Gamesman hoppers...cutting required?

[Yoeddy1]

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share a recent experience with my BB1 and Gamesman hopper.  All of my games take tickets and tokens.  This game takes dollar sized tokens.  For the longest time, I would randomly get coin-in jams in the comparitor.  Long story short, I finally discovered that the hopper opening/lip where the tokens slide into was higher than the coin chute ramp, thus causing the tokens to stop and pile up causing the machine to throw a coin jam error.  I tore apart the hopper and made sure it was put together correctly and tight.  Also adjusted the coin chute and comparitor.  Nothing I adjusted would change the outcome.

Finally, I decided to file down the hopper opening another inch and relocate the ground pin.  Guess what?  Everything works perfect now.  No more token jams.  Coin-in performance is flawless now.

So is it normal to have to do this with Gamesman hoppers?  Just curious.  I'm so used to IGT plug n play, this was a new experience for me and seems strange that this would be required to ensure operation.

Thoughts?

Jason

[rickhunter]

My bb1 that takes coins is a nickel denom, so I've never had coin jams.  Maybe your hopper was not mean to be used on a bb1?

[Yoeddy1]

Do the 550s take Gamesman hoppers?  Every picture of a BB hopper that I've seen looks like the one I've got.  Ejects tokens just fine.

Jason

[rickhunter]

Here is a photo of the hopper from my 550 and the one off my bb1.  The 550 hopper is an asahi seiko on the left, the bb1 is a gamesman.  But the software is the same, the gamesman fits into my 550 with no issues, but if you notice, the hole cutout is higher on the wms550 hopper.

[Yoeddy1]

Yep, mines exactly like your Gamesman on the right Rick.  I wonder why mine wasn't lined up?  It's right as rain now.  The bottom of the cutout area was just a 1/4 inch too high.  I may have to snap some pics.

Jason

[rokgpsman]

Are the holes you are referring to those I've circled in photo below? How close does the coin chute come to the edge of the opening, should the opening have been made or located differently on the Gamesman hoppers so that it would be the same as the Asahi Seiko hoppers?

[rickhunter]

I think it is an issue that gamesman hoppers were also made for the 550 cabinet and the coin chute coming out of the comparitor is a bit higher on those.  I believe Jason has a hopper originally meant for a 550 and that is why his hole was higher as  shown on the difference between the asahi seiko and the gamesman.  The hoppers are compatible for either platform since they are basically cpunxt 1.

[Yoeddy1]

Here's a photo of mine.  I just cut the bottom of the cutout down a bit more. 

Thanks,
Jason

[rokgpsman]

Thanks for photo, I lightened it a little so I could see more clearly what you did. Do you think there would have been a coin jam problem if you'd been using a smaller coin or token, that it was just an issue due to the dollar tokens? I don't have one of these machines but wanted to know more about the problem you found.

[rickhunter]

No, the actual entry hole for the tokens was too high.  That is what caused the coin-in Jam.  He cut off about 1/4" to make it fit.  My best guess is that the hopper was originally a WMS550 hopper because the entry point on those is about that much higher than the bb1.

[Yoeddy1]

Smaller coin wouldn't have made a difference because the bottom of the hopper cutout was slightly higher than the coin chute ramp...hence the token dam that would build/backup. 

Thanks,
Jason

[Yoeddy1]

Look at the wiring differences along the hopper bowl between Rick's and mine.

Jason

[rokgpsman]

I see, I guess I got to thinking the problem was due to the size of the token. When you mentioned it was using a dollar size token in the original posting I took it that was a contributing factor and was trying to understand how that was so.  Somehow I thought any other smaller coin would have worked ok. I did notice the hopper probe wiring differences.

Thanks for the clarification!