9 Drums Gladiator by Kyoraku

[new in town]

I got the 9 Drums all cleaned up, gave it a good look over and powered it up. (Yes all the bulbs work and I didn't get SHOCKED.) The machine seems to play fine. Even knowing about the P-Vibe (thank you Tulsa for the Museum entry) it scared the !&#^$%@!! out of me the first time it lit off. They should have put this in more machines. It would have been great in Star Wars while you are shooting at the fighters or Indy while riding in the rail car.

I have not found an on off switch but I did find the fuse on the power board and I think the reset button on the same board. It's orange with "RAM" above it. Yes the music does get stuck in your head but the 9 reels remind me of King Camel. Many color variations and they do have a "possessed" mind of their own at times. It is a fun machine to play and when a reach is in the works and a win occurs it goes wild and the balls do flow ! ! ! Tulsa's entry on it in the Museum really helped to understand the machine. If you have one and have not gone through that info do so. You can even click on the pages to see videos of the reels in action. The pages also explain the color changes of the reels and what they mean. Here is my question.

There are three ball tracks from the feed hopper to two ball motors. The front and middle track go to the lower motor and the rear track to the upper motor. I have never seen balls feed through the rear track via the upper motor. All tracks are clear (no Jambs) Swapped the motors and both work. The assembly for ball control at the upper motor spins freely with the motor out.

There is a micro switch on the rear ball track. I traced the wiring down to a PC board and did an Ohm check at that plug in. It does work. Circuit closed when balls are available and open when there are no balls. I have not read out the 5 wire connector from the upper ball motor to the PC board yet. (Have to get a smaller set of fine point meter leads or fine wire to jumper into the plug ends.

Could anyone that has this machine take a look at your ball flow and tell me when that upper motor kicks in for you and moves the balls in the rear track? I watched it even during a big win round and only the front and middle tracks flowed balls. The game plays fine but I know there is a problem.

Also trying to find a key for it as one did not come with the machine. The Lumina key fits but does not turn. If I can't find a key I'll have to do the "Gut the lock pins trick".

Pics are enclosed. I have the orange motor covers off to display them better. The last picture shows the two wire connection for the micro switch at the PC board. They are the white / black wires at the right side of the plug.

Best $76.00 I ever spent. No one else bid on it and the consignment shop did not put a reserve price on it.

Oh. One last Question. How do you close out on of these support tickets? I've searched the FAQ's but can't find the answer.

[compirate]

is it paying out properly for each pocket?

[Eddie]

Could the upper be a paypout motor for ball dispencing with a Dongle?

[new in town]

Yes it is. The center drop spins the reels, the two outboard pockets also work. All three pay out 5 balls from the front and middle tracks. The bonus pocket does payout 15 balls, again from the front and middle tracks.

The two inboard pockets either side of the center drop are sensors which do advance the 4 LED lights as balls pass through them.

There are 4 LED's on the PC Board that the ball motors connect to. Top to bottom LED 1 - 4. Upon power up and during game play the three lower ones stay lit during payout and ball shooting. The top one lites up when the three drop pockets and bonus pocket pay out balls. I cycled the micro switch (which does work) on the rear ball track and there was no change on any LED on any PC board.

The power board has 3 LED's which stay on all of the time and the PC board that holds the volume control (it really works great!) has one which also stays on all the time.

The only other thing that I can offer is that this machine has no Dongle connected to it. In reading other threads I understand that some machines do not need one.

First pic is the board the motors connect to. The second is the power board. The pic looks like there are 5 LED's The two center ones look like pairs due to the clear plastic case. The third is the volume control board.

I read out the 5 wire connector from the upper motor to the PC board. All five lines read good.

And yes the transformer is too small. I am replacing it and just on a chance patched in a 7 amp transformer. It did not bring the upper motor to life during play.

[new in town]

Could the upper be a payout motor for ball dispensing with a Dongle?

I thought about that. Seeing this machine has no Dongle I don't know. That micro switch is on the third track which is not moving balls and opening the switch does not light up the red LED on the right side of the playing field.

I am going to empty the upper hopper and search for another micro switch for the "hopper empty alert". It might be in the ball runs somewhere. Also going to see if the playing field LED does come on with the hopper empty and if any of the LED lites on the three PC boards change with the hopper empty.

[new in town]

OK.
Emptied out the top hopper, no playing field red LED until I dropped a ball into a pay pocket. With the tracks empty the lower motor, (moves front and middle track balls) will spin three times to payout then set the hopper empty LED on the playing field. The top LED of the 4 on the motor PC board stays lit and the lower motor continues to cycle. No other LED's on the three boards change. When I put 5 balls combined in the front and middle tracks, the lower motor payed them out, the motor stopped and the Playing field Hopper empty LED went back out. The top LED of the 4 went out also. Even with the hopper and tracks empty.

Drop another ball into a payout pocket and the same cycle happens again.

I'm starting to think that Eddie is right. The upper motor and rear track might be for a Dongle feed to the upper Playing tray. That micro switch on the rear track might be to alert the Parlor there is a problem only when the hopper is empty and a customer tries to purchase balls.

Daverob are you out there and can you tell me if your Dongle has been tried on this type of machine?

