Detailed Restoration of a Bally 1090

[shortrackskater]

Eventually you're going to hit three bars or three 7's. Those two win conditions should make the bell inside ring during the payout. Let us know. We'll wait! 

[David Walz]

Eventually you're going to hit three bars or three 7's. Those two win conditions should make the bell inside ring during the payout. Let us know. We'll wait! 

Jan hit it all ready. So, now I know this machine works correctly.

[David Walz]

After contacting another member, I learned that Bally put black electrical tape in certain places. When I was rebuilding the slot machine black tape was everywhere. A lot of it was dry, loose, covering up patched wiring, after I cleaned up the wiring harness from the gunk I studied many Bally slot machines locating the factory black wiring inside the slot machine. With the different slot machines I was able to determine where the black tape was located reproducing the placement of the black tape using a European black cloth tape that will stay put indefinitely.


The only thing left is to locate the hopper cover, a bracket for the meters on the reel assembly and I would like to try and locate reproduction paper labels for inside the slot machine.

[David Walz]

I maybe wrong, since I'm a novice at this slot machine endeavor, however, I found the same slot machine base as mine and I'm thinking that the base must be built by Bally for the slot machine.

[RetroMan]

This 1090 has some issues and I decided to get some manuals to repair it, and this site is great for research.

Hi David, I have the nephew of your machine in 'my' topic! ;-)


http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=19621.0

[David Walz]

As per other Bally slot machines, I've put the black tape back for strength and protection in certain parts of the slot machine. I've applied it thin, not ugly, and it is not for hiding wire problems.

I don't like black tape, for me, when I look at it, I think something is hidden under the tape like splices, and soldering. On this wiring when I covered it you can feel the wires and know there is nothing to hide.
 

[David Walz]

Close up of the exterior photos:
Upper glass is looking great.
Belly glass is looking great.
The base turned out excellent after the cleaning and the repairs were done.

[David Walz]

  Everything lights up! Everything works excellent! Nothing is out of place! 


This was a difficult project, I put in a lot of hours but in the end its working great.






   Everyone

[David Walz]

I've had more problems with business selling slot machine parts. One business in Nevada was totally rude, bad mouthing their own company. Another one in California is run by someone who is really disorganized, I've contacted him three weeks ago, and he keeps making excuses, forgets about orders, can't find his pen. Another one in California was really rude, and told me he was to busy to take orders.

All three of them tell me that the two parts I'm looking for are not needed, and to forget them, I'm the shopper, I want something, they don't need to force their opinions upon me.

Here on the forum its quite different, the members are great, I got the information I needed to restore the slot machine, I've been   documenting the process, so others can also learn about slot machines. Quick pro quo, it works great everyone wins we all learn from the restoration experience with great future reference material.


I'm only without the meter bracket, and the hopper cover. If I can't source them, I will visit a metal shop and have them fabricate the parts, or I can fabricate them. It would take much longer if I did them. I'm trying to put this back to manufacturers specs, it's not about what is needed to restore the slot machine just to make it work, it's about being authentic. If I could find the paper tags to replace the missing ones it would be awesome.


  Again, thanks to the forum for everything, it was a  complete success, everything is in working order. 

[David Walz]

 
I'm working on fine tuning this slot machine and I'm finding things as I go. The payout is fluctuating, one quarter, two quarters, so I started looking at some problem areas. Mind you its not much but small things can cause issues.


I have a high capacity hopper pay out mechanism, its a real problem child, whoever working on this was insane. I've gotten rid of their mistakes, I'm spending time on this pay out and just when you think its working good you find something that is no ones at fault but the pass of time. Over time the cushion for the zero stop has become like tar, and every time a reset occurs the stop moves a hair. So I installed a new plastic stop. I'm hoping that over time it wont crack the plastic stop, unlike the other stop was like putty cushing the stop.


I'm having to fine tune the stop, thats a pita! 

[Amechanic]

Most people use a pencil eraser to replace those old black bumpers. You need something soft to absorb the impact of the spiral cam returning to zero after a high coin payout. You will find that if you don’t have a bumper you will break the spiral cam.

[David Walz]

Most people use a pencil eraser to replace those old black bumpers. You need something soft to absorb the impact of the spiral cam returning to zero after a high coin payout. You will find that if you don’t have a bumper you will break the spiral cam.

Thats what  I was worried about, will work on that, using an eraser. Thanks.

[David Walz]

   If you think about restoring a slot machine, you really need psychiatric help.   


So why do we work on these slot machines? It's a skill that is really made for people who just are not right in the head. Take me for example, I spent hours, days, weeks, months on this slot machine, and figuring out the problems are something I enjoy, the harder the nut is to crack, the more I'm in my element. I have to admit it is a obsession, not only getting the slot machine to function, but getting all of the bugs worked out.
   I'm just the type who just loves these puzzles, however I have to admit I need a break since its intense. I've come a long way since I first bought this slot machine, and I really pleased with it, however this "extra coin payout" is a tough problem to figure out.   


So I've been working on the payout counter, I've found a extra one I'm using for parts, which helps a lot. This slot machine spent years in service from the evidence on the contacts, wear and tear. What I'm learning is the rubber they used in 1979, when they built the slot machine, turned to tar causing some issues.


Another helpful tool is the original Bally repair books I've found. That is the best tool to have working on the slot machine in getting things inside the slot machine aligned correctly.


On with the repairs: the stop was replaced, two of the switches were burnt toast, the ratchet was not resetting the wiper assembly back to zero, just to name a few issues.


Trust me this will drive you crazy if you don't keep focussed, and it makes things worse if you forget where your working at inside the slot machine. The worse thing that can happen, is having to go to the bathroom.

[David Walz]

I have purchased several books on the Bally slot machine, every one has different information inside which is a great help. 

Here is photos:

[David Walz]

 

If you haven't had experience in working on a Slot machine, its really difficult to figure things out, the repair manuals helps out but you really need to study the movement of the part your working on just to get a grasp of how it works. Remember if you adjust one thing it will impact other parts of the machinery so be careful what you do, when the stop on this payout mechanism turned to tar it would cause the stop to constantly change. After I replaced the stop I had to spend hours trying to figure out the exact setting so it work correctly.

Actually it's really quite a challenge to work on and I enjoyed working on these types of problems . See I told you have to be crazy to work on slot machines.  




Above all don't even start this if you can't keep a level head, especially when you don't figure out the problem at first, and it gets really intense. I always take breaks, drink coffee, relax and have fun. I never let this get me upset, it's just a puzzle and figuring out the solution which is the reward.
 


More photos:

[David Walz]

So now I have to dig deeper into this extra coin payout. The payout meter on the outside is reading the exact coins payout, 5 instead of 4 etc.




  This is the next brain teaser. 

[David Walz]

  On to the step up unit. I'm going to find out if this buggered up. I've found another step up unit, its in good shape, I will strip the parts off of that and rebuild this one. This should be interesting to find out what's  happening with this one, I've experienced bad switches before on this slot machine, where they are like burnt toast.


The donor assembly is not exactly correct, it's from a pinball machine however their is a lot of usable parts.

[David Walz]

What might help you out restoring a slot machine, is to locate some parts on the internet. I found some switches, wiring, just a hodge podge of stuff. Some of the steel and sheet metal will help me on other projects fabricating something.


  See I told you working on a slot machine would drive you insane. 

[David Walz]

I think this is FUBAR, the tooth is missing.

[Amechanic]

No that’s normal. That gear only indexes 3 clicks. It’s for your stepper