Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

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rick
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Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

Post by rick »

Now that I've pretty much got the mech cleaned up and working properly I've started looking at the wheel itself. Mine is in terrible shape and I would like others' opinions as to how to refurbish one.
Actually, I have two wheels off two different machines that need to be redone.
One wheel appears to have been repainted recently. In the center, they placed what appears to be a vinyl sticker with the filigree art work that is an exact match to the original art work. Trouble is, the wheel isn't perfectly flat and there are wrinkles in the vinyl around the edges. Plus it looks tacky. I'm thinking about contacting a printing company to see if this could be done with a silk screening process. The other wheel also needs a total redo, so I'm also thinking about the silk screening. Anyone have other ideas?
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50-stop-wheel.jpg
25-stop-wheel.jpg
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gameswat
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Re: Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

Post by gameswat »

Rick, you won't be able to silk screen straight onto your wheels since they have that raised ring. I've never worked on one of these but as they date '20s -'30s era originally the art would be lithographed onto flat sheets of tin, then pressed into that shape afterwards, the same way the tin eggs used in the Hen vending machines were made. You should have a good look around online and see if you can find any still being made as I've seen many machines in the US over the years with reproed wheels.
If nothing is currently available then I think the best way to cheaply replicate the originals would be to possibly scan (won't focus 100% because of that raised ring though) or, better still, photograph your decent wheel and remake the art with a graphic program and print out some water decal paper. Would need to be cut into two pieces, the inner art, and outer coloured numbers. I've used the water decals to replace missing sections and match original litho and silked art exactly.
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john t peterson
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Re: Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

Post by john t peterson »

Decades ago, during the early days of my collecting adventure, I bought a mid-nineteenth century American wall clock in England. The clock face was faded with some of the Roman numerals barely distinguishable. As a condition of purchase, I had the antique dealer have the face repainted. Several years later and much more attuned to the value and charm of antiques, I came to regret my earlier decision. I regretted it every time I looked at that clock.

J Peterson
Clocking time in America
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treefrog
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Re: Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

Post by treefrog »

I was going to post earlier and agree with JP.....certainly the 50 stop artwork looks great and in keeping with the age of the machine. Anything you do to change it will kill this and cannot be brought back.

I noticed you last posted on the same machines on this site 12 years ago, as such you must have got to like the look a little bit.....

Keep as is, would be my vote. !THUMBS!
pennymachines
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Re: Counter wheel machine question. Looking for opinions.

Post by pennymachines »

I take the point about the value of originality, but unfortunately many of the disks on these machines have already lost out on that score with over-painting and alterations to payouts etc., like the 25 stop disk Rick posted. I've got one of those stick-on repro centre disks - and agree, it's just not acceptable. The chance of finding a suitable replacement which happens to match your machine's pay scheme is remote, so creating a waterslide transfer, as Gameswat suggested, might be the answer. To get it right is quite a bit of work though. A brief search turned up this disk, which might serve as a template.
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158091194_caille-ben-hur-cigar-slot-machine-trade-stimulator-repro.jpg
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