Aristocrat Sheerline

[youngerap]

Hi. I am a newcomer to PennyMachines and am delighted to have found this site. Just for a bit of background, I am just an old bloke who really likes mechanical slot machines. I am not a collector, I just like to play them and, to this end, I have an Aristocrat Arcadian and an electro-mechanical Bally (which scares me silly when I look inside the box). I also have an old 'half-penny' 7-cup Allwin that I spend far too much time playing on with my granddaughter.

Now to the reason for my writing this novel. I recently had a funny turn and bought an Aristocrat Sheerline (that plays on the old 'tanner') from eBay. Mechanically, it appears fine but, when it came off the courier van the case had literally fallen apart and, to make things worse, the cash tray was missing (the sorry state of the case can be seen in the attached photos). So, the decision has been made to replace the case and, to that end, it has been stripped ready for the brightwork to be taken for re-chroming. Whilst that is happening, my sons will construct a new case.

But, I do have the problem of the missing cash tray. I have contacted the seller in the hope that he might have it somewhere in his shed, but it appears he was not even aware the tray was missing as the machine was like this when he bought it years ago. Fair enough. So, I wondered if anyone on this forum might be able to give some advice as to where such a part might be sourced or, indeed, be able to provide some schematics from which a tray might be fabricated?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Alan

[badpenny]

Hi there youngerap

Welcome to the site it's good to have you with us ....... us old young 'uns need to stick together.

Congrats on your acquisitions, if looking inside your Bally scares you then best stop, just keep it locked up and play it regularly.

Keep us up to date on the rebuild, and if any others can assist you then I'm sure they'll be along soon.

Badpenny

[treefrog]

Hi Youngerap,

The cash trays are not common item to get hold of, but I may be able to help you, in fact I have spare both wooden cabinets like yours and the metal version for Sheerlines, so depending where you are might be easier than making one. I did post one a while ago in the Market, but no interest, but happy to do again. I will be at both the Elephant House auction in Leamington and November Coventry auction.

Hopefully after a clear out I will be freeing up loads of spares and machines over the coming month, so not making promises, but watch this space...

[youngerap]

Hi, Treefrog.

I have sent you an email in response. I would be very interested in obtaining one of your cabinets! You have made my day. Perhaps you could advise as to how this can be progressed?

Cheers,

Alan

[treefrog]

Apologies, as mentioned not always able to quickly respond.

For your info, there were at least three of these types of machine, the Sheerline, the Arcadian and the Starlite..... The Sheerline's normally have a top hinged door and the curly black stands/supports you have on your machine. The other two are triangle shaped chrome supports. Normally the Sheerline has the card based poker reels, the Starlite is fruits and the Arcadian also fruits. All of this may vary and there were also 4 reeler versions.

In the last 12 months I have suddenly seen wooden/ply cased Sheerlines appearing on the market in the last 4-5 years of collecting had not seen before. Instead of the normal chrome badges they have a plastic red badge. The manufacturer badges are all there, so I am assuming these maybe an earlier variant possibly or maybe only made in the UK factory, I do have one, but parts were missing, so I have used the mechanism on another machine, which is why I have a spare cabinet. I have shown a few of the variants I have or sold in the metal cases and one of the older spare cabinets.

The metal cabinets I have are all side door mounted for Arcadian and Starlites, the door you have is a top mounted one.

Removed bandit pictures

[badpenny]

..............in the last 45 years of collecting had not seen before..................

Tom, are you feeling alright? You're not even 45 years old!

[bryans fan]

Perhaps Frog years are the same as dog years? 7 to 1 !!

[treefrog]

Thank you BP very kind, unfortunately I have now passed 45 without the hyphen

[raj]

I think Mrs Treefrog may have an issue with the blue model, or is this one of Jamie Oliver's new recipies?

[youngerap]

Just a quick update on that Sheerline I foolishly purchased from eBay.

Having wasted a considerable amount of Mr Treefrog's valuable time (profuse apologies, TF), I reluctantly came to the conclusion that spending any more money on this machine would just be throwing good cash after bad.

The casing was knackered and the chrome was past its best (re-chroming was simply not viable for this machine). The mechanics were good and it paid out correctly, however, so I decided to keep the metal bits for later spares and ditch the box. I guess my son got a bit fed up with my whining on the subject of eBay and 'never buying from there again' (a resolution that lasted all of about 10 days) because he took the scrap box home and used it as a template to build me a replacement (using MDF offcuts - it did not cost a penny!).

I thought you might like to see his first ever attempt at a bandit casing. Oh, he has also made me a matching bandit stand, but that has not yet been painted so does not appear here. I am, admittedly, biased, but I am delighted and impressed with his handiwork (although the payout tray looks suspiciously like the small stainless steel roasting tray that my wife declared missing some weeks ago....).

The one thing missing is the front lock. If anyone can advise what is the correct size lock for this machine, I would be very grateful.

Happy New Year to you all!

[badpenny]

I think that's ingenious.
Is there enough clearance to get The Yorkshire Pudding from the payout tray if you win the jackpot?

[coppinpr]

Really good job, another machine saved from the scrap heap, well done.

[treefrog]

Alan, I noticed you have put an add for a cabinet after 6 years of living with your fine work. As per my other thread on a 4 reeler I have just got working, one thing I was not aware of until working on this was the door size being longer. As such if you stick with lift up type door you will need the right cabinet as a replacement. All my spare cabinets are side openers, but I do have a wooden carcass like what would have been with your machine.

There are definitely less Sheerlines steel cabinet machines in the U.K. I reckon the up lifting door was less popular with operators and they moved to side types. In fact I have a huge bump on my head from the door landing on it multiple times while trying to fix mine...

[youngerap]

Hi, Treefrog.
Thank you for resurrecting this old thread. I had completely forgotten about it. It really brings back memories from when that machine was brought back to life. In reading the original thread I noticed the point made about the cash trays being rare and recall that was a big factor in the approach we ended up taking (i.e the mdf and roasting tin solution). I guess the cash tray can only be more rare as time passes. Unless I get lucky, and much as I would like to return it to a fully operational original state, I think I may be doomed to keep the machine as it is (which is not a bad thing, given my son built it and the machine does work perfectly).

[aristomatic]

I have worked on only a few of these sheerline/starlite/arcadian style
cabinets and on those, never done full restoration just got the mechs
working.

Is the cash drawer the same across all these variants or do they vary?

[treefrog]

Yes, the same across the Sheerline, Starlites and Arcadian; not the chequered plate cash boxes though on later machines.

[aristomatic]

Thanks TF, for confirming the cash drawer, much appreciated.

[treefrog]

Alan pictures as promised. Ignore the box inside cabinet. Dusty, but solid with some Formica lift....

Not sure why you cannot add pictures in private messages