Bradley/Shefras Salectric shocker

[gameswat]

Also have this rather ratty shocker door made by Bradley and sold by Shefras. But you just have to love that deco styled door casting! Again no cabinet though I think it's wood as the only other one I've seen was posted on Simon's website quite a few years ago. Tried asking him for help but no reply . Anybody else have one that I could get some photos from and maybe the odd measurement?? The mech is almost all there just missing the Induction coil but I have an old one ready to go in that should work fine. Though as it's rusted quite a few of the screws have been sheered off before I got it. Always sucks drilling small ones out and re-tapping. Thanks again.

[pennymachines]

I knew I'd seen a picture of this machine somewhere. After much searching, I realized it was Simon's (it's still pictured on his site). Bradley Automatics were based a few miles from where I was born. I didn't know they made a shocker.
Drilling out broken screws is marginally less painful from ali than wood. At least you have some hope of keeping the drill in the screw. I guess you've had as much luck Irksome screws unscrewed with screw extractors as I have...

[gameswat]

Ha - Easy Outs never work for me either. Only on bolts like 1/2" or bigger anyway. I use the old Penetrating oil and repeated heat method to great effect though. I have an Allies Flags that was poorly stored and looked hopelessly rusted to the point that I thought I'd have to remake every collared bolt in the thing! But once I had it on my bench and liberally coated it in the oil for a few days I think I got every single bolt out without damage.

[gameswat]

Thought I'd post up in the hopes someone may have more info on the case for tbis machine by now? Found this lying sadly forlorn in my garage while moving machines projects around a few weeks ago. Had kept leaving this alone as was never looking forward to dealing with all that rust and clockwork drama. But finally decided enough was enough and someone had to bite the bullet! In fact after two good nights of getting stuck into it i had the coin mech and timer back together and working nicely!! And once i started it was one of the more enjoyable projects for a long time. Worse condition = bigger payoff. Hard to believe that none of those tiny clockwork gears was ruined by that quite heavy rust. I think grease on the main mesh spots saved the tiny teeth from destruction. I was pretty sure they were buggered so wasn;'t looking forward to that in the slightest. I had to soak everything made of steel in Hydrocloric acid to remove as much rust as possible and then everything still needed a sand blast with fine glass. I ended up snapping off about 10 bolt threads in the corroded holes. So a lot of careful drilling and dremmel work then re-tapping and making new bolts to match. I have this brand new old blue bakelite induction coil to go in and replace the missing coil.

The coin mechanism is really very clever, you drop the Penny which stops inside the lower mech, then by pushing the button all the way in it makes a bridge with the coin to push a ratcheting wheel. this starts a clock timer that counts down your use. Eventually a wire pulls down a bakelite flap between two contacts and cuts the power. Brilliant. And in case someone (JP & BP) tries to hold the button in to stop the clock counting down there is another set of contacts behind the button that cut off the machine power until you release the button. Upon the button releasing the Penny is free to drop to the cashbox. There are a few adjustments to change the shocking time allotted.

[gameswat]

Did a little more work on this machine yesterday and decided I finally have to figure out the cabinet needed. But after spending more time with the casting I really don't feel that the complete machine pictured above is correct! I think it may have been just made up from a door too. My front casting looks to me like it was made to fit over a wooden case the exact same thickness as any normal allwin or the like, approx 3/4" or slightly thicker. If I hadn't seen the other example I'd never have even come close to thinking up that style case to fit this front. I've just spent hours again trying to find Patent or Registered Design for this damn thing but no luck at all. The instruction plate would lead me to believe such things existed as it says: "Manufactured in England under L.C. Bradley & Sons Patents. - Registered Design." Below that it says the sole distributor for the UK is Shefras Automatics. I did just notice in the Arcades book that this machine is listed under Shefras as by them, called "Salectric" electric shocker 1936 - information from an advert in the Worlds Fair dated 02/05/1936. The front plate does say "Salectric just above the instructions. So at least I have the year now. But nothing when I searched online for Shefras either, or anybody else related to those two companies. I think I'll just go ahead and make the case that I think best mates with my casting. Should be simple enough. Then if different info ever does turn up I can easily re-do the bloody thing.

