Novelty Merchantman coin mech

[ninecup]

This should be my last question for now, I hope.
It's about the coin mech that was previously installed in my Merchantman crane. It's electronic with a led credit display. By flicking some of the switches on the circuit board I can get it to accept modern coinage and operate immediately a coin is accepted, bypassing the credit display. The mech is large enough to accept old pennies, but of course they are rejected. I was hoping to make a copy of the original coin slot, remove the led display from view and make a shoot for 1D play, which would drop the coin into the modern mech. At least the machine would look more original. Is there any way to get the mech to recognise a 1D coin?
Maybe, there might be another solution somebody might know of.

[Bent Copper]

I think you might need to get a new ROM. These modern coin acceptors work by monitoring the eddy currents generated by the coin as it travels down the chute. Samples of good coins are stored in an internal ROM and if the coin matches one of the samples the coin is recognised and accepted.

You are unlikely to be able to get a ROM for obsolete coinage though. So I don't think you will be able to use the modern mechanism.

It would be nice to have a mechanism that could record new patterns, so that you could add any coin to the internal memory, but that would probably put the manufacturers out of business!

[ninecup]

Mmmm. Thanks for that. It has saved a lot of head scratching.
At present the cycle is stopped be a micro switch activated by a rod on the main drive gear. I need somehow to start the cycle, maybe a micro switch triggered by the coin and some kind of relay.

[badpenny]

The original would have been a mercury switch that was tipped over by the coin dropping and then reset/switched off by a cam on the drive shaft.

Badpenny

[JC]

Yes Ninecup, I think you've already worked it out - you need a relay. You need to make a coin chute where the falling penny passes a micro switch, giving a momentary on/off or pulse which 'locks' the relay. You will need a double pole change-over relay, where one set of contacts are used to lock the relay during the machine's cycle. The micro switch that you already have will then unlock the relay at the end of the machine's cycle. If you're unsure how to go about wiring the relay, email me and I'll send you a diagram.

Jerry

[JC]

I emailed this drawing to Ninecup last week, but have posted it here as I thought it might be useful for other users. Sorry it's a bit of a crap drawing, but you should get the general idea. For anyone who finds electrical stuff daunting, here's a brief explanation of how it works:

When a coin is inserted, it passes a switch (which I've labelled 'coin mech switch') and thus energizes the relay coil momentarily. However, as the relay switches close to the normally open position, the coil is permanently energized through the cam switch and relay switch 1, and the motor will take it's supply through relay switch 2. When the machine nears the end of it's cycle, the cam (fitted to the end of the machine's cam shaft) switches the cam switch to the normally open position which cuts the supply to the relay coil. The motor will continue to run by a direct supply via the cam switch. When the cam has passed the cam switch, the switch will return to it's normally closed position and the supply to the motor will be cut. End of cycle.