My first Pachinko Newb Post

[chief]

Hello to the group. I bought my first (vintage) Pachinko machine last night (so this is a dreaded NEWB post, my apologies in advance to the veteran collectors who will be annoyed by my newbiness). I've been interested in them for some time and finally saw a good deal locally on CL. Anyway I'm excited to find this group and I am looking foward to jumping into the hobby with both feet.

Is there any suggested reading on the web to get me started?

[NJ_Mike]

Welcome! No worries about being a newb, no one here will bust your chops. Just one of the great things about the people here.

As far as reading, you can pretty much find anything you need on this site. A good place to start for vintages are the sticky's at the top of the vintage forum:

Vintage Pachinko

Particularly useful would probably be Rusty's (wrkey) write up on how the machines work and JacksJE's on how to clean them.

[JACKSJE4]

Welcome to the Dark Side!! We are glad to have you as part of the addiction.

Jeff

[Lt Teddy]

Welcome and when you get a chance we all enjoy pictures of whatever you buy.

[chief]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Attached are some pictures of what I bought. They guy had it in a storage unit and said it belonged to his parents. It's a little dirty but it seems to be complete. It even came with a container full of balls. I think it is a Nishijin Super Deluxe model B?

Question: There is a thin plastic sheet over the playfield, but there is no glass in the door. The chrome frame in the door has a groove that I'd assume should hold a glass pane, is this true?

[JACKSJE4]

Nice machine!!

The door frame has two grooves and will hold two sheets. Many folks just put one sheet of acrylic or glass in the slot closest to the playfield. The acrylic is lighter and more quiet when the balls 'tap' it, but the glass is more authentic.

You can get glass cut to fit at Lowes or Home Depot stores.

Jeff

[Lt Teddy]

A very nice looking machine. Their are lights that you can hook up on it to play and I do not know how many balls you have but to play it nicely you need at least around 800 balls. Some play with less I play with more.

[pinball wizard]

[victor]

welcome , nice machine , ask questions , beleive me they will help you , since i bought my 1st vintage machine 2 months ago , i now have 2 more vintage machines , enjoy ...
victor.

[NJ_Mike]

Nice machine, definitely in good shape and looks clean. I would agree with you that it is a "B".

[chief]

Thanks again for the warm welcome and for answering my ever growing list of questions.

So my kids were playing the heck out of the new machine and it stopped paying out. The payout mechanism seemed to be jammed . I jiggled the various levers and turned the machine upside down and finally got it going. Is there a typical cause for this? Is there a better way to un-jam it?

Also, some of the balls are discolored. Should I separate them out or does it matter?

Do most people make a cabinet and hang them on the wall, or just put feet on them?

Thanks again

[Moparformances]

yes it is a Modle "B" machine

looks like a nice one tooall the covers are there, thats great

one thing is i can see u have a bit of a ball jam building.. the easy way to get the jam undone is to fill the toip hopper with all your balls.. then push the jackpot seesaw in to the up positioin.. if the machine is clean it will clear itself out.. u may have to push the seesaw up on occasion but it should clean itself out.. just make sure u keep the upper hopper full..

most jams are created by people playing them machine with to few balls in the upper hopper..

hope this makes sense.. ill post a pic of the jackpot seesaw for ya

this sesaw is in the down position.. same as yours thre is a metal rod that u can push up to raise it.. u do not have to remove the cover to do this..

bb nishijin jackpot seesaw.jpg

[hanabi]

Congratulations, you have a very nice looking vintage there!!

I'm sure it will be a simple task to sort the ball jam, we have a lot of knowledgeable members here and this is a very friendly community, so no need to worry about asking any questions

Although they may ask you to post pics and stuff, they all like pics,

Welcome to PachiTalk!!

[MrGneiss]

WELCOME!!

[wrkey]

Hey Chief, Welcome!

Here's a couple of suggestions for you. First, a Jam is caused by two basic things, the machine is working as normal or the machine isn't. I know may sound dumb but here's the logic. These machine are as simple as they are complex. The simple side comes from the basis that everything is connected together and once they are free of debris and the mechanics are in order they function consistly with out fail (or jams). The complex side comes from how all the levers and devices are connected together so all the 'checks and balances' are in place to insure that the machine not only works properly but it prevents the player from maniuplating the payouts and stops the play should something go ary (ie, hopper full, pay out trays full, etc.)

You mention in your email (copied below) about discolored balls (sorry to hear that). Keep in mind, as I mentioned above, for these machines to work consistently they must be clean and debri free. If the discoloration is 'surface rust' or oil crud or some other type of residue then these balls need to be completely cleaned or discarded. The balls are steel with a thin layer or 'shiny chrome' on them. Once the rust set's in the damage is done and can't be undone. Playing balls through the machine that have rust or residue on them will allow that rust and residue to be deposited inside the machine. This rust and debri builds up and prevents the balls from rolling properly and the disrupt the delicate balance of the levers and such. Rusty balls must be discarded (I can't believe I just said that).

If you have to turn your machine upside down to 'clear a jam' then you will need to determine where the jam occurs. Then determine if the jam is a 'normal' game stop due to the hopper empty or the pay tray. If that isn't the case, it's time to determine what is 'dirty' or corroded that is preventing the machine from function properly and fix it.

These machine should give you hours and hours of game play with no jams and should only stop playing when the hopper runs out or you let he lower tray get to full. If this isn't the level of game play you are getting, then it's time to stop playing and start working. Although many of us will tell you that working on these bad boys is as much fun (or more) than playing them.

Good luck, hope this helps and again, welcome to the addiction!

Rusty

Thanks again for the warm welcome and for answering my ever growing list of questions.

So my kids were playing the heck out of the new machine and it stopped paying out. The payout mechanism seemed to be jammed . I jiggled the various levers and turned the machine upside down and finally got it going. Is there a typical cause for this? Is there a better way to un-jam it?

Also, some of the balls are discolored. Should I separate them out or does it matter?

Do most people make a cabinet and hang them on the wall, or just put feet on them?

Thanks again

[chief]

Thanks for responding, and for the good advice.

I'll get rid of the rusty and discolored balls, which is quite a few of them.
If it keeps acting up I'll need to muster up the courage to take it apart.

I can take almost anything apart. Putting it back together is another story.


Can you tell me what is a decent price for new balls and where to find them?

[JACKSJE4]

Can you tell me what is a decent price for new balls and where to find them?

Look on ebay. Three to four cents per ball after shipping is very reasonable.

Also, read the sticky I wrote regarding taking apart and cleaning your machine. It incorporates the collective advice and tips from many of the members of this site and should help you.

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/vint...o-machine.html

[DrDark]

WOW! Nice machine and clean too.
Welcome to the madness that is Pachinko.

PS> Your best friend will be your digital camera. Take TONS of photos during each phase of your work. You will never wonder where that lever mounts or screw went. And we love to see progress pics too!

[SphereJunkie]

WELCOME!!! and great looking pachi there chief. The members here as you just witnessed are ready to help you in any way. I'm in the process of refurbishing my vintage Nishijin. Don't think I can go too far without all the great info our members have posted here.

Have fun and enjoy the madness!!
______________________________________________________

Rusty balls must be discarded (I can't believe I just said that).

[Moparformances]

Rusty balls must be discarded (I can't believe I just said that).

i cant Believe u said it either... if u just wash your balls they should be fine nothing worse the dirty balls

(by wash them i mean in a tumbler)

i would not discard them unless there still rusty after tumbling