Jennings Club Chief one-armed bandit - help needed

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carriehall
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Jennings Club Chief one-armed bandit - help needed

Post by carriehall »

Hello! We have a Jennings Club Chief (with Indian Head) which has been working perfectly until recently - now it will not pay out anything on winning combinations.

The slides have been lubricated, the mechanism works brilliantly apart from witholding the dosh! There are sixpences in the payout tube (and both jackpots) and now all the money is falling out into the back of the machine despite getting all the oranges etc!

Please could anyone help? Would be so grateful - thank you, Caroline XX
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badpenny
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Post by badpenny »

Chances are you have an upturned coin in the payout slides. Alternatively there is a loose coin jamming the movement, probably at the back of the slides somewhere.
If you can't see one loose, then remove the mechanism from the case. Turn it upside down and let all the coins fall out of the tube. It may assist to release coins in the slides if at the same time you gently ease the slides towards you against their springs.
Operate the mech outside of the case and stop the reels on three bars, you should then witness all of the payout slides retract. If they don't and by peering down the tube you suspect there is still an upturned coin in there, then you need to remove the payout tube to get access.

To do that you'll also need to detach the jackpot and overflow chute. If however you're sure there isn't an upturned coin lurking in there, then you need to check the vertical fingers are being released against the control plates (my terminology .... which makes it pointless really) Anyway £5 says it's a jammed coin, contact me to find out where to send it!!

Incidently Slides shouldn't be lubricated with oil or grease, try graphite dust available from locksmiths.

badpenny :cool:
carriehall
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Post by carriehall »

Dear Badpenny
Thank you so much for your prompt reply - I'm afraid it is a little too late about the oiling - we sprayed WD40 just about everywhere - even the cat got lubricated!
I have been using the machine nonstop for about 3 hours - it is now paying out intermittently - just when it feels like it - and the sixpences are rather oily (oops!).
My husband did wonder about a coin being stuck and he released the ones in the tube, which has since filled up.
Why do you think it is only paying out in fits and starts?
Anyway, jolly decent of you to help - I'll spend the fiver on some lottery tickets and if I win, I'll stand you a treat - promise!
Now going to bake some cakes for my poor starving children - all they had for supper was maccaroni cheese mixed with essence of WD40! XX
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badpenny
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Post by badpenny »

You might want to try this............

A strong flavouring such as cinnamon or vanilla essence added to the cake mixture at the last minute might disguise the WD 40.

As for the machine, you could sell it to an operater of vintage machines because those that pay out less than they should are much sought after, better profits you see.

Alternatively I still favour the sticky coins option. Did you lavish WD40 on it before or after the problem started? If afterwards, has it got worse? I once bought a Sega that smelt as if it had been dipped in the stuff, and strangely it was defeating gravity by encouraging the coins to adhere to each other.
I would force a jackpot win on three bars, then observe if all the slides retract. If they do, then the machine is doing its job and it's the coins that aren't dropping .... bent coin .... foreign coin/wrong size ..... upended coin. Choose a high win, and upend the machine so you can peer into the payout hole, did the right number of slides retract? have the coins fallen?

If the slides don't all retract then first check the springs on the vertical payout fingers (actually I'd have done this first before anything!!!). These are on the top side of the machine towards the back(right when facing from the front) You'll probably have 6 of them each with their own spring. These are what are pulled against the reel disks and search for winning combinations (the holes line up) however if the spring escapes or is weak the finger doesn't engage, so the machine doesn't recognise the winning line.

If those springs are there and not loose then the mech. is being jammed either (again)by a coin laying in the slides badly or some external influence such as: -

A loose coin sitting behind the slides and stopping them from fully retracting.

A broken or detached spring attached to the back of a slide(s)

A loose coin sitting vertically against the horizontal fingers stopping them from being tipped to release the slides.

Well I must go now as I need to vacuum my net curtains and iron the skirting board ....... where did I put the WD40?

Badpenny
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Post by pennymachines »

As Badpenny says, oil on the slides will tend to prevent them from, well er... sliding. It tends to bind them together, achieving the opposite of what you want.
It would be advisable to take them out and clean them with some kerosene, turpentine or white spirit.
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Post by carriehall »

Hello again - thank you both for your kind replies.

Machine now paying out about 75% of the time, so improvement there! Strange thing is that it dropped the jackpot on TIC BELL PLUM which is just not on! I personally think it has a mind of it's own and is probably female and therefore temperamental!

Husband requested that I ask if there is any way of dating the machine - it has patent numbers on the back, but apart from the paper labels each side, no other obvious marks. It is a sixpenny one, never been modified in any way, so was clearly made for British market.

We feel we have definitely been too liberal with the WD40, but it works like a dream now, just have to clean up the 6ds each time! It even paid out on 3 PLUMS today - first time in years! Cannot reason why the jackpot fell though - now waiting to see what happens when TIC TAC TOE comes up!

