My First Pachinko Machine: Making it work
My dad had a pachinko machine when I was a kid in the 80s, a Nishijin Model A with dolphins for the main attraction. My brother, friends and I used to play it for hours (back in the day when there was no home internet, on demand, sophisticated personal electronics etc). Sadly he gave it away some time ago. But I recently got an itch to buy myself a vintage pachinko machine to fix up and play with my own kids. Last week I scored a Nishijin Model A with an Airplane main attraction for $35. It was in okay shape, but very dirty, the balls wouldn't even reach the launcher. About half of the balls were engraved pachinko balls, the other half was a random assortment of balls with varying sizes. I got rid of all of the balls that weren't the same size as the pachinko balls, then set aside appropriate sized ones with excessive rust.
I opened the front glass, then removed the launching mechanism and front ball tray. I cleaned them with soapy water, a rag and an old toothbrush (not going for full restore just yet, just want it to work properly). I cleaned out the upper and recycler trays, and the ball tracks leading to the jackpot seesaw. I loaded balls in the top and some in the front tray and started flipping. The loading/launching mechanism now works great, very reliable. I eventually got one in the right tulip, but sadly the rewarding "ring ring" never came. So I looked in the back of the machine to investigate...
In my haste I hadn't realized that the balls were never loading onto the jackpot seesaw. So I had to remove the balls in a slower way to look around. I discovered some crud blocking up the plastic piece between the ball tracks and the seesaw. I removed the obstruction and put the balls back in. To my delight, they filled the seesaw this time. I put the catcher on the bottom and pulled the release lever to run the balls through and hopefully flush out more crud I couldn't find, then filled the machine again. I dropped a ball in the main attraction and after a few seconds heard the anticipated "cha-ching" sound. Thinking all was well I closed the front and started flipping again. After a while I hit a tulip and then, nothing.
I have become quite familiar with the mechanics of the machine, and verified the main parts are working correctly: flag that blocks launcher based on having balls on weight lever, the balls stop feeding the recycle tray appropriately, the upper small white seesaw that drops a single ball at a time, the rest of the levers involved in the jackpot sequence, etc. It is missing a piece on the double ramp feeding the jackpot seesaw, which I assume is there to make sure balls aren't stacked? I put something else in place to take care of this when they flow from the recycle tray to the ramps.
I have two distinct problems with the jackpot payout:
Problem one is that the winning ball pushes the lever down (but not quite far enough). When I nudge the lever down a little, it pays out and refills the seesaw. I used an engraved ball to ensure appropriate weight, and the issue persists (about 1/5 times it just works without intervention). I have plenty of balls in the machine, and the ball makes it past the point where low balls would block the payout anyway. It almost seems like the friction between the balls on the seesaw and the ones on the loading ramps might be just enough to halt it.
Problem two is that sometimes after the jackpot pays out, the seesaw doesn't move all the way back up to load the next set of balls. It gets stuck around the same position on the way up as it did on the way down in problem 1 (which makes me think my first theory about ball friction is wrong, or only partially to blame). Now I am suspecting the pivot points (pins etc) might need to be cleaned up and polished a bit to reduce friction. I also ordered 500 new balls, supposed to be real, imported from Japan. But they will not touch the machine until I finish cleaning up the internals.
So I am at the point where I am going to remove the internals in the back of the machine, thoroughly clean and polish up every part that either touches a ball, or moves (all parts in jackpot payout sequence). I am hoping that, plus a new set of clean shiny balls will fix the problem. Does that sound like a reasonable thought? Is this just my gateway machine?
The first four images on the left were before any cleaning at all. The fifth is after a quick cleaning with a wet rag (and cleaned ball ramp reattached). The last two images are the machine stuck in the payout sequence, problem one and problem two above.
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