Q: Sankyo front panel ball tray swaps

[ShopratFab]

I picked up a slightly older Sankyo to gain some experience with something other than a Nishijin. It came with a damaged upper ball tray and I saw the Comet II front panel & tray on eBay today & it would be an easy fix to swap it. But the question is are the holes for the ball feeds etc. the same between the Comet II & the slighlty older machines like the Nishijin units are? The Sanko is from around 71-73.

I'll try to post a picture of the machine, there's some kind of hang up between Windows & the picture posting software on this PC.

Thanks,
Mark

[ShopratFab]

nishijin and sankyo before 022.jpgnishijin and sankyo before 063.jpg
OK I figured out the work around, here's the shots of the front of the machine & the damaged tray. The bummer is it's a metal tray. One more question, anyone had any luck soldering or welding this type of damage? The other option is the epoxy method described in another post & paint it.

[Moparformances]

i doubt the pins are in the same places...

best bet is to find the exact same frame or fix the one ya have...

unless your looking for an excues to buy another machine... if your looking for an excuse them Im almost posative the pins are right..

[CarlW]

I have two Comet II's and the front panels / trays are not interchangeable - yikes - still... the machine in the picture has some cool colors ! Hard to tell if it has water damage...

Also hard to tell if there is a metal strip in the shooter tray where the balls roll, this would be easy to add with foil tape from the hardware store.

[ShopratFab]

Actually this one the ball tray is all metal! Would of polished up nicely. And I found this "Pottery" model in the Vegas area, no water stains & the chrome is great. (love that dry heat) Although the back has some issues with broken trays, etc. It's right on the edge of finding another machine for parts to fix it.

[pachiwall]

sankyo with metal ball tray 001.jpgI have a similar Sankyo myself.It looks like the exact same ball tray, but the other chrome plastic parts are different. Sankyo seems to like the green vinyl cover on the top tray door. If you don't polish it, JB weld would make a solid repair, and not stand out all that bad. My tray wad badly oxidized and was about the same color as JB weld. I couldn't resist the need to polish it as it was too ugly even to put in storage. As you can see, it will polish nicely.sankyo with metal ball tray 003.jpgsankyo with metal ball tray 006.jpgsankyo with metal ball tray 008.jpgsankyo with metal ball tray 002.jpg If I were you, I would take it to a shop that specialized in welding aluminum (heli-arc or something like that). If they can fill the void, you can save money by shaping it yourself with a file and Dremel tool (or pay them to complete it). If done well, sanding and blending in with existing metal using progressively finer sandpaper, you could polish it. If, of course, it is a weldable aluminum. I don't know much about it, but it needs to be surrounded by argon gas. Yours looks to be in better shape than mine. I have considerable water stains.sankyo with metal ball tray 007.jpgYou didn't post pics of the back, but it is probably lime green also!sankyo with metal ball tray 005.jpg Let us know what you decide, and as always ...post pictures of the results!

[ShopratFab]

Pachiwall,

Good idea, thinking about it there are enough wheel repair shops around here that would be used to doing this type of work with aluminum. Have to see what the going rate is vs. buying a rough machine for parts. And yes, the back is all green. Got a few other units to get to first, but I will post some pics once I get underway.

[Bouye]

I had the same issue with a 50s single ball. I used jb weld and it looked great until I polished it. Now you can see the repair but it still looks better than it did, plus it help with it's structural integrity.