No Balls On Bonus, Other Issues

[Toy Ranch]

I bought this machine off an ad on Craigslist for my son for Xmas. He wanted a pachinko, and I have some familiarity with them from having an old style machine when I was a kid in the 70's. The seller said it worked, but when I arrived it would only launch a ball every once in a while, with much ramming with a pipe cleaner to encourage that. The hammer thing that hits the balls was working fine, and I assumed (correctly) that some foreign object was jamming the balls and bought it for a reduced price.

I brought it home, and set to work with a can of air, some q-tips, and some water and windex. It was pretty dirty inside, mostly just a lot of dust, some leaves, and a small spider. I pulled it apart, removed the playfield, most of the top covers on the back, etc. and cleaned out the areas where the balls travel and generally gave it a once over. There was a big wad of fuzz that I removed from the "launchpad" and when I reassembled it, the balls launched fine and it was working. BUT... when it landed in the bonus pocket, it runs an animation of the fish swimming and numbers come up next to them, but no balls pay out.

Here is a picture of the front.



This is the bonus pocket. The claws or petal things flash to open intermittently, but never stay open for more than a fraction of a second, and only every few minutes. The door below that says "open" never opens. Not sure if those things are supposed to happen, but they don't.




These two yellow spots are buttons, but they don't do anything and the readout in the center between them is dark and never comes on.



This is the back.




What is the red button supposed to do? And the other little button that is inset. Sometimes I push it and the thing in the next photo starts to buzz. It displays the number 1.




This thing starts to buzz when I press the small button next to the red one.



What does this switch do? It's not the power switch, that is located higher and works fine. This one doesn't seem to do anything.



When balls fall into these pockets, nothing happens and the ball goes into the basket in back. Is anything supposed to happen?




Any and all advice and assistance is much appreciated!

[jmaclerran]

Are you loading enough balls in your upper ball holder so that they will get into the payout mechanism. You will eventually need around 1500 balls when the machine hits a fever.

[jmaclerran]

The red flippers will only open for a fraction of a second during various time when you have activated the right pockets on the machine or just finished a fever(Matching all 3 numbers on the reels), or reach (matching two numbers, and trying for a 3rd)
.
The big open door will only open during a fever, and each ball in will pay out about 15 balls depending on your machine. Can't see from your picture, but the white label to the right of Sea Story will tell you your payouts i.e. 3/ 5/15 --- 3 being a start pocket win, and 15 for each ball that falls in the gate (big door) during a fever.

The two yellow spots will not do anything unless you have a Dave Rob Dongle, see additional posts about this wonderful pachi device. Do a search, and you will be rewarded with a wealth of information

The Red button may be a reset button, that is usually pushed in when you power on the machine to reset the pachinko

The buzzing you hear is probably your payout motor trying to payout the balls you are owed because of the balls that were dropped through the
start pockets.
The pachinko will keep track of what it owes you when there are no balls in the upper hopper, and will start paying you back
once you have filled the upper hopper.

The small switch may be a volume control, which on the pachi's has little to no effect on the actual volume.

Welcome to Pachitalk, I'm sure others will be along to give additional / better advice.

[mudfud]

sounds like the payout motor or path may be blocked if you're not getting any payouts.

should get a few balls for some pockets, and 10-15 for the main ones.

open door only happens with a match of 3 in the screen

also, I agree with the question of whether there are enough balls in the top? you won't get payouts if the hopper is low.



fun looking machine

[Drunkenclam]

Sounds like thats all the questions answered. Looks like a great machine.
Sea story all ways seems to be popular. And we love pictures here.

Don't forget when holding the shotter knob fully, Not just the front bit, Or you make not be touching the ground ring behind it.

Make sure the path down to the payout motor is clear and the balls are reaching it. My Star Wars has a metal gate in the track that can obstruct the ball path if required. As the others have said. Untill the back has plently of balls in it, It will not payout.

One other newbie question is can you influence the numbers on the reels for a jackpot. Simple answer is no. Just play play play.

Oh and yes the Daverob dongle is a must,

Any other questions or help please ask

Oh and

WELCOME ABOARD

[Toy Ranch]

Thanks for the warm welcome and responses.

The balls are all in the basket right now because I have it hidden in the back of my closet and emptied the balls in order to make sure they didn't start falling all over the place while I was moving it around. The upper ball reservoir had balls in it when I tested it. There is a plastic "gate" that appears to be operated manually which allows the balls to fall into the payout tube area. When I lifted it though, the balls all emptied into the plastic basket in the very bottom. There were balls in the long ball path where the noisy motor thing is located, but they did not pay out. I opened the front door and fed balls into the bonus in order to check it. That is, however the one area I did not dismantle and clean out. I could not figure out how to get into it without concern that I might cause some damage to the machine or not be able to reassemble it.

The old mechanical pachinko I grew up with, that area was open and there was a metal bar across the side that you could pull to empty balls into the lower basket. My parents gave it to us and it fell to me as the oldest to keep it operating, so I did manage to learn a bit about their operation through those 10 years or so of having the old machine. Of course, this is a totally different animal.

