Mills Castle Front getting stuck

[ChuckF]

This is my very fist post on this forum.

We inherited a 1932 Mills Castle Front dime machine about 40 years ago and have played with it a few times as have our children. But since that time, it has been sitting mostly idle. When I recently attempted to get it going again, I could see the dimes jamming up in the window. After watching a bunch of YouTube videos I learned it is the escalator that was jamming up and likely needed an overhaul.

So, I found a set of springs on eBay, removed the escalator, totally disassembled it, cleaned it, lubed it up in the right places, put on the new springs and reassembled. That part now seems to be working well from what I can tell. When I remove the mech from the box, I can manually cycle dimes through the escalator without getting jammed up. And also while the mech is outside of the box, I can get it to cycle as well by using a large screwdriver as the handle.

The problem is when the mech is back in the box and I try to cycle; the escalator doesn’t reset back to ‘home’. The mech cycles ok, and the dimes move thru the escalator ok, but it (the escalator) just won’t finish the cycle.

I’m thinking possibly the sharks tooth is bent and is causing the jam. At one point in my debug when I had put the mech back in the box, the little lever on the sharks tooth that is supposed to be ‘above’ the pull down actually wound up being ‘below’ the pull down. I didn’t realize that was wrong and tried cycling several times before I learned it was indeed wrong. So, maybe that caused the sharks tooth to bend down too much?

I will attempt to attach a picture with this post that shows the back of the machine after attempting to cycle but with the escalator still ‘open’. And on the left side it shows the sharks tooth pinned up against the bar that moves the dimes (I don’t know the name of that piece and most pieces).
I’ll appreciate any help or advice anyone can provide.

(I also have some short videos 20 seconds or less that I attempted to upload to the forum but it hung up).

[Bally Bill]

Hello, This information should help you cure your issue, make sure the Mechanism is pushed forward into the case and side arms are locked down-
FYI**** If all else fails you can remove the wishbone bracket, and the escalator will still function/cycle dimes

[ChuckF]

Bally Bill - some very relevant pix and info...and basic education on parts names and operation etc. I really appreciate you taking your time to post. (Is that manual available for purchase somewhere?) Now I've got some things to look at and try. Based on your pic of the manual for the coin advancing bar locking lever (what I referred to as the sharks tooth) - I think that part's lifter lever on my machine may be bent down so much that it's causing the binding/jamming. I'll remove the escalator and then that part to compare more closely to the pic you posted. Thanks again.

[Bally Bill]

Your welcome chuck and there are many books on Mills repair, the author (Marshall Fey) of the books that I have used has passed away last year and I "am not sure if the family is still selling his repair books. You can send an email to Liberty Belle or you can try this COC member website below to see if they have any repair books for sale that would help you in the future.

Napaslotmachines. com

[ChuckF]

Excellent. Thank you. I'll contact those two.

[ChuckF]

The attached is a side view of the coin advance locking lever from my machine. And I've pasted a pic of the same from the manual page you posted to give a nice side by side view. Seems like the lifter is bent down (approximately 45°) ?

[mechanic]

IF IT STICKS AGAIN TRY SHAKING THE HANDLE, IF IT RESETS THE ESC. THEN THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE ESCALATOR OR THE ALLIGATOR IT'S FURTHER DOWN.

[Bally Bill]

Hi Chuck Yes its does not have the correct bend, here is some pictures of my castle setup, also make sure your coin detector pin is set correctly.
Dimensions=ID to bend-.600 with a 35-45 degree upward angle

[ChuckF]

Perfect - that solved my problem! I carefully bent it back to 90°, and after reassembling it cycles beautifully! Thank you Bally Bill for posting your pic of what a healthy locking lever looks like.

Now, do I need to "prime the pump" so to speak? i.e. pre-fill some areas of the machine with coins? Or just start pumping them thru the escalator?

See attached pix. Currently the only places that have coins are the escalator, which is full, and what I think is called the 'filler tube' is full to the top. There is one single dime in the window at the bottom front of the machine.

Also, I have a part left over and not sure where it goes. It is one of the pix. I first starting looking/learning this machine last fall (2024) and set this part aside. Should've taken a picture then but didn't or lost it. I've included 2-3 other pix that maybe can guide me where this piece goes.

Thanks in advance.

[DennyW]

Your machine should not be paying out for one cherry.