My First Vintage Pachinko Comet II - Help me figure it out

[LuckyDay]

Hey all, just signed up here.

I'm a long time arcade enthusiast (two american machines restored, and one japanese Astro City candy cab).

I recently acquired a vintake Pachinko machine from a great uncle's Estate. He lived in Japan in the 60's and was into all things Japanese, although I believe he purchased this one later on in the 80's.

I've looked around here and have seen some other Comet II machines, but I really don't know much about Vintage (or modern) Pachinkos and would like to track down all of the info I can on this one.

I tested it out today, and it seems to work. It loads the balls, fires them, and the ball return seems to work. I have yet to hit a jackpot, so don't know if that works, lol.


Here is a gallery of all of the pictures I've taken. Hopefully someone can identify missing parts, model type, or identify what year it was built.

Picasa Web Albums - nick carney - Vintage Pachi...

Thanks for all the help.

[Bouye]

Welcome! Nice machine. It seems you have a little ball jam where all the jackpot balls go. You will have to get those balls out before a jackpot will pay off. The machine looks to be in great shape. Those stickers on the bottom left have numbers that you can translate to get the year of your machine. I can't see them in the pics. Your machine is probably mid 70s. Good luck hope this helped.

[JACKSJE4]

Welcome to PachiTalk, Lucky Day! Thanks for joining our forum.

Based on the license sticker your machine was placed into service in 1976, and from the looks of the back it appears to have a pretty good ball jam near the bottom. I love the design of the play field and the machine looks to be in great condition overall. Hopefully by now you have hit a few jackpots and they paid out as they should. If you have not yet cleared the ball jam, then that must be done before the machine will work right.

You can open the front glass by sliding the release handle up on the right side of the back (against the wood frame). That will allow you to manually drop balls in the jackpot slots to test.

Here is a link to an instructional video created by one of our members:

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/vint...l-b-video.html

It should answer many questions you may have about your machine and how it works, as well as how to troubleshoot common problems. If you still need assistance with anything after watching the video, just respond back to this post and we will gladly help you out.

Again, Welcome to PachiTalk!! Visit us daily and post often.

Jeff

[Firesting]

Nice comet! Your machine is almost fully restored! All it needs is the lighting replaced and your finished! I have a comet my self and i'm struggling to restore it!

[LuckyDay]

Thanks guys. I will be working on getting the balls unjammed tonight. I'm not actually entirely certain how jackpots are awarded, I have hit the little things I believe are called Tulips? The ones that open up on the left and right. All that seems to do is open them up, and they open up another one in the middle of the bottom.

Everything does look to be in good condition, this thing has probably been sitting in storage in my Uncle's basement for about 20 years.


My other questions were about the Sanyo Comet series in general. As I understand it there are different models of the Comet II, which is the machine itself, and then there are different play fields that can be put on each model? I've heard the "Model A" and "Model B" talk. Is this a model B?

Is that generally how it works in Pachinko, there's a machine type, that has interchangeble or different games that come with the machine?

Also, the certificate of use states on the bottom left that it is good until 1977. Were machines only good for one year, or could that be renewed? I have heard both 1 and 3 years in different threads.
______________________________________________________
Also that's a good video, thanks. I have not yet tried to open the glass, but I need to do that.

I will probably be building a custom cabinet to house this in, so I'll keep updates going as I restore everything. The front just needs cleaned up a bit but is pretty much perfect cosmetically as far as I can tell other than some dirt and grime.

[Norrec]

When we say Model A and Model B (and C), we're talking about primarilly the Nishijin pachinko machines (tho' you comet looks simmilar to a model B machine)

[owennewton]

Thanks guys. I will be working on getting the balls unjammed tonight. I'm not actually entirely certain how jackpots are awarded, I have hit the little things I believe are called Tulips? The ones that open up on the left and right. All that seems to do is open them up, and they open up another one in the middle of the bottom.

Everything does look to be in good condition, this thing has probably been sitting in storage in my Uncle's basement for about 20 years.


My other questions were about the Sanyo Comet series in general. As I understand it there are different models of the Comet II, which is the machine itself, and then there are different play fields that can be put on each model? I've heard the "Model A" and "Model B" talk. Is this a model B?

Is that generally how it works in Pachinko, there's a machine type, that has interchangeble or different games that come with the machine?

Also, the certificate of use states on the bottom left that it is good until 1977. Were machines only good for one year, or could that be renewed? I have heard both 1 and 3 years in different threads.
______________________________________________________
Also that's a good video, thanks. I have not yet tried to open the glass, but I need to do that.

I will probably be building a custom cabinet to house this in, so I'll keep updates going as I restore everything. The front just needs cleaned up a bit but is pretty much perfect cosmetically as far as I can tell other than some dirt and grime.

