problems with my Apollo... please help!

[shiftdelete]

I got my Apollo machine today from Slotusa. The first pane of glass was shattered... I removed all the glass as much as I could. The second pane is fine. I followed the normal prep work before playing. Then I finally turned it on.. everything worked excellent!! I hit a few fever rounds and really made the machine light up.

Eventually, I got a ball stuck down near the bottom.. I mean REALLY stuck--turning it upside down and shaking wouldn't budge it. I realize that I need to open the front door, but I cannot do it. I have called Slotusa, and he told me basically what piece to pull down, but I cannot do it for the life of me. I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but I'm ready to use a hammer to try to open it. Can you give me any advice to open the front door lock from the back (I have no key, obviously).

thanks in advance,

Jeremy

[dattia]

Hard as it may be, patience is the word today. Apparently, not all areas have access to the new board yet. As soon as they do, I am sure you will have several worthy replies to your problem. Good luck!

[Bilko44]

Dear Shiftdelete,

Sometimes the sheer weight of the machine exerts a lot of pressure on the latch assembly while the game is in the upright position.

Place some pillows on the floor and gently tilt the machine face down onto the pillows. Now try unlatching the door from the back of the game. First observe how much slack you have on the power cord where it goes from the frame to the front of the game. Sometimes when the game is refurbished, they do not leave enough slack in the cord, so be careful when you open the door. Of course make sure the game is UNPLUGGED when servicing the game.

Keep us informed.

[Tulsa]

The Apollo is a Taiyo machine isn't it? Is so, does someone have a picture of the latching mechinism to post for our friend here?

[shiftdelete]

Thanks for the responses so far. It is a Taiyo Elec / Maturi cabinet machine. Anyways, I got the ball unstuck eventually, by lifting the glass just enough to get a wire tie in there to pry it loose. I'm leaving the door alone for the time being until I can figure it out or get a picture with the exact mechanism and what it's supposed to look like, and how far it should move to open (hehe).

Now the good news- the machine is AMAZING. My wife loves it, and she has just given me permission to buy 2 more pachinkos!!! We have both hit several jackpots, and the reaches are amazing for a non-LCD machine.

[arbycoffee]

here you be

[johntofva]

Shift,

Just remember that there are two levers. One to pull the whole machine out and the the other to open the glass door.

You want the one in the middle by the black pull knob.

[johntofva]

Here is a pic of the back of my apollo.

[Bilko44]

Are you sure, John? I understood Shiftdelete wanted to open the whole door, not just the front glass.

The entire door will have the topmost and bottommost catches to lift up for release and the middle latch in your photo, as you point out, will open the front glass door only.

[johntofva]

Hmmm.................If it is the whole door, you are of course right. Not sure which one he was shooting for.

[johntofva]

But since I have shown him the glass door latch, I might as well show him the speaker control.

After you open the glass door. Push this metal lever to open the bottom compartment.




This switch controls the speaker level.

[Tulsa]

He had a stuck ball in the front of the play area. He only need to open the front glass which I think people refer to as the door. Opening the unit from the frame would not have really done him any good in this respect.

[shiftdelete]

Thanks so much for your help! To clarify, I needed to open the front glass. Before, when the ball was stuck, I learned that the top and bottom levers open the whole casing.. and small lever in the middle *should* open the glass window. However, I think mine is jammed, so, any other suggestions?

Also, thanks John for the pics and the speaker adjustment, I will get to that as soon as I get the glass to open. Other than that, and my broken glass in shipping (which slotusa is replacing), the machine works perfect and is amazing.

[shiftdelete]

Here is an edit of John's pic.. When I pull on piece #2 (red line), it only goes down about 3 or 4 mm. the piece also is not screwed in tightly on the "joint".. so it sort of has slack and can be rotated back and forth a little bit. I also try pulling on piece #1, which in turn presses on piece #2, but nothing really hits a lock mechanism. The glass window at the top, is ready to open.. I can fit my finger in between the window and plastic and the frame. Only the bottom where the lock is at is holding this thing shut.

[johntofva]

When you push on lever #2, it pulls on the spring in the pic. 1 1/2 inches above, the spring pulls another lever which opens the door. Is all of this happening in your machine?

[shiftdelete]

well, the lever is not moving very far.. it barely pulls the spring. It only moves about 1/8 of an inch or so. How far does this lever pull down?

Could there be glass pieces obstructing this? None are visible.. but my front glass did shatter as I mentioned before. It was a mess. I'm not at the machine now, but just telling you what it did yesterday and what I noticed when trying the lever.

[arbycoffee]

if it isn't moving, sounds like it real broken, call the seller for there input before you break anything else. They should send out replacement glass.

[shiftdelete]

they are sending replacement glass... just FYI.. I didn't break the glass, it was done during shipping. It has 2 panes.. only the outer pane was broken, the inner one is intact. Just not sure on that lever and how far it usually moves.

[logicprobe]

Just checked on mine, for you.
Pushing down #2 (toward the foot of the machine) in your pic above opens the front door right up.

If that doesn't happen, take Bilko's suggestion to lay it down on something soft like pillows, and try to open the latch that separates the machine from the frame. Once the frame is out of the way, you might have more room to see what's going on there.

[logicprobe]

BTW, my Apollo arrived with the front glass broken, too.
Once you get that door open, you're sure to find even more glass.
Be careful... and I wouldn't use the pillows that you sleep on for this operation... at least not without a darn good shaking after you're done.

Some machines use a double-pane round porthole for the glass... a specialty item. Your Apollo just uses two plates, and can be easily accessed after removing a clip at the top of the inside of the door. You'll see it once you're in there.

I think the real glass does a slightly better job than plexi for keeping noise down... but I've always preferred the plexi myself, just for the safety factor.