Trade Stimulator Restoration

[RobereRulez]

Greetings all!
I was given a Groetchen Liberty Trade Stimulator and am going to start restoring it soon. It seems that the Groetchen slots are not as popular as some others, and I'm having a difficult time find resources on these machines. At the moment I'm not sure if it's missing any parts, as the mechanics are so gummed up nothing really moves smoothly yet. My first course of action will be to slowly clean up the sticky mechanics and then I'll go from there.

In the mean time, I would like to see if anyone can steer me in the right direction for resources on this machine. Manuals, parts, photos...anything that will help me on my quest to get this thing running.

Thanks,
Robb

[Midcoast Vintage]

the man you want to talk to is bill from slot dynasty.
he monitors this site, and will get ahold of you.

[nvmos2]

Robb;

Groetchen made many fine/interesting trade stimulators; their slots, however, seems like collectors either love them or hate them.

While you are awaiting contact from the expert,
recommend you get on flebay and do 2 searches;
1 for Liberty trade stimulator and 1 for mercury trade stimulator (basically the same machine).
Do the searches for both active and completed auctions.
The liberty is common enough that (I can say without even checking) you should come up with some good photos to compare with your machine.
Since the mechanism slips right out, you should be able to find some good photos of the mech from all angles.
That should give you a good idea if you're missing something.
(Flebay can be very helpful in this regard.)

[cpdretired]

If you need reel strips Bill AKA "Slot Dynasty" has them.

[RastusB3]

If you have time to spare, I will send you pictures with about any angle you need.
I am not currently at home, but will be in three days, at that time I will upload the pics.

In addition to the liberty, I also have a Groetchen Wings and a Zepher

[RobereRulez]

I've attached a few pics of the trade stimulator. The picture of the mechanics shows the area where I have some concern about something missing? Now that I look at it closer, maybe that slotted piece just needs to be rotated around. Hmmm...now I'm going to be stuck at work thinking about that!

[nvmos2]

Looks like you've got a nice original machine, with the correct tokens no less (which are often missing).

I've attached a photo of the same side below for comparison.
Here's what i see in your photo.

I think i know what slotted piece you refer to, but there are at least 4 slotted pieces in your photo.
The upper most slotted piece is the main coin chute.
For discussion, let's say the coin chute is two halves;
the inner half is attached to the mechanism side frame.
the outer half screws onto the inner half.
The coin chute makes a turn at the rear and goes straight down
The bottom part of your outer half coin chute is broken off.
If you remove the reject coin deflector (2 screws where the coin chute angles downward), you will see the break.
That slot at the bottom of the coin chute is in the inner half of the coin chute and would not be visible if the outer half were not broken.
On the bottom of the outer half should be a lever (missing) that holds the coin in place until it is ejected out the back into the coin chute attached to the back door.

Just below the coin chute is a sliding arm attached by a slot that slides along the screw holding it in place.
Your sliding arm is installed backwards; it needs to be flipped over.
The pin at the center of the sliding arm goes into the slot at the end of the "V" lever at the 12 o'clock position.
The end of the sliding arm goes into the bottom of the coin chute; between the inner half and the portion of the outer half that is broken off your coin chute.
The sliding arm pushes the coin backward into the coin chute attached to the back door.

On the left side of the photo, there is a round operating lever with a tab.
In your photo, the tab is at the 8 o'clock position.
When the mech is at rest, it should be at the 10:30 position.
It cannot be seen in either photo, but there should be a spring attached to the pin on back of the round lever that pulls it up to 10:30 position when the handle is released.

Interesting note:
I see there is a spring on your round lever that is attached to the small lever mounted on the round lever.
My machine does not have that spring and seems to work fine without it.
I don't know the purpose of the spring, but tried to fit one on my machine; there was not enough clearance on the machine between the round lever and the side frame to attach a spring without binding.

[Daddyfrank7660]

Looks like you have the pictures you need. But here is a view of my machine. Just in case It may help. It works great also & pays out on all combinations. Good luck with your project.

Frank

[SLOT DYNASTY]

Glad that a couple came to Robb's aid. I have been busy, and couldn't join in.
Besides, my "Liberty" and "Mercury" machines, are put away in boxes, and not easy to rescue at present.
I do have some Groetchen parts-machines in another building, that I will dig out, to see if I might have
the broken coin chute part you need. But that won't be for a few more days.

[RobereRulez]

Awesome info, thanks everyone!
I should be able to start cleaning this machine over the weekend. Someone must have sprayed WD40 or something similar on it years ago and now all the metal is actually sticky. I feel that I will have to pretty much disassemble and clean everything. Is there a recommended cleaner? Since I'm probably going to buy new reel strips, I don't suppose I can immerse it in a "cleaning bath" of some sort?

Also, is there any way to find out the history of these machines from the serial number? This is stamped on the inside of the casing: MU-102-A

Thanks,
Robb