Brands and models eg; Sanyo Comet II, Nishijin "A" (recycler), Nishijin "B" (most machines have a mechanical system smiler to this, I don't think it was the first but it is the most common in the u.s. so we tend to think of it as the original) Daiichi New Vanguard etc... then you have the cells, Nishijin had 6 or so Cell backgrounds each year and I would think most of the other brands did as well. Then things like center features and tulips (you will find many of these are found on different brands from many years and that could be from manufacturers buying parts from the same company to parlors and/or importers swapping parts from broken machines and from one machine to another to add variety) and placement of pockets so for each model there are uncountable numbers of different machines. Some brands in the late 70's started making them so the cells were replaceable by removing some screws and later by undoing some quick releases so the parlors did not have to buy whole new machines, they could buy the cell and use the frames and payout systems they had from expired games already in the parlor. Now almost all machines have interchangeable cells, some frames may only have 2 or 3 cells that will work in them and others like the Sankyo Lumina have over 40 cells that will work.

[LuckyDay]

Ah ok. So the machine's model would be Comet II, and then the play field is the cell?

Is there an archive or a record of what cells were used on different games somewhere on the net?

[owennewton]

There are some good galleries floating out there but as of yet I do not think there is a real timeline live on the web at this point for vintage machines. We have a good guide here in the research center for moderns at least

[Moparformances]

Looks like you got your questions answered.

Welcome to Pachitalk

[LuckyDay]

Ok, so for the moment I'm going through and replacing worn and rusted screws that are holding the door to it's hinges. Eventually I'll be building a cabinet for this, but I want to make sure these are sound first.

I also cleared all of the balls out of the machine, but I still can't seem to get it to pay a jackpot out when I drop balls into different areas.

Is there a pattern, or a certain order balls need to fall in different spots to get a jackpot? Should every little hole get something paid out? This is the first Pachinko machine I've ever tried, so even basic stuff like this I don't really know.

I will clean it up, then maybe take a video of what happens on the front and back when I drop into certain places, and maybe someone can troubleshoot what's wrong.

[owennewton]

every pocket should pay out, it will not work if the payout seesaw is not in the up-reset position and there need to be enough balls in the reward hopper or safety levers will keep it from paying out as well

[Moparformances]

every pocket should pay out, it will not work if the payout seesaw is not in the up-reset position and there need to be enough balls in the reward hopper or safety levers will keep it from paying out as well

watch the vid again.. at about 2;30 i flip it up and down leaving it in the up position... there is a little rod under it so you can lift it up without removing the cover...

[CarlW]

The jackpot lever resets the see saw and releases the "jackpot" ball where you have the pile up on your machine. I have seen the jackpot lever not be seated properly on a few Comet II's and the machine will jackpot once and not reset. The back end of the jackpot lever can be seen in the window / cover near the see saw; it should pivot and latch under its own weight.

Good Luck.

[naha13]

I cleaned up the main pivot point on the long connecting section the balls hit, added fishing weights, and it resets like clockwork.

[CarlW]

I cleaned up the main pivot point on the long connecting section the balls hit, added fishing weights, and it resets like clockwork.

Great to hear ! Picked up another comet II myself today! The jackpot lever actually makes a groaning noise. Can't wait to get it cleaned up. ;-)
On your machine, once that same jackpot lever's axle gets seated - just so - you shouldn't need the fishing tackle - but as they say "if it ain't broke..."

[naha13]

I got the axle all freed up and working smooth, but there just wasn't enough counter weight in the plastic see saw end to reset the jackpots consistently.

[CarlW]

I got the axle all freed up and working smooth, but there just wasn't enough counter weight in the plastic see saw end to reset the jackpots consistently.

Just finished cleaning up a Comet II and wanted to show some pictures of the area that seems to cause the most problems with the "groaning" jackpot lever.

The first picture shows how (without the front case on), the jackpot lever is actually contacting the plastic and not moving freely.

Jackpot Lever CONTACT RIGHT.jpg

The next picture shows where the other end of the jackpot lever axle is supposed to "seat".

Jackpot Lever SEATING SOCKET.jpg

So, to free things up: make sure axle is seated in the "socket"; polish axle with fine sandpaper or polish; spiral a thin strip of fine sandpaper around a cut off Qtip and sand inside cylinder of jackpot lever. The jackpot lever should fall freely under its own weight and latch.

[pachinkojeff]

Great to hear ! Picked up another comet II myself today! The jackpot lever actually makes a groaning noise

One of my Comets made a groaning noise upon payout, too. I used a q-tip and put a smidge of penetrating oil on the pivot point and that seems to have gotten rid of the groan.