King Camel Error

[cmk8895]

So I'm fiddling with my KC last night putting in a reset switch. Not as easy as you might think! I can't seem to locate one of those key switches the right size (and I don't want to redrill the hole bigger), and with the little plastic door over the power supply box I don't have much clearance for switches. I put a momentary switch in and it works great except you have to hold it down. But I'm happy.

Anyway, my KC seems top heavy or something. When I open the door it has a nasty tendancy to topple over on me. Well, here I sit screwing the power supply back in and the thing comes at me. I grab it (by the case of course) and set it upright. So it's all hooked up and I need to turn on the power strip to test her out. I walk around behind. Well, intelligent me left the door open. Luckily it didn't fall over, but the door SLAMMED shut. I was terrified by my stupidity at leaving it open for this to happen.

After the door slam I open it up and turn it on. One beep. Error E1 displayed. I freaked and started going through all the different resets. FINALLY after about 20 times of resetting the sucker it finally gave up the error code and works fine. Whew!

Moral of the story, don't be stupid like me. Use common sense and make sure your machine is stable before walking away from it or it will get mad at you.

cmk

[Si7]

I agree, the weight of an open door is just about enough to pull the rest of the machine forwards - if your hopper is nicely full it's less likely to do that plus I always place something under the front of the machine to tip it back slightly. Still, wedging the front up an inch or so can be just enough for the door to want to creep shut on it's own then - so I wedge it up at the r/h side too - what a rigmarole

[slotter]

People really need to find a way to keep their machines from tipping. I anchor all my machines to the wall behind them with a screw. Or you can anchor them to the stands they sit on. Don't rely on your memory to keep the hopper full or to not open the door too far. Anchor them somehow before the children get hurt!

[PachiFool]

People really need to find a way to keep their machines from tipping. I anchor all my machines to the wall behind them with a screw. Or you can anchor them to the stands they sit on. Don't rely on your memory to keep the hopper full or to not open the door too far. Anchor them somehow before the children get hurt!

My Golgo 13 is very unstable with the door open so I immediately secured it to the stand and have since done the same for all of my machines.
That hole in the bottom of the cabinet is perfect or this. I use half of a car stereo mounting strap (because I used to do car stereo installs and have plenty of them lying around) but any metal strip with a couple holes in it will do. Put 2 bends in it so that it lies flat on the bottom of the machine, bends down into the hole, then bends again to lie flat on the top of whatever stand you have it on. run one small screw through the bracket, into the bottom of the machine and another through the other end of the bracket, into the top of the stand.
If your stand has a solid back (mine doesn't) it becomes even easier as you can use a straight metal plate running from the back of your machine down the back of the stand. One screw through the top of the bracket, into the back of the machine and another screw through the bottom of the bracket, into the back of the cabinet.

Kevin
Making the hobby safer, one pachi at a time.....

[slotter]

I have let my 13 year old daughter and her friends use the machines when she has sleep overs, etc. One almost tipped while they were trying to fill the hopper. That was the last day they were left unsecured!

[Lddrizzt]

I found that if you place the machine back from the front of the stand 6-8 inches then as it tips foward th door hits the stand and it stops. This way the machine will not tip more than an inch or two, and it stays on the stand.

[Tony Junior]

What ever you do, NEVER open the door with the token tray full!

But I'll bet everyone has done it --- once!

[cmk8895]

*blush* I've done that. More than once.

Lots of great suggestions on machine stabilization. I'm looking at stands now. I've about decided on machine stands from Harborfrieght. They hold 500 lbs, are just the right size, extremely stable, can be bolted to, and only cost $20. The down side is that they're just black metal, but I can deal with that. The flaring out of the base (legs are wider at the bottom than top) even gives just enough room to put all the machines right next to each other and still be able to open the doors.

cmk