CELL SWAP - Sanyo inside Monoka Frame!

[jodini]

So here's the story folks!
I got a junk Monoka machine that had a great looking frame, playing field pretty good (but boring) but the back looked like it was smashed in a hundred times...all the plastic was smashed.
Recently I went to pick up this Sanyo Comet II machine (I know...everyones favorite), and the mechanics were all there, the playing field is this cool spaceship theme (that my son loves) but the frame was rusty beyond repair, the plastic clear window and many of the plastic piece on the return tray has this hard goop on it (like epoxy or varnish) and I just couldn't get it cleaned up enough. I didn't want to spend anymore money on this machine (got it for $30.00) so I wanted to see if I could swap frames.

Not an easy task to say the least!!! Like putting a chevy motor in a ford (that's probably easier)! But I had the determination because my son said, "Dad, I want this machine and you can sell my single shot!" Well...O.K.! I would never sell this machine on the market because of what I had to do...
First, the outside front of the Monoka had to match the mechanics (shooting assembly) on the Sanyo, so I had to drop the playing field down about 1.5 inches and slightly tilt it to match the jackpot tray. Also the mechanics of the shooting lever (which was part of the Monoka) that had to work with the Sanyo overfill levers and such. Long story short...it took me about all day to get this thing to work, but after some bending wires and re- engineering...the sucker worked!

Like I said, I was determined! Hopefully from the pictures, you can see the challenges. Now that it's mechanically working, I will strip everything back off...give it a good cleaning and put it up for my son! I do love that center piece...lots of holes for that ball to go thru. It's pretty neat!
More pics after the shine up!
Joe


FIRST SET OF PICTURES IS THE DIRTY, RUSTY SANYO

[Card Shark]

Nicely done.

[jodini]

Here's pics of the playing field in it's new home. Notice how far down I had to drop it inside the Monako frame. The shooting hammer sort of determined this and also the door's mechanics had to match the ball mechanism on the sanyo playing field.

[jodini]

And here I am trying to line up everything else.

[Card Shark]

Great learning project.

[p.opus]

The fact you can even do this is a testament to the similarity between machines amongst manufacturers.

My 78 Sankyo hippo looks eerily like a Nishijin Model "b" from the rear.

[jodini]

It's just a sign that I'm a moron!

Well, I figure if I'm bashing this thing, I would do one more thing. I normally don't like to change a machine but since this one is beyond the point of return, I figure I could make this a little more kid friendly.

I changed the route of the balls that are played to go back to the return tray. This way, the only balls I loose will be the single jackpot ball, but those will just go into a container that I'll build later.

Pictures below will explain.

[jodini]

I went to test out the machine (before the big cleaning) and the sucker kept jamming up! I was thinking, "NOOOOOOOOOO! It's true what they say about the Comet!" Then I realized that the balls that came with the machine...that about 100 of them were slightly larger than the rest! They don't even belong to this machine! So I pulled all those out and now the machine works like a clock! Pachinko, pachinko, pachinko!

Cleaning next week!
Joe

[mxfaiman]

I did a similar project not too long ago.

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/vint...ken-pachi.html

I put a Sankyo playfield in an okumara-ykui monako frame. It was a real challenge. As I worked on it I kept finding little things that would cause problems and have to fix it. It wasn't hard to do just real annoying. But I think I built a pretty darn good machine and I like the way it came out.

Good luck with your project.