Many thanks again XX
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Post by carriehall »

PS - How do we force a jackpot? When we tried yesterday to get a winning line, we were worried that a) we might damage the mechanism and b) that we might lose our fingers.
Also, the machine used to work perfectly until a few years ago, apart from the odd coin getting stuck, when I just took off the back etc. and unjammed it. Children, of course, watched mummy doing this and started to unjam coins themselves - and then the machine simply jammed full stop - not because of coins, just simply jammed.
We tried to unjam it but to no avail, so it has been left (in warm dry room) until yesterday, when we both had an urge to get it going. This was the first time we used the WD40 - the arm was working but the chain holding the 6ds was not going round and we thought a part must be broken but after an hour or so, the WD40 must have worked. 'cos the chain got going again, and everything was fine apart from not paying out! Certainly is pretty thick with goo in there (not our goo) but we are not proficient enough to dare to take it to pieces! XXX
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Post by badpenny »

Hmmm! ...... are you sure it used to work fine, or have payouts always been erratic? If it's never paid out strangely before then I suspect a loose coin leaning against the horizontal fingers behind the slides. That might transfer the movement of a vertical finger to the wrong horizontal one. Thus tripping a fake jackpot.

As for date, The Club Chief is one of the few Jennings I never had. I've had Governor's, Galaxies, Victoria and presently have a Dixie Bell. However I suspect that if you look carefully you'll find a series of numbers stamped on it that refer to the date. Don't forget the Yanks put the month in front of the day so 11th May 1968 reads 5 11 68. Try the back of the base plate stamped into the edge, or on the front of the escalator just above where the coin falls out into the payout tube. Of course the the escalator may have been made before the mech. and sat on the shelf for a month or three, but it gives an idea.
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badpenny
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Post by badpenny »

Ahhh!!!! the thick plottens ....... CHILDREN!!!! Now we're getting there. I know what THEY can be like I used to go to school with them!

OK how to force a jackpot? Well leaving the mech in the case but with the back-door off, lock the children in the attic.
Now looking from the back you'll see a spinny wind vane sort of gadget in the bottom right hand side. Taking a duster you need to ignore the cries from the attic and place the duster around the spinny thing to stop it from turning, be careful you don't damage or bend it.
Place in a coin, promise the children you'll let them out when they're 16 and pull the handle.
The machine will get as far as the reels spinning and no further. Wait til the reels slow and finally stop, answer the phone and tell Social Services they have the wrong number and you haven't any children (silently curse your neighbours)
Now looking from the front and with your hand reaching round the back you'll find you can manually turn the reels and select the required combination. Now gently remove the duster, the vane will spin and the machine will finish its cycle. Hey presto .......!

Incidentally, the goo you refer to will be dry grease, another substance to add to the list of things that shouldn't be introduced to the inside of a machine along with oil and children.
:shock:
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Forcing a payout

Post by JC »

With regard to forcing a Jackpot or any other winning line, the term 'Force' is probably not a good choice! What Badpenny means is turn the reels manually, until the chosen symbals line-up in the winning position. To do this, you'll need to obstruct the clock fan with a screwdriver or somthing simmilar. Once the fan is unable to spin, start the machine and the reels will be free - forever! Once the fan is able to spin, the machine will complete it's cycle.
carriehall
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Post by carriehall »

Gosh! I love you two nutters! I never realised what fun could be had discussing slot machines - and thank you both again for your helpful hints - I dare not try anything without the Old Man being here, he has taken Granny shopping in the hope I will do some housework - as for the offspring, bit late there too, as they are now 18, 20, 23 and 24 and would resist being put in the attic in this weather! But as 2 of them are studying engineering and one is a site engineer on the St Pancreas station channel tunnel link project, I reckon all that poking about in the back of my machine interested them more then I realised!
If we let them in the back of it now, though, you can bet your bottom dollar, or even sixpence, that the entire works would be in pieces on the kitchen floor - and then they would say they had to go out and would put it all back in a few days...months...years...
We'll try forcing (but not really forcing) on the return of my beloved - now I must do some housework - grateful thanks & love XXXX
shottie
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Is there a way to turn off the club chief limiting payout mechanism?

Post by shottie »

I have a Jennings Club Chief which never pays out more than 3 or 5 coins. I believe that there is a mechanism which controls this.

Can anyone tell me how to disable it please?
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brigham
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Re: Jennings Club Chief one-armed bandit - help needed

Post by brigham »

That sounds more like a fault to me.
I'm open to correction, though.
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badpenny
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Re: Is there a way to turn off the club chief limiting payout mechanism?

Post by badpenny »

shottie wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:33 pm I have a Jennings Club Chief which never pays out more than 3 or 5 coins. I believe that there is a mechanism which controls this.

Can anyone tell me how to disable it please?
Welcome to the forum shottie.
Firstly, there is no mechanism that restricts a band of pay outs, other than the mechanism that detects a winning combination and then pays out the amount for that win.

Most of the advice given to the OP of this thread back in 2006 applies to you.

However to prioritise the search, and assuming you don't know everything about the mech ……
Please, get a high paying win up. Something like 3 Oranges/Plums, remove the mechanism from the cabinet then post photos of the mechanism on here.
We need to see the back lower half of the mechanism, and also the right hand side of the mechanism (looking from the front) showing the vertical fingers near the top and how they interact with the three discs. Oh also what win you got.

BP :cool:
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