Treff Tempo on ebay today

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badpenny
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by badpenny »

Over the years I have written on this forum about the problems and solutions regarding the Monkey Metal or Pot Metal that was commonly used in German slot machines such as those made by Gunter Wulff Gmbh.
The life of this alloy is well known to be precarious and I know of several collectors who have despaired over the years trying to save a machine that seems intent on self destruction.

It’s worth remembering that these machines were only built to last three years, after which they were intended to be destroyed or exported out of Germany in order to keep the industry in work.  
So it is astonishing to realise that so many are still working around the world 62 years later.

Where they haven’t survived too well it tends to be in castings that experience stress, shock or movement with pressure during the natural cycle of play.
Evidence of deterioration within a casting can be as sudden as ……
- snapping
- shattering
Or gradual …...
- bending
- twisting
- flaking and cracking
- delamination

The approved professional method of repairing is basically recasting and/or reinforcing with fresh low temperature alloy or solder.

Few if any of us have those facilities and over the years the improvements in modern synthetic multi part adhesives and malleable chemical putty now provide us with powerful adhesives that do more than just stick things together.  With practice it’s possible to use these products to strengthen and even fashion missing bits.
First let’s look at what we’re actually dealing with and its history.

I referred to it as Monkey Metal or Pot Metal which is how it is commonly known in this country, another common name for it here is “What the hell’s happened to that!?”  The trade name for it is Zamak as coined by The New Jersey Zinc Co.  They had imaginatively constructed an acronym of the ingredients in German which comes out as Mazak ……
M - Mush
A - A heap of crud
Z - Zero tensile properties
A - Abomination
K - Kebab

In 1929 German engineer Hans Neiz unt Bumpsadazy discovered that by adding dust from his trouser turn ups and the crusts from his Bananen-Sandwich he was able to pad the stuff out three fold.

Thus this popular alloy became commonly used for manufacturing all things that needed to be slightly stiffer than plasticine. It was to be found everywhere, World War Twice was reported to have only lasted 6 years due to Mazak wings dropping off bombers and it being impossible to queue up for a whale’s head for the cat without Flying Mazak Buzz Bombs plummeting into the North Sea 128 miles short of their target.

With the now known shortcomings of this material you’d be forgiven for thinking that the world will have moved on since 1929 and eagerly forgotten all about this dreadful material.

However you’d be wrong, it was learnt in the nineteen ninety nighty nighties that it was possible to chrome plate it.  Although I suspect the plating costs were more than the manufacturing of the product it does help, probably, because it adds a sort of exoskeleton and seals the porous alloy from air and damp.  Consequently fitted kitchen drawer handles and current car door handles are made from it.

Other related products have surfaced over the years with similar names, but few were able to shake off the poor public image. Muzak was one such failure. The Americans fitted it into lifts and supermarkets.  It was quickly recognised as a very poor imitation of Heavy Metal and professionals such as Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden would have nothing to do with it.

So, why do I blow hot and cold about machines manufactured using Mazak/Zamak?
Simple really (which is how a lot of people describe me) it all depends really on whether I’m buying or selling.
;-)
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by youngerap »

**xXx**
raj
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by raj »

Just seen a Youtube video about using superglue and bi-carb of soda to repair similar damaged parts. It sets as hard as glass and if you use the thin glue, it should fill all the holes and cracks... just a thought.
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by badpenny »

.... got a link?
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by raj »



Although this is for a guitar part, should hold good for other materials.
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

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Cheers :cool:
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by badpenny »

Around the back end of the last century I developed an over ambitous interest in German mechanical machines in ugly square boxes. You know the sort of thing, with a name usually ending in ... MAT, and sporting internal gubbins seemingly made of plasticine.
My perverted fascination soon veered off into the variation that had a turny handle instead of a pully handle. Duomats and Prazisas for example.
Then in an oft experienced moment of rash daftness, around 7 years ago (reference the beginning of this thread) I learnt of The Trefftempo which dated back to the time I was born ….... half six in the morning.

