King (Beromat Type) restore

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 12:59 pm

Topic split - Site Admin.

I admit, and do so without any shame, that I bought the ruined "King" pictured above, I have no spares at all for these so thought I'd break it down for stock. Only paid £38 (made an offer) and delivered to my door for free as the guy passes by regularly.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 9:15 pm

Having got my ruined Beromat "King" into the workshop I've decided NOT to break it for spares but rebuild it. I've never built a case from scratch and thought this was a good chance to try on a machine that cost less than £40.

It also has two things in its favour:
1. the mech is (I think) quite an early one and seems to be in perfect condition other than a couple of springs that need replacing.
2. the plastic case is totally undamaged, which is rare with these.

The mech runs OK although I'm not pushing it yet as it's not been cleaned. I thought the clock had lost its cover but I believe these slightly heaver built early clocks had no cover (there seems to be no way to attach one).
I've saved the Formica side panels and they are undamaged, although I'm building a nice wooden case. I might still replace the Formica as it seems in context with these machines.

As you can see the old case was in a bad way and after many photos has now been burnt.

badpenny · Post by **badpenny** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 9:26 pm

: IMG_0728.jpg (40.67 KiB) Viewed 3238 times

Here's an early 50s clock that never had a plastic case.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 6:01 pm

Made a start on the new case for the ruined King Beromat above. I think it's going to work

treefrog · Post by **treefrog** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 7:40 pm

Well done - looking good and thought you may rise to the challenge..... The important thing on this was the quality of the shell, the damage I could see was around the payout area, which I am sure you can level off. I am sure you will produce a nice replacement "King" being a master of vinyl

badpenny · Post by **badpenny** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:04 pm

I agree, that's looking the business.

Is the old right hand panel good enough to trace the exact position for the hole for the handle?

Sometimes they didn't get it exactly correct and the side effect is that the handle doesn't return back up immediately. Then on the final clunk of the cycle it flies up on its own accord.
I've discovered a cure for this, if anyone is experiencing it and needs to know ask here ..... I've just realised I'm late for the Quack's, gotta go .................

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:12 pm

I was able to remove the Formica side panels intact so I have the bolt and handle holes on that. However, the handle unit will need to be recessed as the handle still has part of its side plate (about 6 inches high and 4 inches wide attached).

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:16 pm

The case is all but finished, just need to cut a rear door for the coin box and rebate the base to take a new coin tray (the old one from the conversion was a plastic marge tub

).
I did foresee the lining up problem mentioned by BP. It was always going to be hard as the handle mech on these is totally separate from the main mech. The old hole alignment was a none runner as I wanted to move the mech so it was in the middle of and closer to the reel window (looked terrible on the original version). I fitted a base plate that could be adjusted side to side and fitted a thin strip on the bottom so as to give me room to adjust up or down. I screwed in the base plate in what looked like the right place, fitted the mech to it and marked out the hole position on the side best I could. After drilling the main hole I had to recess both the outside and inside (as it was on the original) to take a portion of the handle mount (outside) and allow the movement of the handle mech (inside). Clearly I couldn't align the handle till the recess was done as I needed the distance gained by the recess to fix the mech position. Once the outside handle plate was fixed into position I could add the other pieces of the handle and check the line up. I was about a 1/16th out on the height and about 1/8th out on the front to back, removing the thin strip corrected the height perfectly and moving the base plate actually got the mech to a better position in the window. The mech is now in its final position(and working well) with just the coin entry and payout tube to fit. Can someone please tell me what the three spring retainers on the handle mech are for. I'm guessing one is handle return,but I dont know which one as two seem to work and I don't know where the return spring should attach to the case

The front case has now been cleaned and the artwork is underway, the whole thing still looks like a public toilet but this was about seeing what I could do and I'm enjoying it very much (so far). I'm thinking a yellow front case with black wording.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 5:27 pm

IT'S ALIVE! Well almost - just the case to stain and some trim and it's done.

