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So my newly acquired 10 cent Pace Comet seems to hum right along with one exception. About 4 to 6 times out of 10 the escalator doesn't rotate to move the dimes around. When this happens, if I tap or jiggle the handle the escalator releases and rotates.

This had me believing that perhaps the handle wasn't moving as freely as it should.....although when the mech is out of the case the handle does move freely and the pump seems to be doing its job.

When I observed the machine from the back with a strong light I noticed that when it hung up the push bar that resets the vertical payout levers was not falling back all the way into it's resting position. When I would lightly touch this mechanism it would fall loose and the escalator would rotate. Further observation revealed that a portion of the push bar mechanism was coming into contact with main operating arm (I am using Mills terminology here). In the attached photo the red arrow points to the part of the push bar mechanism involved and the yellow arrow points to the portion of the main operating arm that contains the teeth that the operating arm dog engages with......the front edge of this (or back depending on your point of view) is the other point of contact.

When I cleaned off old grease on both of these elements and placed fresh grease on them the problem went away. However, I am quite sure they should never be coming into contact with each other.

1) Is this a timing problem and if so, how do I resolve it?

2) If not what is the likely cause?

Any thoughts or help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

I don't have any Pace machines at the moment to compare, and see if your machine isn't working as it should. But some thoughts are:
(1) You mention that you took the old grease off those parts that were rubbing. But have you taken apart the entire machine and removed all old grease and dirt (assuming the machine hasn't been restored)? That might solve the problem.
(2) The bolt holding the center of the circular escalator may be too tight - you could try to loosen it. That fixed one customer's machine that had escalator problems.

mazzeosa17,

Thanks for the reply and advice.

I have selectively cleaned the machine but have not done a full disassembly. I have ordered the Geddes Pace book and will be equipped to tackle that task when it arrives.

I will try loosening that bolt and see what results that produces.

if the escalator is not moving : check the pump at the rear on the top of the mechanic, it should help the revolving movement,
if the pump is not working well, it won't make the revolving movement (sorry for my bad english)

Louis,

Thanks for the post and the suggestion.

I will definitely check that out.

mazzeosa17,

I finally got back to my Pace machine today. I tried loosening the center bolt on the escalator just a tiny bit. It really seemed to make a difference...in fact for a period of time I thought that had solved the problem. But it eventually started occasionally hanging up again.

Am I correct to assume that you don't want to loosen this bolt too much? I backed it off a very small amount. Any harm in loosening it a little bit more?

How critical is this machine screw/bolt that is missing on my machine (see photo)? Could it's absence be allowing enough wiggle in the mechanism/goose neck to cause my random hangup? I haven't found the correct sized one yet in my hardware stash so have been ignoring it but perhaps a trip to my local Ace hardware store would be in order?

Thanks for your time and expertise.

That bolt (that you showed with the arrow) secures the mechanism to the case, so the mechanism doesn't move around inside the case. I would get a bolt and put it in there, but it's probably not causing your problem. But putting that bolt in there will eliminate that as a possible cause of the problem.

As for loosening the escalator bolt, you could try to loosen it a little more. Obviously, you just don't want the bolt to fall off, but as long as it doesn't do that, loosening could help. See if that solves the issue.

mazzeosa17,

Ok....got a bolt and installed it. That didn't help.

Loosened the nut on the escalator wheel a little bit more.....that didn't help.

So I am still searching for a solution. I did receive my Geddes book Saturday so I need to sit down and spent some time with that.

Thanks for the suggestions.