models seem to have survived better than others. But like I said above, it is a 'hit or miss' situation,
when you are looking to buy one. A machine with a reputation like this, should only be purchased in person, and not
on fleaBay, so it can be looked over thoroughly, and played. Even then, you can have problems down the line. If you
do happen to get a good one, it should hopefully last in a collection, as opposed to when they were on location.
Now that I think of it.........out of all the original 'On Location' photographs that I have, or have seen, I don't seem to
remember hardly any, with a "Columbia". I don't remember any Casino's having a bank of them, anywhere. Maybe the
Groetchen Tool Co. only made them for 'Mom & Pop' stores?
Perhaps my good friend Freddy can chime-in on the subject. Or even 'midcoast', if there are any in old movies.

The most notorious problem with these machines, is getting the coin-carousel adjusted
properly. Once they are, they don't stay that way forever. I just tweeked ours, when I first got it, and have never done
a thing since. Every so often, the carousel will not rotate perfectly, and will stay in a 'free-play' mode, until it decides
to adjust itself.

SD, your "free play" problem may be the result of insufficient tension in the indicated spring and/or something messing with the function of the linkage to which it's attached, such as old, gummy lubrication. That linkage runs all the way to the coin detector probe, as you'll see. Try tightening that spring and jiggling the linkage around a little with oil to free it up if it's sticky-- see if that helps.

Nice pic !! Ever notice how many Columbias there are without the coin magazine covers !!!!!!

I have yet to come across one in a movie, or in an old photo, or, postcard.
I think Bill may be right... they probably went to mom & pop corner groceries , or gas stations.

Onion:
Thanks for the 'heads-up' on the spring tension. I will surely check that out, but it won't be anything too soon.
You know how it is with your own machines - they just sit in Limbo, while customer machines are in line. I do
have to show it some attention before the next millennium, as it is getting on the grungy-side, and the jackpot
glass is so bad now, that I can barely make out the nickels. In fact, does anyone have a JP glass? I have glass for
many other machines, but not this one. Berten probably has them, but I never checked.
Bill

mechanic wrote:Nice pic !! Ever notice how many Columbias there are without the coin magazine covers !!!!!!

You can thank fleaBay for the pic, most of it. And, yeah, the carousel covers are more often absent than present... probably all got used as killer frisbees or were added to somebody's hubcap collection decades ago. My Minnesota friend ran out of NOS on the covers long ago, and now offers only repro replacements. The only items more frequently missing are the denom conversion parts. Then there's the coin chute covers, plenty of screws (because the typical monkey-jack replaces only two screws for every five he removes) and and and...

Apparently nobody respected the Columbias in their day-- for sure they were sold cheaply into taverns and pool halls and other dives rather than casinos-- but as we see from the postings here, they apparently get no greater respect today. Hell, I'd bet the old Groetchen Imps have a better reputation among collectors.