Sega Mad Money advice requested

[wooster]

Topic moved - Site Admin.

Hi there. I got this Mad Money at auction last week, and although it is mostly working, I could do with a couple of tips from the people who know! This is my first fruit machine, so I know nothing about their internals.

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It's in reasonable condition, and has been upgraded to work with 1p coins. I found a few sixpences still hiding in crevices inside. It's also been modified to lose all of the Mad Magazine references. The top glass now says 'Handout' and the reels have no Alfred E. Neuman on them. The reels are also a bit tired looking. It comes with a wooden plinth, which appears to be genuinely old, but the base has presumably rotten and been replaced.

The electrics all work (it was PAT tested a few years ago), it takes coins and the reels spin. However, they don't line up 100% when they stop, and it never pays out. I was wondering if this might be some sort of gummed up grease or something, but I thought that I should get some advice before opening it up and removing it from the case.

Thanks in advance.

[coppinpr]

Hi and welcome to the site, (you have posted in the wrong section, which is not a problem but you won't get the responses here that you would in the Q&A, perhaps I could ask the boys to move this post?)
Topic now moved - Site Admin.


Your machine looks fine and is pretty much indestructible so you will definitely be able to bring it back to life. It looks like it's a "Mad Money" case but with a "Bonanza Star" mech in it. A pity it's not still on 6d. You could well be right; the majority of problems are caused by dirt and grease so you are going to need to clean the mech. I don't know how much you know about these machines so if you don't understand at any point please say so and we can explain. We also need photos at every stage... We love photos.

So to kick things off, let's remove the mech and do a very basic clean.

Remove the back door and top bonnet and release the mech. This is all very easy. Most likely there is one thumb bolt and a couple of sliding clips holding the mech in place (it may be just the clips). Once the mech is free simply pull it towards you and it will come out. Beware, it's heavy. Place it on your desired workspace (usually a highly polished dining room table) and take a good look inside it. It may be very dry (not a real problem) and it may have a lot of oxidised grease (a problem). Clean and dissolve away as much of the grease as possible. As you are new to the game, do not disassemble anything at this stage; just get in there and clean. At this point, there are three golden rules: don't replace the grease, lubricate just the moving parts VERY lightly with thin sewing machine type oil, and never get oil onto any part that touches a coin during operation. Once you have done all that come back, give a progress report (with photos) and we can move forward.
Any questions, just ask.