by atac » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:22 am
Here's the best repair book: out of print, sometimes they pop up on ebay...Owners Pictorial Guide for the Care and Understanding of the Mills Bell Slot Machine by Mead/Geddes.
Your problem is undoubtedly hard grease--could be anywhere and everywhere, clock, brakes, kicker, etc, etc, etc. And, if it's bad in one of those, it's usually bad on all of them. My guess for this one is the hard grease is causing slow reset of the kicker--when it's been sitting awhile, it has fully reset, so the first pull always works ok, but on the next it doesn't have time to reset due to the bad grease so the subsequent pull doesn't engage the reel gears--something like that. You could do a WD-40 quick fix--spray it around where you see grease clumps (keep it away from the payout slides and reel strips)--it'll soften the old stuff up and lube things for awhile, but it will eventually evaporate. (To find the kicker--it's attached to the operating arm or fork--located pretty much under the bottom of the reel gears--engages when the operating arm springs back at the bottom of the handle pull)
Good luck.