[owennewton]

I checked on my gladiator with a dongle and when you loan balls the rear track and top motor gave balls. I dropped a ball in a win pocket and the lower motor and front tracks paid out balls. I had never looked to see why it had 2 motors so I am happy this came up.

[new in town]

I checked on my gladiator with a dongle and when you loan balls the rear track and top motor gave balls. I dropped a ball in a win pocket and the lower motor and front tracks paid out balls. I had never looked to see why it had 2 motors so I am happy this came up.

Thank you owennewton .

I was chasing after a ghost that was not there but I learned more about this one machine in 1/2 a day than I have my other ones in a month.

Thank you all for your help.

Anyone looking to add a machine to their Pachi Family I recommend this one. The 9 Drums doing all sorts of things, lights, and the P-Vibe keep you attracted to it. The only downside I see is the repeating music that plays untill you enter a big win. Then all sorts of things happen and the ball payout is the fastest I've seen.

Time to build another cabinet with the standard 6000 ball Hopper on top.

Now... How do I close out this ticket. I would like to learn how to do it myself.

[arbycoffee]

I think I remember that it only runs during a 15 ball pay out in fever

[daverob]

Daverob are you out there and can you tell me if your Dongle has been tried on this type of machine?

owennewton is correct, one motor for normal payouts and the second for 'loan ball' payouts from the card reader unit. It's the same for all the games in the Kyoraku Volcano frame.

I think the Sansei R&D Zerostyle frame is the same with two payout motors (and at least one more manufacturer/frame style, but I can't remember which one at the moment!).

[new in town]

Could the upper be a paypout motor for ball dispencing with a Dongle?

I checked on my gladiator with a dongle and when you loan balls the rear track and top motor gave balls. I dropped a ball in a win pocket and the lower motor and front tracks paid out balls. I had never looked to see why it had 2 motors so I am happy this came up.

owennewton is correct, one motor for normal payouts and the second for 'loan ball' payouts from the card reader unit. It's the same for all the games in the Kyoraku Volcano frame.

I think the Sansei R&D Zerostyle frame is the same with two payout motors (and at least one more manufacturer/frame style, but I can't remember which one at the moment!).

Again. Thank you all for your help with this.

Daverob. as soon as my finances settle down (yea right, Christmas is around the corner) I will be in the market for your Dongles. 5 for sure. The Palot I have (Kagetsu Densetsu) does have a Dongle on it and Parlor buttons. Will your Dongle work on this machine also being it is a sankyo machine? If so then 6 will be in order.

[dishpan]

Dave's Dongles do work very well on the Kagetsu Densetsu Palot as I have one on mine.

[new in town]

Dave's Dongles do work very well on the Kagetsu Densetsu Palot as I have one on mine.

[rubberratt]

w00t !!!

I love a happy ending

I just have an afterthought. My yellow cab has the p-vibe thingy, but I can hardly even feel it. Is it possible that it isn't implemented in every Volcano game ? or is the sensation just really mild?

PS - I hate ghost chasing... but I love the phrase it captures what I did all weekend <<bleh>>

[daverob]

The Palot I have (Kagetsu Densetsu) does have a Dongle on it and Parlor buttons. Will your Dongle work on this machine also being it is a sankyo machine?

As far as I've heard from my customers, it works fine with the Kagetsu Densetsu Palot. The payout control board on this machine is almost the same as on the Lumina frame machines, so it should be 100% reliable.

It's now got to the stage where I think the dongle has been used on machines from all manufacturers, so I'm pretty confident that if the machine's got the card reader buttons and the connector for the dongle, then it will be fine.

The only machine I've found that can have problems has been Sanyo's 'New Sea Story', 2 out of 5 machines tested have worked with the payout functions of the dongle, but the ball shooter handle was disabled. The other 3 machines worked 100%. The problem can easily be fixed with a small modification to the machine, or I can send a modified dongle instead.

Of course these machines with seperate payout motors can also be a little problematic. It's not uncommon to find that there's balls stuck in one of the payout motors. Some of the pachinko vendors don't bother clearing the jam as that ball path isn't used unless you have a card reader unit, and these dongles aren't common enough for them to be aware that it might be a problem.

PS. In my post above, I refered to Kyoraku Volcano frames as having two motors, when I should have said Kyoraku 'Crimson' frames (as Gladiator is in this earlier style frame) . I think it must be getting a bit too late in the evening for me to be thinking straight!

[new in town]

w00t !!!

I love a happy ending

I just have an afterthought. My yellow cab has the p-vibe thingy, but I can hardly even feel it. Is it possible that it isn't implemented in every Volcano game ? or is the sensation just really mild?

PS - I hate ghost chasing... but I love the phrase it captures what I did all weekend <<bleh>>

On the Gladiator there is a slight pulsing from the P-Vibe as the 9 Drums do a reach. But if the drums make a match that knob vibrates all over the place as the reach turns into a big win. I knew it was there and felt the occasional pulsing during reaches. But when the Drums hit a match I got the ba-jee-bees scared out of me the first time.

The term Ghost chasing is from my NAVY Days. The first Aircraft I worked on was the F-14 Tom Cat . If you put all the wiring in it end to end that wire would be 16 miles long.