I'm hooked!

[BG1996]

you can clean tokens the same way too

I'll remember that in case the in-laws have a skee-ball machine stashed away somewhere, too!

[prunfarm]

Welcome! Be careful not to feed your pachi after midnight... They will multiply... You'll see. As for light rust and shiny spheres, I use evaporust.

[MrGneiss]

WELCOME!!!

[Drunkenclam]

Do pachis turn evil if you play them after midnight.
May your spheres stay forever shiny

[ACMech]

When I play my pachis after midnight they are really friendly, it's the rest of my family that gets grumpy...

[BG1996]

Cleaning supplies secured!

But first, I'm having an issue... There are several balls stuck in the machine, namely in the jackpot holding area. I tried to trigger a jackpot to get them to empty out, but the ball that goes through the tulip empties into nowhere inside the back. Looking at mopar's video, I opened up the compartment where the balls feed through (to the lower left of the machine) and balls were tipping into the see-saw thingy, feeding down to the lower portion, but then backing up. As you can see in one of the pics (I think), they are backed all the way up to the see-saw at this point. I tried taking a couple other parts off to see if I could free them up, but nothing worked.

Any hints?

[pinball wizard]

there should be a button under the seesaw.push up on it to correct that problem.

[JACKSJE4]

This is a very common issue with a simple fix.

I have posted two pictures to help illustrate what you need to do. In pic #1, you will need to push the two white "low ball" stops to the right. They are there to prevent jackpots from being paid when the machine is critically low on balls. Moving them to the right will allow the jackpot payout lever to move up.

At the same time, in Pic #2, point "A" will move up and point "B" will move down to release the win balls that have collected. You will need to manually move the thin metal "stop" up to drain the balls where they have collected (point "C").

It may take several tries and some jiggling to remove all of the balls that are jammed, but this is the easiest way I know of to do so.

Jeff

[BG1996]

This is a very common issue with a simple fix.

I have posted two pictures to help illustrate what you need to do. In pic #1, you will need to push the two white "low ball" stops to the right. They are there to prevent jackpots from being paid when the machine is critically low on balls. Moving them to the right will allow the jackpot payout lever to move up.

At the same time, in Pic #2, point "A" will move up and point "B" will move down to release the win balls that have collected. You will need to manually move the thin metal "stop" up to drain the balls where they have collected (point "C").

It may take several tries and some jiggling to remove all of the balls that are jammed, but this is the easiest way I know of to do so.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!

I got some of the balls to feed out of the top part of the "turn" near the see-saw. In fact, there are no more in that part of the machine, but it's still backed up on the bottom part. If I feed a ball into a jackpot, it just rolls right to the top part of the turn again. It seemed like I had everything in place as you suggested, the low ball stops were pushed to the right (and moving freely, otherwise) and I was moving the arm at points "B" and "C" up and down. I thought maybe it had something to do with the top tray being empty, but even when I move that lever down to "trick" it into think it's full, nothing works.

I'm sure it's something simple I'm missing... Just want to get all the balls out of the back before I start cleaning things.

[owennewton]

Thanks Jeff!

I got some of the balls to feed out of the top part of the "turn" near the see-saw. In fact, there are no more in that part of the machine, but it's still backed up on the bottom part. If I feed a ball into a jackpot, it just rolls right to the top part of the turn again. It seemed like I had everything in place as you suggested, the low ball stops were pushed to the right (and moving freely, otherwise) and I was moving the arm at points "B" and "C" up and down. I thought maybe it had something to do with the top tray being empty, but even when I move that lever down to "trick" it into think it's full, nothing works.

I'm sure it's something simple I'm missing... Just want to get all the balls out of the back before I start cleaning things.

it won't work til all the balls are out of the back. sounds like you are on the right track, just keep moving things around and you will figure it all out. remember, if it feels like something is blocking a lever from moving wiggle the lever-part and try to find what is keeping it from moving. I have found this to be a great way of learning how they work as well.

[BG1996]

That's exactly what it feels like! The lever in the top right, near the "low ball stops" doesn't budge at all. Seems like that should move (if I watched the video correctly) to allow balls to pass through, right? I've pushed and poked as much as I can (or have the nerve to!) and it won't move.