[gameswat]

Using the front door casting as my main guide, plus other Bradley cabinet designs like the Crusader, I've mocked up this cabinet in pine to see how it looks. Made a few changes as I went so the floor is double thickness, but will be halved for production! Any thoughts before I pull the trigger and build in oak?

[john t peterson]

I love it, Gameswat! It looks much more dramatic with the metal front of the game standing on its own; it emphasizes the art deco design which was lost when encased by the wood.

5 stars, Mate!

J Peterson
Uncased in America

[bryans fan]

I think your proposed case is perfect! Well done indeed.

[gameswat]

Glad you guys like my planned cabinet, thanks. Been a couple of busy days.....mostly nights - and have installed the replacement induction coil and levers needed to control it. Very happy with it now and moving smoothly but have woken up the last three days pondering different methods to accomplish this. So I could experiment with armature lengths to get the geometry correct i soldered threaded lugs onto a couple of the arms which meant I could quickly reposition them for fine tuning the adjustments without having to keep re-threading new holes or make new arms. Only just walked in from the workshop and see it's 2am! Was going to steal a battery from a peepshow and fire the thing up for testing but just too stuffed so will have to wait for the morning.

[gameswat]

Cabinet made to suit in all recycled oak and plywood. Copied a Bradley Challenger as the basis for jointing and the fitted ply back. And the front casting repainted in original colours and weathered. Lot of time into this shocker! Mech works great, though had to remove one cell from a 6 volt lantern battery as was too strong, 4.5 volts is good.

[bryans fan]

OUTSTANDING as always!

I wish you lived near me!!

[ddstoys]

Finally had time to look this up and WOW! Love your work mate - from a write off to a work of art. Top effort.

[arrgee]

Absolute pure craftsmanship, well done Gameswat.

[gameswat]

Cheers for the compliments. Always rewarding to save another machine from the scrap heap. Picture of the finished mech wired up correctly. After testing I realised I'd forgotten to add in a switch to cut the current to the coil until you turn the handle ever so slightly, which saves battery life if players walk away. But really there was the problem of dropping the Penny, pushing in the button to start, then grabbing live handles!

[john t peterson]

Well then, let's get cracking, SlackerBoy. We have no room for sloppy workmanship.

J Peterson
Setting the standards (low) in America

[gameswat]

Finally I'm ahead of the game for once JP Wired up correctly in the last photo as original testing was weeks ago. Well down the road of other basket cases now JP. But a lot of bloody big potholes on this road I'll tell you!

[maestro66uk]

WOW!!!! I'm absolutely blown away with this restoration!
FANTASTIC!!

I love to see restoration jobs like this - going from absolute useless junk to a fully working new item again.

Keep up the good work, sir.

[gameswat]

OK, well I just discovered the only vintage image I've been able to find of this Bradley shock machine, small but good enough. Image is from the Fred Bailey book and is of the Chicago Automatics Supply Co booth at the London Trade Show in the 1950's. And thankfully I don't need to scrap the oak cabinet I made as it seems my educated guess was spot on. As shown in earlier posts the only other machine image I'd found before starting had a cabinet too goofy to help in any way.

[pennymachines]

That image is from the back of the Bollands Amusement Supply Catalogue I think - can't find my copy at the moment.

Great to have your restoration decision verified like that.

Some interesting games in that picture - I'd like to walk up to that trade stand and make some purchases.

[pennymachines]

OK, well I just discovered the only vintage image I've been able to find of this Bradley shock machine

Sweetmeats just emailed me this postcard. The colours are faded and it only shows a glimpse of the case. It looks like the whole cabinet, base included, was recessed behind the front casting. Is it called "Salectric"?