E/M Bally bandits

[ballymad]

Is it all working now? Payout fine? 5 goes for 10p working?
You can't beat a Bally bandit - much more interesting than all the others. If you feel like it, get yourself over to newlifegames - look for the electromechanical forum. You can join the new site or look at the old one. You'll find answers to most of your problems or questions.

[badpenny]

Done it - two screws hold in the complete panel, you then take off chrome trim then the glass comes away.
Now to test if it's the transformer or starter or bulb that's gone. ;)

Like I said, you need to remove the trim that is held in place by two screws. Then you can remove the glass. I don't know why some find it really tricky.

BP

[skeggylad]

Thanks guys - all fixed and new locks on today. Am chuffed to bits.

;)

[skeggylad]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

Hi,
Can anyone tell me why there is a bell inside my Bally 742a?
Is it for the jackpot or in case it's broken into?

Is there a way to enable it? There is nothng in my manual about it.

Thank you.

[coppinpr]

Almost certainly one of the later additions and almost certainly disconnected by the operator because it annoyed everybody.

[malcymal]

Great looking machine. There are about half of dozen of this exact model still in use in an arcade in Pagham nr Bognor Regis, West Sussex. I know the owners, Dean and Joe, and they have been keeping their Ballys going since the seventies where they have remained in the same location. Having dealt a few Ballys with them in exchange for all mechanical machines, can I stress that you have your machine checked out by a sparky for electrical safety. A faulty earth and that horrible invisible stuff called electricity making the case live tends to not bode well with humans. I learned this from experience from a Bally Golden Girl.. Congrats on your acquisition!!!! malc

[barnzy11]

Hey guys me again,

Well dad got his fruit machine for his birthday today and he loves it! Thanks again for all your help!

We also have another fruit machine I need a bit of help with.

Long story short, a friend of my dad's has this fruit machine (he used to rent out fruit machines for a living and my dad mentioned he always wanted one). He took us to his barn where he had a mixture of around 20-30 fruit machines, pinball machines jukeboxes etc , Anyway, he let my dad have this fruit machine free of charge. He said he has put it into free mode so it doesn't need to take money. Thing is, we want to get her up and running again with all the electrics and lights and tidy her up. Now is the reason it's OK free mode because the cable has been cut at the bottom of the machine? Would this just be a case of connecting it back up to some new wire? Or is it more in depth?

Really want to get this up and running again. The mechanics of it are sooo smooth when you pull the lever, so I reckon this will be a really good machine.

I have attached pics below.

[gameswat]

The whole point of a one arm bandit is to win money..... so if it's on free play then no money going in means no money coming out! I know operators who would deliberately remove or destroy coin mechs so machines they sold into the home market could never be operated against them. And sadly many operators here preferred just to scrap all the old machines for this reason.

Yes, you could be lucky and the wiring might be easily re-connected.

[barnzy11]

Yeah, I know, just no fun when it don't play. I'm hoping it's just a case of re wiring. I mean my thought process was that because it's electric, then the pay out and the pay in mechanisms would be disarmed due to no power, maybe. I haven't a clue to be honest, but I really hope I can get it up and running again, all with the lights and paying out. I think it's meant to take 2ps as well. Not too sure on that though, don't even know what year this is from either.

[ballymad]

A quick look - decals say 1p. Why do you think it's 2p?
You have two solenoids (payout ) tubes missing; one for the coins in and one for the token pay.
Is it worth restoring? I don't know, but I don't think I would bother.

[barnzy11]

Hey Ballymad, I meant to write 1p not 2p - my mistake. Ahh really, can replacements still be purchased? Would you say not to bother restoring then? Would it cost me too much money?

[coppinpr]

These Ballys are not very collectable. They came right at the end of the mechanical slot age and this model is one of the poorer ones to boot. Having said that, spares are quite easy to find and provided you're interested in doing the work it might scrub up OK.

[barnzy11]

Yeah, I'm interested in doing the work. Not really bothered about the collectible value, just doing it out of interest really, a little project so to speak. Just need a little guidance on what to do, as I don't really have a clue, haha

[coppinpr]

OK, first thing to remember is this machine is electro-mechanical and there is a lot of sparky stuff in there trying to hurt you.. handle with great care and you're OK.
As this machine can only work correctly if the power is on (you put in a coin, a switch trips a solenoid so when you pull the handle the reels spin), and at the moment this is disabled, and the trip is always on so you get free play, you are going to have to plug it in and stand back and see what happens.
Then take lots of close up photos of the mech, front and back, out of the case, the inside of the empty case, and very much the inside of the door.
Then once we can see for sure what's missing, BP and TF might be kind enough to put on their survival kit and go into their giant "boxes of bits" and see what's there.

[barnzy11]

OK, that's what I'll do then.Thing is, at the mo the cable that comes from the bottom has been tightly cut to the case so it's just inside, giving me no way to crimp some new cable on to it. Is there a way, if I take the mechanism out, that I can pull it up, reattach some new cable, then push it all back through the bottom of the case?

Also how does the mechanism come out? Are there a few sort of clips, then it slides out, like the Mills High Top we have, or is it different?

[coppinpr]

It's roughly the same - usually a clip, then it pulls out, but from the front of course. You will be able to connect new cable then.

[barnzy11]

OK, I'll pop 'round me dad's tonight and have a look. I'll try and get all cable sorted, maybe tonight as well, if my dad has some. Shall I take the pictures you mentioned tonight? Or when I connect the power up to it? Don't mean to sound stupid, but if I connect this up and plug it in, is there any chance this machine could go bang and do some damage? If so I'll extension lead it into the garden. haha

[coppinpr]

Like I said, there is a lot of 220v going in there. There will be a transformer knocking some of it down to 110 v perhaps a little down to a lot less, but yes... it might go bang.. Unlikely to do damage as long as fuses are in the line (there may well be fuses inside the machine, as well as your new shiny plug, so check they are good). The most likely outcome will be one or more lights will eventually come on and perhaps the coin mech solenoid will pull in when you put a coin in.

This machine is one of the "Money Honey" series that actually tolled the death of the mechanical slot machine. It's an early mix of mechanical and electronic, and that is good for your purposes. Not a lot of it uses power; the lights, the coin mech, and the payout. I don't think this model has any special feature, so that's about it really. Send those photos, and we will take it one section at a time, starting with lights (which will tell us power is at least getting in there). We won't concentrate on getting all the lights going yet, just at least one, then we will look at the coin mech solenoid, then the payout.

Historical note- I'm writing this with a view of Hagia.Sophia in Istanbul and not a view of a Bally machine, which is interesting, but not ideal.

[barnzy11]

That's brilliant coppinpr thank you, I am round my dad's this evening so we are going to attempt to wire it up and plug it in, so fingers crossed! I will post in here this evening to let you know how we got on and some photos.

In regards to the reel glass, as you can see its pretty faded and tatty, is there anything I can do to this? Is there replacements available or something else I can replace it with? Or is it just a case of that's how it is and nothing can be done?

Thanks again

[humperdingle]

I noticed one identical to this machine went on fleabay last night... Good nick, too, but looks to have been removed