This is a repair archive of a Jennings Standard Chief slot. These were made in the late 1940's. This machine had a rough life. Looks like it was left in storage for 50 years, with the back door removed. So much dirt, dried up grease, hair, rust, it almost didn't get completed. This job took a very long time to complete. The pictures below tell most of the story. Service notes follow:
First remove the reel pack and the reel strips. Next a soaking in a surfactant solvent to remove most of the organic matter. This also removes old style grease made in the 1940's. Next it was soaked in gasoline to remove new style grease and most of the old lead based silver paint. Then a complete disassemble all the way down to the base plate. After cleaning everything as much as possible we used a brass wire wheel to remove rust and paint on many parts as it was re-assembled. The coin tube top casting was broke in half. We drilled holes and mended it with a metal strip and rivets. The glass was broken, replaced it all. Re-painted the cabinet bezel over the reels. The coin slides were buffed. The reel strips replaced. Back door lock installed. Rubber feet screwed to the bottom of the cabinet.
Then We got to the coin mech/escalator. This assembly was rigged with a spring and heavy wire to force the sprockets into a somewhat correct position. Both sprockets were welded in place by the dried grease in the bearings. The real problem was adjustments could not be accomplished until we ground/punched out the pins in a roller arm on the sprocket near the coin entry. This spring loaded arm had factory pins holding its adjustment from changing. There are screw holes to adjust it's length but the pins had to be removed first. This adjustment helps align the chain into a perfect position for the coin entering the chain. Along with other adjustments we got it to hold 2 coins in the coin channel with a 3rd coin rejected, most of the time. If a 4th coin is stacked in the channel a pull drops the extra coin to the return cup. Stacking 6 or more coins will cause a jam near the coin insert area, which is easy to clear.
Many more issues sprang up during testing. No payout on 13 and 18 coins was caused by a bent finger. Intermittent payout on 11 coins was cased by 1 spring on a finger that was too long. Replaced all 6 springs. Had to buff the coin insert assembly to stop coins from jamming. The jackpot can't work - missing parts, as usual.
