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Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 10:07 am
by ThirdGenAmusement
I've been looking for a good 2/5 pay nickel mech and am finding it hard. I've found a dime mech and have the slides, posts, slide cover and pay tube for nickel coins.

Do I need to change anything else? Horizontal pay fingers, vertical pay fingers etc? I believe the slide lengths are similar between denoms and the main difference is the thickness I would think so I anticipate needing to adjust the horizontal fingers at the point they contact the slide.

As far as the mech goes, anything else to consider?

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 12:54 pm
by mazzeosa17
You will need to change the slides, posts, slide cover and pay tube for nickel coins. But you'll also need to change the coin escalator parts that are specific to the nickel vs. the dime machine, meaning the Coin Advance Bar and Coin Holding Bar. But let's see what other collectors think, to see if they agree with me.

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 6:45 pm
by ThirdGenAmusement
Thank you for the reply mazzeosa17. I'm hoping that's all that's needed but will hope other chime in to. Always great to hear different approaches.

The posts on the dime mech are peened in and the posts I have for the nickel coin slides use a screw to secure to the base plate. I'm also curious if it's possible to remove the peened in posts without damaging them completely. Probably difficult to do but hoping someone has a method to save them and allow me to install the nickel posts that use a screw to secure.

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 12:00 pm
by ThirdGenAmusement
Well the dime mech is a no go to convert to nickel. The posts for the slides are closer together slides in general are narrower on the dime so it's back to the drawing board of looking into finding a nickel mech.

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 1:31 pm
by just frank slots
Convert to pennies might work?

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:18 pm
by ThirdGenAmusement
Thank you Frank. That's what I was curious about also.

I have a person's Mills slot they purchased at a sale. The mech worked pretty good but needed cleaning and relubing. Upon removing the pay tube and slides I discovered it was a quarter mech in a nickel machine. The escalator was a nickel but the mech is completely set up to be a quarter.

To help curb payout issues and jams the owner wants to put the correct denom mech in. I would just put in a quarter escalator but it being a cast iron diamond chrome front it isn't that easy since the coin is sized by the top casting with the coin entry area being a part of the casting. So I guess I will continue to look for a nickel mech. I may look for a quarter/nickel baseplate to replace the base plate in the dime/penny mech but I'd really rather find a nickel mech at this time.

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:42 pm
by just frank slots
I am new at this, I will not lie. I have learned a lot so far... However, I have a long way to go... What boils down is how much money you want to put into it. I am sure someone out there has all the parts you need. Give it some time. One guy I can think of is Ted London 815-980-9104, there is others but let's start with him first...

Re: Mills Diamond front denom change

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2024 5:21 pm
by ThirdGenAmusement
Thanks Frank. I have contracted him. He's a great guy with lots of posts and machines for sure!