Pachinko Taishou 13 - stepper motor is weak

[rjlatherow]

I learned a few things today-

First off, it's actually not a stepper motor - it's a 'asyncronous' motor. Inside its a little strange - there are 2 halves pressed together, with a bushing in both ends. There is a magnetic cylinder about an inch tall and an inch across, with walls 1/8 off an inch think. There are 2 small depressions in the top of the magnet . Inside of THAT is a plastic cup that fits inside the magnet. This has the spindle the gear rides on, but the important bit is the 2 little bumps on the rim of the cup that mesh with the depressions on the magnet. The magnet is the part that spins, and the cup goes along for the ride. If there is too much resistance, the plastic bumps will slip out of the magnet depressions. It's kind of a failsafe, I suppose. My cup bumps were very, very worn out, so it was barely grabbing hold of the magnet, hence the sketchy operation.

I melted some plastic onto it with the soldering iron, and pushed it into the magnet while to plastic was nice and hot to 'mold' them together. It works great so far - now I'm on to the next project. If I ever have to open it up again, I will take pictures. Thank you all for your help!
-rj