[Moparformances]

Welcome to Pachitalk


i still think you r problem may be not enought balls...

tray puting every ball you have except one into the back top hopper... make sure the balls are traveling allthe way to the payout motor.. ( mid rightside.. the thing making the noise)

the take one ball and drop it into the start pocket... (lower center og play field)

see if it will give you a payout..

there has to be enought balls in the back for the machine to pay... (just like your vintage machine has to) the problem with a mordern machine is that it will require alot more balls.. like posted above 1500 is a starting point... i build custom cabinets for my Mordern machine so they can hold several thousand balls...

good luck to ya

[luckydog]

the piece on top needs to be flipped out of the way during normal play

if the balls from the back top fell thru to the back bottom, your dump ball lever is open

if you see a small hole in the front upper left push a paperclip in the close dump.

if you don't look on the right back side for a small lever than needs to move to close ball dump

[Drunkenclam]

Agreed. In your fourth pic the lever should be out of the way. If all the balls then fall staight through, The dump gate is open. Used to empty the machine, Will either be a lever above the payouy motor, Or access through a hole in the front of the machine. Have a look, and let us know please

[Toy Ranch]

I haven't been able to locate any "lever" that controls the balls from the top chute, other than the clear plastic gate.



That's the gate, in up position. The balls fall through to the bottom basket when it is up.

Here are some detail photos of the right side, top to bottom.








There were balls in there when I started, but I can't get them to stay in there any longer.

Not sure what happened there...

[Toy Ranch]

I've located the lever you were talking about. It still seems to not be working quite right, but you have a look. I made a short video with my phone.

YouTube - pachiballs

[Drunkenclam]

Is that a white lever in the last picture? Above the clear plastic cover. Sorry I'm using the phone at the moment so not the clearest.

[Toy Ranch]

Is that a white lever in the last picture? Above the clear plastic cover. Sorry I'm using the phone at the moment so not the clearest.

Actually I figured out that part, but don't have edit privileges or that post would have indicated that.

The video shows it all pretty clearly. I did locate the thing that prevents the balls from dumping into the bottom basket, on the side just at the top of that chute. But it either holds the balls just beyond the clear plastic gate if it's down, or lets them through to the bottom basket if it's up, and still a payout never happens on bonus, even when the balls are at the top.

[Drunkenclam]

Hmmm forget what I said above,
That payout motor below the dump gate doesn't sound right. I think you will have to remove the motor and take a look inside it, They maybe something stuck in there. Take it slowly and take pictures as you go for reference when putting back together. I wouldn't turn it back on till you have a look. Incase it damages the gears

[Moparformances]

the lever taht is painted yello is the ball dump... and it dumps the balls... something you will only use when moving or working on your machine...

it sounds like your payout motor is jamed... also you still need to put more balls in the top hopper.. the last part of your vid shows something you callde a motor.. that is a weight sensor that tells the machine when it has enought balls to make a payout... no balls holding it down = no payout...

but like i said it sounds like your payout motor is jamed...

[Toy Ranch]

I disassembled the payout motor housing, and found a large screw. Dropped it in the basket for size reference. Not sure if it's from somewhere on this machine, but it sure made things hard on the payout mechanism. Fortunately there doesn't appear to be any damage from it. I spoke with the guy who sold it to me and he said he wasn't sure what it was supposed to do, but balls never came out into the tray in front, except a random one every once in a while.



Unfortunately, my son came home soon after I started on this, so I was able to get it back together just fine, and now the little inset button with the numbers over it causes the payout motor to start up and balls to come out the front. I have not been able to trigger a jackpot yet though, because that thing is so loud, there is no way to do it without him hearing it. Testing tomorrow morning, so wish me luck!

Thanks for the tips, that was a great call on pulling apart the payout motor housing.

[Moparformances]

congrats

sounds like all you need now is volume controles, and a supper cool DaveRob Dongle

[Drunkenclam]

well done
Glad you got it working.
If you read some of the other threads you will see everyone wants to fit something to quiet down the machines.

The odds will be on the data plate telling what the payouts are. About 350-400 to one chance after getting a ball in the start pocket.


You may find that you have a back log of balls to payout. Keep the top hopper full
Till it finishes paying out. How many balls do you have?
You really want to have about 1000 .

[Toy Ranch]

Well, this morning's test didn't go so well. It still does not pay out on bonus.

I have about 400 to 500 balls. I did as suggested and put all of them but 1 in the top hopper and put the 1 through the bonus. No ball payout. Since there is a weight sensor in the top, I put a cordless drill on top of the balls to add more weight. The drill is quite heavy, and should simulate another 500 balls or so. With and without the drill in place, I tried it several more times and with no better result. Sometimes it will pay a few balls if I press the small inset button with LED numbers over it after bonus, and other times it doesn't. I made another video of it to demonstrate what is going on.

Last night I ordered another 2000 balls, so when they arrive there should be enough.

YouTube - pachi trouble demo

[Drunkenclam]

Thanks for the video.
According to this thread error 1 is low on balls.

I don't know what H is. Might just only happen when pressing the reset button. The thread also mentions a shaker motor on the ball hopper. Thats probably the other motor you mention.

Next step I would put all the balls but 10 in the ball hopper.Make sure the dump gate is closed and the ball feed is open. You might be able to see if the balls have reached the motor.

Leave the shotter tray empty.
Turn off the machine for a couple of minutes.
just double check all the connectors are secure on all the boards. They can work their way loose in transit.

Switch it back on while holding the rest button for 10 seconds.

Then when ready open the glass and just drop a ball straight in to the start pocket like you did before.

Hopefully you should get 3 balls delivered to the shooter tray.