Aristocrat mechanical payout issues

[oneslot]

Just bought this Aristocrat mechanical The Gambler slot machine from approx. 1975 in non working condition. This is the first mechanical slot machine I have ever looked inside of so do not expect me to know the specific part terms.
I was able to get it working for the most part in 3 hours. I took apart the initial coin mech., cleaned, straightened, and adjusted to what seemed proper for a quarter to pass through, Then took apart the next coin mech (turret) and did some Hammer/filing work on worn parts, cleaned, adjusted so the quarter would rest at the play position and got this working well.
Then reels would not spin so I started to look for bad spring or stuck levers etc. Found that the L shaped lever at the back lower center was very tight/froze on the shaft, cleaned and lubricated and wheels spin fine.
The machine is working except that it pays out too often, I know on some occasions it pays on any 2 like symbols on the first 2 reels, seems to accept bars as wild, seems to pay out 14 coins quite often when it should not.
I know this was messed with before as I found a couple of incorrect things with the coin mechs. which I fixed. Not sure what else someone screwed up prior to me getting it. Overall it looks to have seen a lot of use judging by the wear to the coin turret parts. I do not see any other levers stuck and there is a lot of grease on parts (especially the clock mechanism).
The 2nd coin lockout coil is missing completely.

I think further disassembly, cleaning, lubricating would help out a lot but would like to know what I should be looking for as to the overly generous payout issue, also reels 3&4 seem to have more side to side slop than 1&2 do.

Thanks for any input.
Ed

[CVslots]

When the overlays occur, are they logical for any awards? Could the reels be out of order (like reel 1 in reel 3 slot, etc) or possibly the reel strips are not aligned properly? Is 14 a payout on the award glass?

[oneslot]

Thanks for the reply. I played last night and jotted down some notes and what they paid. does not seem to be anything common to them. some seem to be paying with 2 like symbols instead of 3. I am attaching a picture of the glass payout schedule and 2 pages of my jotted notes.
ED

[CVslots]

You are going to have to analyze the pay each time it pays. For instance, on the pay of 14, that award is for 3 bars. I see on your notes that on the pay of 14, reels showed 2 bars. When that happens, you need to look at the other reels and see what adjustment would need to be made to have 3 bars on the payline. We can't do that without being in front of the machine, only you can. The notes do not give enough info, as we can't see where the rest of the symbols are.


Once you think you know what adjustment needs to be made, KEEP PLAYING, and test your theory!!! DO NOT change anything without 100% documentation or you will be sorry of it turns out to be incorrect.


The MPU and machine do not know or care what symbols land on the payline, so if the reels have been messed with, rearranged, or whatever, the machine is going to continue to pay according to the paytable chip that is installed. Due to the machine model not being the most common, we don't have any info to tell us wether the strips and the paytable chip are a matched set (like we could do for other machine makes/models).

[CVslots]

Also, you may get lucky by just looking at your reel strips. On most machines (not all, but most), there were some kind of identifier printed on the bottom or back edge of the reel strip. Spin the reel (with machine OFF) to to the seam where the 2 ends line up. Carefully try and peel back one of the ends and see if you see any numbers, etc. if you find anything, do this for each reel and you might find one out of order.

[oneslot]

The 14 payout has happened correctly before but has also paid 14 3 times on my chart with None having a bar symbol anyplace. top on a chart bar,bar,bar actually paid 21 coins.
This has NO MPU, No chips, It is Purely Mechanical

[CVslots]

Ugh...didnt catch that it was truly a mechanical...you may want to check similar issues on Bally machines over in the EM forum. You might find some tips and tricks on correcting erroneous pays there.

[Jeff99]

You might look at this a little differently.  It is a mechanical machine, like the Bally EMs, that makes a physical connection that drives the payout. This thing is paying "correctly" for it's configuration, though that configuration doesn't please you.   What you are looking for is something that is misaligned.  The issue is most likely in the reel mech which is where all  the payout  connections are all made.


Some things to try:
Ensure the Reels reflect the symbol they stop on:
  1. Line up the symbols on the reels and see where the wipers or however the reels are read sit.  For example, Cherries will all sit on the same spot on each real.
  2. Do this for all the symbols.
  3. The reel that doesn't line up is the problem.


   The problem shouldn't be in the reel strip as most, not all,  people tend not to fool with them. 
   The disk on the reel that translates the reel setting into a switch setting the machine can use might be off as someone could have
   rotated them allowing the machine to read an incorrect symbol.


 The levers that end the sequence might be off and need adjusting. 


Just a couple of thoughts,
Regards,
jeff

[oneslot]

I think I have it figured out. There are several vertical levers that control different payout amounts depending on how far the lever has moved into the payout discs for some symbols. A couple discs are not true (excessive runout) combined with what seems like too much play between the reels on the shaft causing some levers to move  far enough to register as if they had passed through a payout hole in the disc which in turn holds the slide lever from catching the payout slide and paying out when it should not.

I have the reel assembly out to true the discs currently and will see upon reassembly if this corrects the problem.

Ed

[oneslot]

After 3 attempts to reassemble We have a winner. I had a binding issue that was not present before (had excessive side play in discs) which turned out to be 2 aluminum shavings(looks like they have been there a while) between the aluminum hub and the nylon gear on reel #4 which caused the gear to distort and create a high spot that would bind with reel #3 hub opposite of where the space was set upon assembly
The longest shaft had a bend which created resistance when inserting the axle and also caused wobble of this payout plate plus 2 other plates were bent (runout). Got these issues straightened out.
I just put $20 in with only 1 payout glitch (paid on 2 oranges thinking there were 3) which is pretty much what it had been doing but I think I just need to tighten up the disc spacing.
Compared to before when I could start with 5 quarters and empty the machine due to incorrect payouts this is very promising.

Thanks to all who helped.

Ed

[MilJenBal]

@Oneslot   Glad you got it figured out, but could you post a pic or two of the mech inside. I have a Mills and Jennings purely mechanical machines and would love to compare what they look like to yours.
Thanks!
 

[oneslot]

Sure, It is very similar to a late 1940's Mills Jewel Bell I just completely tore down and rebuilt.

[MilJenBal]

@Oneslot - Wow, that sure cleaned up nice and shiny ! Looks brand new.
Thanks for the pics - yes, all mechanical very similar to the Mills etc.  So then the only thing that is 'Electric' on this machine is the lights, correct ? .... the next step in the evolution of these machines....
 

[oneslot]

I did not clean this one,  Yes the only electronics in 1975 were the 2 fluorescent tube lights