After I unmantled it I realised about a third of the mech was either missing or disintegrating, but the front casting was in good nick, it had been painted red using a weasel's arse, but it was in good nick.
thumbnail_WP_20181114_17_52_29_Pro[1].jpg

I put it to one side and waited for Brexit.
The referendum came and wait and a second Trefftempo turned up. It arrived in a large box and sounded the way a tea chest of broken china does if it's stored on top of a spin dryer.

I was successful with this one, in so much as I was able to ignore the box in the corner of the room for about a month. I peeled off an outer layer of packaging every other time I walked past it. It was October 2016 when I held the final bit of packaging in my hand and was forced to peep inside.
Oh deep joy, another three dimensional jigsaw.
This one was on the original coin and colour, but was also about a third missing as parts were mismatched. For example the slides were old penny but the coin slot was 5 Dm. Also the coin acceptor was missing.
Putting it with the other one I waited to see how far ISIS were going to get.

Trump was elected which turned out to be more of a threat than ISIS when I got a phone call from "OOP NORTH!" from someone whom I'd bought ……….
thumbnail_WP_20181113_18_51_49_Pro[1].jpg

It paid out two every time regards of what was on the line, it didn't pay out on the majority of the combinations that it should have done, the lights were deadly and the handle didn't return immediately but slammed up at the end of the cycle(all usual issues with German mechs) It took a day to sort out and I had sent the previous owner a video of it working. So he called me to say "here, you can get these German ones to work, do you want a Treff Tempo?"
Instead of doing the sensible thing and damning his hide to hell and back I asked detailed questions concerning its innards. It seemed to me to have about a third of its fiddly bits missing (there was a theme here) but had the bits I needed.
When it arrived even I wasn't prepared for its external appearance ……

8131dfcf-45a0-47c5-a2e1-52fde194d09a.jpg

Not only was the wooden case painted red and the casting blue but most of the decorative bits had been ground off.
However I'm sure you've all worked out where this is going in so much as all three machines had enough to make one or possibly two complete machines.
And so it was that after nearly 7 years, 3 Americaland Presidents and several Middle East conflicts that I felt obliged to get my finger out and finish at least one of them.

Now all I need is a reason to do another one and give myself more room in the workshop.
DSC04766.JPG


DSC04767.JPG

I think the next one will be on 6d, but not for a while, I get very bored doing the same machines one after the other.
BP !!RAYOF!!


So here it is ……..

It's the first one's red casting and a combination of a rebuilt mech and two of the cases.

DSC04765.JPG

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treefrog
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by treefrog »

Excellent !!THUMBSX2!! When will we get to see the video....

Funny, I am constantly working on machines I bought a long time ago and coincidentally decided to empty the garden shed, not touched years clearing out 10 Beromat variants in various states of disintegration. Have stripped, rebuilt and cleaned 3 so far over last week. For some reason I have gathered a large selection of spare parts over the years for these and boy have I needed them, from slides to springs to coin selector plates...as well as various parts on the mechanisms....Problem is not just with the mechanisms, the blooming cabinets are made of old bits of Bavarian mountain goat huts and need a lot of caressing and imagination !PUNISH!
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JC
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by JC »

the blooming cabinets are made of old bits of Bavarian mountain goat huts.....
:lol:
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badpenny
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by badpenny »

treefrog wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 6:35 pm Have stripped, rebuilt and cleaned 3 so far over last week..............
When you've done half a dozen of them you get the .......

tshirt.jpg

13rebel
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by 13rebel »

Well done BP. Having read the whole thread I was able to understand all the jokey bits so thanks for making me chuckle. :lol:
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by coppinpr »

I was able to understand all the jokey bits so thanks for making me chuckle
Although,thankfully,Ive never seen BP's "jokey bits" im sure they would make me chuckle to. :shock:
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badpenny
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by badpenny »

"Too" Paul not "To" ….. and I have "Two" of them.
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Re: Treff Tempo on ebay today

Post by 13rebel »

:woops:
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