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Hi Turbo,
All of those questions have been answered previously. The easiest way to find relevant topics is via the Forum's dedicated Search (to right of clock, above). This allows you to search all or any individual category.

Have you worked your way through the relevant topics here: Tips and Tricks?
In particular, How to strip and clean the clock, which discusses how to remove grease. You can of course buy engine degreasers. There are some manuals available to one arm bandits (like the Mead Owner's Pictorial Guides), which offer some generally applicable advice.

Hi admin,
Yes, I will try to look through those links because at the moment I do not have a clue how to clean it and any extra advice will be great, thanks.

Below some photos I just took tonight:

Yup, it's an Australian Aristocrat Arcadian with a light box.

I also recommend you look at the links The Owner of the site has pointed you to, your answers are there.
It'll take you just as long to read them as it would to read anything we rewrite again. You'll also find a mine of tips that may not be immediately obvious to you now.

Good luck, you'll soon get it spinning, whirring and clunking, and you have a real bonus in having the locks and keys.
I see there is a badge missing from the coin surround, and I guess you've realised the flaky chrome is on plastic so there isn't a lot you can do there.

BP

HELLO TURBO,
I'm pretty sure that that machine will clean up very nicely. Forum members use different materials on their machines. In general, I use paraffin as a degreasant/cleanser and then use Autosol chrome cleaner with white spirit on strongly chromed areas, e.g. handle and bosses etc. and the checker-plate on the cash drawer etc.

If you are going to repaint the cabinet then it would be best to remove the front chrome panel off the front door so as to clean properly the front trim pieces and more importantly to get at the lower award panel that the chrome is in poor condition. The door front also needs removing to replace missing coin badge too. Be very careful when removing the front chrome panel. It's held in place by 8 lugs that go go through the front door. You can see on the surround front where the lugs are as the chrome has become indented. On the inside of the front door you will see the 8 lug screws - 1 at each corner, then 2 spaced evenly in between on long sides. Make sure you treat these lug screws with WD40 or similar BEFORE you attempt to unscrew, as any sudden direct pressure may well snap the lug off the inside of the chrome surround.

Once the front chrome surround plate has been removed you will see various types of fasteners holding the various pieces of trim. Again, treat these with WD40 before attempting to unscrew, as they're likely to snap. Replace fasteners once removed so they are not lost prior to replacement or alternately some bag trim pieces with their appropriate fasteners. The damaged lower front award piece once removed can be cleaned, sanded, filled where needed if required, re-sanded, primed & painted.

People paint cabinets in various ways. Some look to try to replicate an original colourway, some paint to match a colourway where it's being situated, and some paint it with what paint they have left in the workshop. Also, when the front trim is off you can clean and polish the coin entry piece and the reel-glass too.

Above all, take your time and don't make any adjustments to the mechanism until it has had at least an initial degrease with 80% of the crud gone, but check through all the posts as there's loads of info on what not to do too!

GP

Aristomatic thanks for all your info and tips - that's great.
I still have one silly question - I don't know what lubricant / oil to use. I have seen members here mention 'light oil'. I've never heard of this. Is it just type of oil or some brand? Also, I have come across someone mentioning not to use grease but oil. Is that good advice?
Thanks.

3 in 1 is a light oil.......grease was used by operators as it last the heavy use in arcades, but after time goes hard. Your pictures look like old operator grease.....which will almost certainly point to where the slowness is.....My most common experience of slow reels of this type of machine is caused by the "Kicker"....do a search on this.....either due to hard grease, warn part or a timing issue.....you can observe this when watching when you operate it......Do a search on here and you will find advice on this....getting into this area you need to remove the reel bundle.


I use WD40 for everything, even cleaning my windows. It is best thing IMO and there are those who disagree....I have use only WD40 my Motorcycle chains for 20 years and get 20,000+ problem free mileage...

I think the problem with WD 40 is people try to clean electrical contacts with it which isn't a good idea.
I read somewhere one of its ingredients is fish oil which leaves a coating which when dry causes dry electrical contacts.

A bit counter productive really.

treefrog wrote:I use WD40 for everything, even cleaning my windows. It is best thing IMO and there are those who disagree....I have use only WD40 my Motorcycle chains for 20 years and get 20,000+ problem free mileage...

It's definitely good stuff as this "old" advert testifies:

Love the "advert". I've mentioned before what great aftershave it makes. Now I'm going to experiment down under.
It's also handy as a freeing agent but does leave a deposit. Contact cleaner is the answer for electrics. The term "light oil" was used to refer to what's also sometimes called "cycle oil" - in other words, a low viscosity oil used to lubricate light machinery like cycles, sewing machines and slot machines.

Nice one,Bryans fan.

Well guys thanks for all the tips & advice. Over the weekend I have stripped this machine almost completely and for the FIRST time
and cleaned all the bits and mech and surprisingly I have also managed to put it back together this morning.
And again SURPRISE, SURPRISE - it works extremely well. I couldn't believe it and so it seems it was due to to all the dirt and old grease. Now it spins smooth and quick and pays out as it should. I'm more than happy and all this thanks to this forum and your advice guys - so thanks again.

Now the cabinet is getting ready for some fresh paint and some more chrome polishing involved. Illuminations almost sorted, just getting more bulbs and starters and soon I'm ready to roll! Just need some small bits to finish off, including '2p' badge that's missing. Anyone here has any bits for this machine?

Cheers

Well done
The only true proper confidence is a complete strip

If you have time in my opinion on these machines I totally take them apart all the panels that are just bolted to together to strip the paint and repaint. The results are 10 times better than what most do with overspray etc. I even drill out the serial number badge and put back with rivets, I hate overspray.....

The front plastice chrome could be sprayed, if you look at Henry Powells website you will see he does this on his restored machines, although in garish colours

If your machine is missing the bottom cash tray lock mechanism or the key you can drill a small 5mm hole through the base plate through into cash box and just put in a bolt. This means the bottom cash tray cannot be pulled out unless you open the front door and pull up the bolt.
If you don't have a lock in the bottom cash draw, just put in a dummy one to blank off the hole.

Hi I have just acquired an Arcadian 65 Hot Wheels 2p machine. This is my first one and would like to get it up to scratch. When I bought it, it was seen to be operating correctly, but after a day or so the reels were not rotating correctly. When I looked, the first reel seemed to be sticking?
The 3rd reel has some spring loaded arms that seem to restrict its movement. Can anyone advise on the sensible steps to take to cure the problem? I don't want to end up with a bench full of bits!!

Hello there,

If you are able to post a short video may help as we can hear the issue as well, which helps.....if the reel stops, the arms with springs are binding the reels, where is this happening, e.g. on the edge of the reel or not retracting back enough.

wayneriley1964 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 12:03 pm but after a day or so the reels were not rotating correctly. When I looked, the first reel seemed to be sticking?

Check out this topic (if you haven't already): Reels not spinning correctly

From how OP explained it, I was wondering if his spring loaded arms are the vertical fingers, and as such has he realised that reel one is attached to pay-out disc three and so on?

TF is right a video is required here.

BP

Wow, thanks for the quick responses much appreciated, I will try and upload a video showing the problem, not to familiar with all the technical terms as Im a complete novice, but I suspect it has something to do with the sprung arm that fall in the slots on reel 3 when Ive looked at the springs they are different sizes and tensions, when I manually pull them all back and then operate the reels go well, but dont see any wins (I assume thats what the slots are on reel 3?)
Will endeavour to upload soon

On a secondary note is there any sort of manual available which covers this particular machine available? If so where could I buy it from

Photos are the key on this site, show us photos and point out the parts you mean, then it's much easier for us to point to the problem.