FORUM

I'm working on a Mills/Sega 6d escalator for someone, and thought others may benefit from what I've seen can be a common issue with them.
The symptoms were coins weren't travelling across in a methodical or reliable manner. Different coins at different positions would bunch up. Some were not being picked up by the teeth, others were being dragged backwards when the teeth snapped back.

The natural thing to do (I guess) is drench everything in oil or grease (shudder!!) BUT DON'T.
Close examination showed the upper and lower bars lined with teeth were suffering. The upper bar moves and the lower one is stationary.
At times neither bar seemed to protrude forward enough to catch the coin and move it. Or snap back far enough to accept the following one.
Then I spotted that the screws that hold the assembly together can protrude through to the back and interfere with the toothed plates.

Upon reassembly I also noticed that the corresponding bottom screw was also protruding into the bottom bar leaving it with a loose grip retaining the coin when the top bar retreats.
Don't worry if you don't know exactly how these work or can follow my dribblings about plates and teeth etc. If you end up with one of these original Mills/Sega escalators (Not Shefras) and it's acting up, then just look for evidence of the screws protruding from the front through to the back and making contact with moving parts.

BP

Wow BP, thank you for the great tip. You certainly have an eye for the finest of detail, it's not something I would have ever considered as being a possible cause.

Yes have come across this many times. Part of the issue is whether incorrect screws are used as the originals will not cause this, although a few of the screws are longer for a reason, like the ones on the reject box cover. Old machines you often see screws badly damaged through repeated maintenance and cleaning and I guess people have replaced incorrectly or with wrong ones....

grains wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 5:24 pm Wow BP, thank you for the great tip. You certainly have an eye for the finest of detail, it's not something I would have ever considered as being a possible cause.

A scrutinising eye becomes essential when you reach pension age. You spend most of your time down the Post Office filling out forms and signing your rights away. A tick in the wrong box and there go your fish fingers for a fortnight!

treefrog wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 5:39 pm Yes have come across this many times. Part of the issue is whether incorrect screws are used as the originals will not cause this, although a few of the screws are longer for a reason, like the ones on the reject box cover. Old machines you often see screws badly damaged through repeated maintenance and cleaning and I guess people have replaced incorrectly or with wrong ones....

Like you, I too have come across this before. Unlike you though I don't remember these things at the time and have to go through the whole rigmarole before it dawns upon me. I agree with how badly chewed up the slot heads get and are an indication of how many monkeys have already adjusted it with an oversized thump-ometer. I compared the screws and on this occasion they were all the same size.
I suspect the issue is linked to 6d coin. Being so thin the spacer plate between the frames is also very thin, and it's the upper and lower screws on that vertical axis that both reach through and make contact although they are comparable to the others.

BP