I also noticed that the balls that were backed up in the lower part of the "see saw turn" I mentioned before weren't quite in a straight line. I was able to poke them free and they disappeared into the center area of the machine. But still no jackpot payout.

On the plus side, I broke out the CLR trick during a break in my frustration and while there are still a few dingy spots, my balls are sparkly!

[JACKSJE4]

Can you post a few close-up photos of the back of your machine where the balls are jammed? Perhaps there is a piece to the puzzle here that I am not seeing.

Jeff

[Moparformances]

Posting a video

give me 30 min to upload to youtube

BRB

[Moparformances]

see if this helps ya

YouTube - Jamed up B

first time i ever had to jam a machine first

[BG1996]

Thanks! I'm unfortunately at work and away from my baby right now, but I'll tinker as soon as I can!

In the meantime, here are a few more pics of the machine in general, the centerpiece, the playfield and a close up of the rust I'm about to (hopefully) beat down this weekend.

[BG1996]

see if this helps ya

YouTube - Jamed up B

first time i ever had to jam a machine first

That was an excellent vid. Thanks! Looks like the exact problem I'm fighting with. Everything looked familiar, I just hope it works! The one issue I think I may have is the jackpot lever at the top (below the ball release...I've become a pro at releasing that!) is stuck in the straight position. It's supposed to move up and down, then, right? If I know which direction it's supposed to move, I can give it a little more elbow grease.

[BG1996]

That video was exactly what I needed. Pushed and jiggled a few times and everything opened up! Thanks again!

Interesting discovery of the day... while I knew my machine expired in 12/75, tonight I noticed a faded blue stamp on the top of the door part of the cabinet that read "49.6.24" Could be coincidence, but it might be a good bet that my machine (or maybe just the wood part of the door) was made or otherwise processed on June 24, 1974 - just a shade over three months after I was born! (Either way, it's likely it was made in 1974, but having a possible "birthday" for the machine was kinda cool!)

[BG1996]

Ugh.

Looks like the sticky jackpot mechanism is more than just 20 years of non-use. I had been keeping the balls out of the system while I poked around cleaning parts, but a sick wife wanted to play and I couldn't say no (after all, it is "her" toy...) So as she flipped a bit, we noticed no payouts on jackpots. I forced a couple jackpots and still, nothing. Part of what I noticed watching the back while she fed balls into tulips is that A) the seesaw wasn't always tipping back to the "up" position and B) the arm for the jackpot mechanism wasn't moving all the way down to trigger a payout.

After sleeping on things for a night, I tried to clean out the rest of the balls in the jackpot "waiting area", first by dropping a ball into a jackpot. Guess what? It worked! Unfortunately, it only ended up working about 1 in 5 tries, with balls backing up in the "vertical hold" after the seesaw.

I'm hoping it will just be a matter of cleaning some stuff up and getting some dust and grime off of moving parts, rather than a broken piece somewhere.

[OneBigTuna]

It's okay, we all will be able to figure this out. First off, do you have at least 200 or so balls in the back of your machine, and are they feeding into the jackpot payout mech. It's the circle thing in the back behind the center feature that splits the balls into 2 rows in a circle shape.

Then after manually triggering a jackpot with the lever that is backing up see if those 2 "finger" like levers are blocking the movement. Check out the first picture in jeff's post #28, those 2 things need to be clear for the jackpot to payout.

Try tinkering a little more, and watching mopar's video again. If you are able to post pictures of the problem areas, that will be the most helpful. Stick with it and don't give up!!

[BG1996]

Thanks, Tuna!

Have enough balls (though I probably need more). I've always got about 225 or so in the winning ball tray, and even if it seems low, I've tried it while pulling down the rod to "trick" the machine into thinking that hopper is full.

The "fingers" got me once last night when I loaded the hopper. I had closed the latch, but one of them had stuck back. Overflow!

That I got it to work a couple times was encouraging. Hopefully it just needs some more dust and rust cleaned out.

And don't worry, I'll stick with it, even if it means I have mopar's voice permanently stuck in my head.