: Almost finished

Strangely, I really enjoyed doing this machine, as is my want. I saved another machine from the dump (and believe me this one was definitely on the way to the dump if I hadn't bought it). I needed to cut new logos and I always enjoy doing those. It was the first case I've built from scratch and that was interesting to work out, but what I found most interesting was getting a feel for how the original re-vampers who fitted these old German mechs to new cases had to deal with it. The problems just keep coming.

: Original case

I decided to make some changes to the case shape and the position of the mech so it showed out better. This meant raising the rear height of the case to fit the plastic front and raising the mech 1" and bringing it forward 2". This meant the handle and its separate mech needed to be re-positioned on the side panel so they meshed with the mech when it's slid in. Not easy, and it needed to be right first time as the handle outside plate is recessed into the side panel. All this meant the case mounted coin mech had to be re-positioned which led to the biggest problem - the old German coin run needed to get the coins from the un-movable coin entry in the plastic front to the re-positioned coin mech on case side. Not easy to line up when there is no access to the inside of the machine once the front is offered up.

: Start

As I said, you get some insight into what was going on when these were made. For example, the mech on the original was literally built in, no way to remove it without removing either the screwed and glued back or the screwed and glued front supports. I'm guessing a short term "stopgap" life was planned for these.

No coin box on the original case (access was from the very nasty large base). I've changed that to a lockable coin box accessible from the rear of the machine.
I managed to re-use the wooden slide that allowed the coins from the coin mech to get to either the payout chute or the coin box. The original payout tray was a marg tub. I'm replacing that with a low tray like those usually seen on these machines. I also moved the chrome face of the coin entry from inside the case to outside and it looks 100% better.

I cut new vinyl name and crown and replaced the nasty "2p" coin denominator with something that fits the machine better. I also made a three window mask for the reel window to hide the gaps between the reels.

The mech worked well from day one (once it was cleaned) and I returned the payouts to the original set up (they had been changed to a boring three options with one of those blocked out with a "bug"). The machine now runs and pays out perfectly.

I still need to fit some chrome domed screws to secure the plastic front to the case as bolts are not an option as you can't access the nuts once the front goes on.
Interesting how the handle was bent on the original re-vamp to allow it to clear the bulky new case.

: case finished

I paid £38 for the machine and £20 for the wood and bits, fun I had doing it = priceless

I dedicate this machine to those brave (but sadly misguided) men at "Sty-Ryn (precision) Engineering Co. Ltd." who seem to have done the original re-vamp.

arrgee · Post by **arrgee** » Tue Jan 10, 2017 2:07 pm

Machine is not my cup of tea coppinpr but certainly admire the work that you have put in on this project. Well done for saving this little chap from the scrap heap.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:53 pm

I agree, not really for me either, but I learned so much from doing this re-build. Final touches done, so all finished (you won't have to look at it again).

Anyone want to buy a cheap bandit

speedwell · Post by **speedwell** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:41 pm

Well, as always coppinger has done a brilliant job of restoration. Also, I may be in a minority but I like the machine with its unusual design and the bold colours and motif.

speedwell · Post by **speedwell** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:43 pm

Whoops. Not even at drinks time. I meant of course coppinpr.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 11:00 am

To my complete amazement the King sold on Ebay yesterday for a staggering £285.

badpenny · Post by **badpenny** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 1:27 pm

I think most of us were watching it Paul, well done it looked really smart.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 4:50 pm

I think most of us were watching it

So I assumed. I don't think I've ever sold an item with 900 views and 90 watchers before.

treefrog · Post by **treefrog** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:53 am

Well done Paul, hope you removed the B&Q barcode from the inside, although it would confuse someone in years to come.

aristomatic · Post by **aristomatic** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:47 am

Good to see that you have given new lease of life to another machine. The way prices have been on eBay recently, I was a little surprised that it didn't realise more than £285, as fully working, new paint & tidy machine.

GP

ddstoys · Post by **ddstoys** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:01 pm

Well worth saving and you did a great job.

coppinpr · Post by **coppinpr** » Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:30 am

Well, you can expect to see this chap on ebay again soon. I made the mistake of showing my collection to the nice middle aged couple who won the Ebay auction. It was their first machine. One week later they have asked me if I could part exchange it for a much more expensive machine they saw when they visited me. What could I say?

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