Mills Castle Front getting stuck

[Bally Bill]

Hi Chuck, This could be a number of things that might cause this issue,try out some of these suggestions below.

1. Make sure the coins are stacked correctly and not jammed at the bottom of coin tube
2.Remove the mechanism and make a line on the inside support A frame reel arm to simulate a payout as if it's in the case, cycle and look to see if the coin slides reset back when you line up a win.
3.If the slides don't reset look for a coin that's jammed in the slides, or something is preventing the horizontal levers from moving freely.
4. Look for missing screws and broken/missing springs in the mechanism.
5.Check safety slide, slide hold lever and payout slide lock to make sure they are in the correct positions

[ChuckF]

Thank you Bill. Ok, so I removed the mech and lined up 2 cherries and one of the levers moves into the hole through one of the wheels, maybe 2 wheels. I know I'm not using the correct nomenclature - hopefully that'll change after I receive the repair manual end of this week. Also, the coin tube is indeed full and I can see 2 windows in that tube from the rear of the machine. The coins appear nicely stacked in those 2 windows. I know that doesn't mean something isn't crooked or jammed above or below those windows. I suppose I need to figure out how to empty that tube. Finally, the slides at the bottom of the tube do indeed move out when it cycles and then back in. But they don't seem to change position relative to each other. The bottom slide always pokes out more than the others The picture/drawing on page 19 that you posted - I'm not sure exactly where that is on my machine. Maybe i need to remove and disassemble those slides to see that view? Thank you again.

[Bally Bill]

Hi Chuck, That does not look right, my 5 and 10 cent cherry payout levers are keyed into all the reels and it's the first payout lever not the 2nd one. I posted a picture of the page on how to drain the contents of the machine, but I just remove the mechanism and hold the coin overflow lever back and turn the mechanism upside down until all the coins are completely removed from coin tube. It's the only way to be sure its jam free and then all the slides should move freely. The arm with screw should cycle when you pull on handle and should stop in the down position and should not affect the payout.

[ChuckF]

Bally Bill, you're absolutely right. With the mech out of the machine I was off on where the line is. So, I dialed up 2 cherries again then put the mech back in the box to confirm alignment. What I am seeing is the cherry finger is not going into the hole for the 1st disk, nor the 2nd disk of course. Looking at the bottom it looks like that finger may be blocked?

I'm wondering if some parts/pivot points need to be oiled? Again, this machine has been sitting unused for 30-40 years. I can also try turning the mech upside down to empty the coin tube - which I haven't done yet. Thank you.

[mazzeosa17]

One other thought here - is it possible that your reel strips are out of alignment with the reel discs? That's easy to do if the reel strips aren't crimped down on the reels, and they slip. You can check this by rotating the reels around, and seeing if they correspond to the correct upper payout fingers going through the reel discs. In other words, if you rotate them around, and the upper payout fingers go through the cherries, oranges, plums, etc. in the correct order, based on the reel strips, then you need to move the reel strips so they are correctly aligned. Maybe the reel strips are only one or two symbols up or down on the reels.

[ChuckF]

I found the issue and it's now paying out ok. I finally emptied the coin tube by tilting the mech over letting the dimes spill into a bucket. At the bottom of the tube I found 2 dimes whose edges were damaged. I will take those out of circulation of course. One of them was a 1943 Liberty for what that matters. I'm guessing my wife's step father (who we inherited this machine from) may've put that one in during the mid 1980's when he was still living.

Anyhow, I played long enough to get payout on a single cherry and a couple of times on 2 cherries. I'll play some more to see if other combinations show up and pay, or will force those combinations by first stopping the fan.

Thank you Bally Bill for all your help. And to mazzeosa17 ref alignment of the reel strips. I'd like to replace my reel strips at some point because these are pretty banged up and repaired with scotch tape in places.

Cheers.