Revamped Beromat-type Bandits

[operator bell]

I just purchased one here in the USA.
Any idea of value?
Also has anyone converted one to work with other coins?

About $150-$350 in the US, going by auction prices over the past three years, but I'd have to see a picture of yours to place it in the range. I have a Novomat converted for US quarters.

[fotoman]

Hi thanks for the reply.

It is exactly like the one pictured at the top of this thread.
The only difference is the knob on the arm. Mine is black, and not red.
Can this be converted to quarters as well?

Daren

[operator bell]

Can this be converted to quarters as well?

Since you can get 31mm (half-dollar) tokens, and bags of old English pennies show up regularly on auction sites, I wouldn't bother. Doing it properly may cost more than the machine is worth. It involves making slides for the smaller diameter. The existing slides are made of zinc, crappy metal with little strength, and have already been reamed out for the 31mm English penny leaving a hair's thickness of metal holding them together. You may be able to make rings and sleeve them but they're not strong enough to make the rings a press fit.

(That image found here)

The bottom slide is a 3 dimensional brass casting, you can braze a ring into that one, but for the others, and the bottom plate, you need to make new ones. If you were a German you'd just set up a foundry in your garage and cast them, but the cheapest way would be to get some laser-cut out of ABS.

[cheeky]

Not Southend but Shoeburyness (nr. Southend). I went looking for the firm once but they had closed down years ago.

Great machines and very reliable!

[coppinpr]

Can anyone tell me anything about this great 60s (?) slot I'm working on? It has R&W stamped on the front (not part of the casting) and it clearly has a German mech. When I took the awards card out it had Novamat printed on the bottom, so I guess Wolff. Made for R&W I guess and early 60s, judging by the TV shape design (anything TV shaped was in fashion at that time). I've nearly finished it, just the bottom white light to get working 100% of the time.

[badpenny]

Post war West Germany sanctioned the restart of its gambling machine industry, however machines were only licensed for three years. After which the machine had to be destroyed or exported to allow for market demand to continue.

Hundreds (thousands ?) of them arrived on our shores. In an attempt to make them look modern and fab for the 1960s teenagers companies like R&W rehoused them from their wooden carcases and plonked them all manner of fibreglass and sheet metal alternatives.

Yours is one, so it would have originally been sitting in a conventional German square wooden box.

Enjoy

[treefrog]

The R&W is Ruffler and Walker, although whether they actually made them or had them made is unclear. Another of the many British variants using Beromat mechanisms to give a more exciting theme for the 60s than a square wooden wall machine they had been. There are a number of similar colour plastic faced machines which light up and make them a bit more colourful. Someone has been trying to sell an identical one on ebay for ages the same colour, but they also came in many different colours as below:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLOT-MACHINE- ... 35b41619d1

[raj]

There has been a Melfruit version kicking around for months on ebay which is a similar concoction. The main problem with the Gunter Wulff mechs is down to the poor pot metal used to make the castings. They are all over 50 odd years old, and were never made to last this long, so corrosion & metal fatigue will consign many to the parts bin, those with original wooden box cases tend to lose their veneer finishes due to damp and damage. That said, the original Mat's have a good following both in Germany & the UK and have some very appealing deco designs

[malcymal]

I think they are quite unique and unusual. One gets a bit bored with the run of the mill (or the run of the Mill's even). They tend to sit quite nicely in the house as an interesting piece of furniture. Most of the time my Roma Vale is switched on purely to use it as a light, it gives the room a nice yellow glow.

[badpenny]

Most of the time my Roma Vale is switched on purely to use it as a light, it gives the room a nice yellow glow.

I find Jack Daniels has the same affect.