Bally Slot Machine

[mboessen]

Hi, All:

New member, possibly won't be here long, depending what folks here tell me. 

I'm a 71 year old retired electronics technician, having spent my last 27 years at a local hospital taking care of medical imaging machines.  (Xray, CT, MRI etc.)  Before that I was an FCC licensed 2-way radio technician for Motorola.  My main hobby is restoring antique tube type radios.  I also play Dobro (poorly) in a Bluegrass band, golf (also poorly) a couple times a week, make my own real Brandy, do amateur astronomy, and take care of 10 acres in central Missouri.  I will attempt to repair almost anything.  I have done several jukeboxes, pinball machines, arcade games, vintage small appliances and, again, almost anything, the older the better.  Enough with the introductions.  Now to the business at hand.  I hope I selected the correct forum for the following:

 Wednesday My cousin brought me a late 70s "cocktail" version Space Invaders game and a Bally mechanical slot machine from Arizona in the hopes I could repair them.  I have the Space Invaders game working and turned to the slot machine.  This is my first slot machine.  I can't find any model or serial number information on it.  I haven't looked at the underside, though.  Once I got the lock freed up I opened it up and got some pretty bad news.  There is obviously a large sub chassis missing.  I know nothing about slot machines, but would guess it is a power supply and some sort of elaborate coin handling mechanism.  I'm also guessing that this is likely to be very difficult to obtain. 

So, a few questions:

1:  Can anyone ID this machine?
2:  Is there any chance I can obtain the missing chassis, and how much would it likely cost?
3:  Looks to me like it might need a specifically designed lower half that it would rest on, also missing.  Is this something I could build (I'm a pretty good woodworker and metal worker)  or would I also need to find that?  If so, some idea of it's cost.
4:  I'm a pretty darn good fixer, but this does look a bit intimidating.  Is it likely that there is too much specific technical education required for even a very experienced repair guy like me to overcome in a reasonable amount of time?

Thanks!!

Mike

[shortrackskater]

 

Tube type radios, dobro, golf, astronomy and... BRANDY???   
You're in the right forum!
Can you post a close up shot of the reel assembly? This might be an Bally E series machine but I can't tell until I see the reel reader boards in-between  the reels. Or it's just a Bally EM.  Corrected!!
You're missing the hopper... not too hard to find. Hopefully an EM tech will reply here soon... perhaps member Badbaud, Wolftalk, or maybe Chris-socal.
Give 'em a little time. This is an all volunteer forum.
Again, welcome to NLG. 

[Badbaud]

Welcome!!

It's a Bally EM. Go to www.slotmachinerepair.com and click on Helpful PDF's and download the free Bally EM #2400 service manual.
Many techs here work on the EM series so post your questions here and someone will respond.

[mboessen]

Hi, Badbaud!

You already come recommended by a previous post!  Thanks for your reply. 

Before I get into service manuals and troubleshooting, I would like to have some idea where this is going financially.  It looks like I need this "coin hopper" sub chassis, and probably a stand before I can even start.  Can you give me at least a WHAG what the cost will be and what is the likelihood that I will be able to obtain these missing components?  I know nothing about these machines, and I'll need to give Mark some idea before I start on it.  I'd rather not get immersed in the project only to have my customer say he doesn't want to spend what it will take to get it going. 

I won't lie, the machine looks pretty intimidating, and has been stored in a damp basement for years.  I really like a good challenge, but I'm trying, in my old age, to learn to look before I leap.

Best

Mike

[shortrackskater]

In my opinion, most EM issues cost nearly nothing to fix... it's a matter of proper troubleshooting; checking wiring, contacts, relays, solenoids, etc. I'm not speaking for myself! I struggle with these but you've already had enough similar circuitry experience to do this.
I've found slot stands on Craigslist at times. The easiest thing is just repurpose a heavy duty night stand or wooden file stand. If you search "slot stands" on the entire forum, you'll get some great ideas.
Most importantly, bolt that slot down on the cabinet! 
As for the hopper, best thing is post a WTB in the Newlifegames Classifieds. They're on eBay occasionally but you'll need to figure out the model number you need. Any of those three members I mentioned will likely know. Actually, the model # should be in the manuals Badbaud referred you to.
Member wolftalk may chime in soon. He's got an extensive amount of documentation for the Bally EM as well.