Person to service Caille mech 1934 Dictator

[clubconsoles]

I don't know if the person I need exists in the UK??
I have a Caille Dictator mech that needs repair/service.

I used this Rainy Sunday to have a go myself, but it is beyond the scope of what I can do and I don't do welding and reel 1 index arm is broken and needs weld repair. (I have the broken off piece).

There is also nothing on youtube or anywhere else on the net to help service this machine that I can see?
I bought the machine in Canada last year - it was supposedly gone through?
It has the hydraulic pump which has been refilled with hydraulic fluid.
It keeps getting jammed during its cycle.
Due to work commitments, I don't have time to tackle the mech myself.
Any one like a challenge??

[bill gates]

Could you not make a right angle piece and bolt it to the broken reel stop? Might work?

[bill gates]

Would you mind posting a few pictures of the top of your reel kicker please? Mine doesn’t look right and flops on the reel plates after kicking reels. I have a silent Sphinx. Thanks.

[clubconsoles]

Hi All
After drawing a blank on help with service of this Caille mech, I decided to give it a go myself.
Quite different to Mills and Jennings mechs and not as well engineered, in my opinion.
Very quirky, and has a noise all of its own, similar to Watlings and the like!

I noticed it has two design flaws:-

Firstly, this mech should have been redesigned, as it is basically the same as the 1920s centre pull mech (Victory Bell).
Note the push down bar at the front, a hangover from the centre handle.
It should have been reengineered to work with the side handle exclusively.
This mech is from a 1934 Dictator, the first machine brought out by Fuller-Johnson who bought the Caille brothers out in the early '30s.
They primirilary bought them out for their outboard motor boat engines division!


Secondly, the hydraulic clock!
These have a well founded reputation for making these mechanisms unreliable as well as an oily grimy mess!
I had to totally rebuild what is essentially a hydraulic door closer.
There are four seals and I had to replace all of them!
If you don't, the fluid just finds the weakest seal and oozes out on every pull of the handle.
The thing I find unbelievable is that Caille made such a big thing about the hydraulic clock being "as silent as the stars" in operation, which it is.
However, if you look at the video to see the way the kick-off is designed, those reel disks skimming the latch of the kicker make much more metallic chatter than a regualr clock and fan ever did!
It was rushed into production to compete with Mills who had brought out their much better engineered Silent Line a year earlier.
Totally defeats the point of having a silent regulator!

[gameswat]

Nigel, good to see you solved the issues yourself. As for the noisy metallic clatter, I can't imagine that's right. Much more likely worn or misaligned parts surely? This doesn't seem like a design flaw, and if it was, I would not have thought that it would have lasted long.

[special when lit]

I've restored a coule of trade stimulators with a smaller version of that hydraulic clock, they're a right pain to set up.

[clubconsoles]

Nigel, good to see you solved the issues yourself. As for the noisy metallic clatter, I can't imagine that's right. Much more likely worn or misaligned parts surely? This doesn't seem like a design flaw, and if it was, I would not have thought that it would have lasted long.

Hi Gameswat.
I don't believe it is misaligned or worn as the kicker works fine.
My 1932 Silent Sphinx also has the kicker Pawl that clatters on the reels disks, this is how they run, i believe?
Read Billgates post in this thread, he complains of the same issue on his Caille Sphinx.
Do not see how you can adjust this out as all three disks run INSIDE the 3rd reel tin and there is no room for the kicker latch to pull entirely clear of the reel disks??
All the best!
Nigel

[clubconsoles]

I solved the clatter on the reel disks from the kicker, it was missing a pin seen here circled in the picture.
Dictator all finished now.
Unusual in the UK- for sure.
Is it ugly or not - I will let you decide???

[brigham]

I've always liked the style of these, and with the dark finish, the chrome really stands out.
I don't like side venders, though. They are an important part of US slot machine history, but I've don't remember seeing one in Britain, even blanked-off.