Mills Golden Nugget Slot Repair Help

[WoodrailFanatic]

I am working on a friends Mills Golden Nugget 25 cent slot - it is a re-pop.

All of a sudden one day the reels quit spinning so I assume something broke or a spring popped off, etc.

As I investigated I discovered that the reel stop levers were immediately slamming into the reels rather that slowly coming into contact one by one.

If I manually wind the clock up by pushing on its lever and the reel timing lever it will unwind smoothly when released if I don't wind it too far. If I take it past a certain point then it jumps back instead of doing a slow unwind. As a test I had my son hold the reel stop levers back so they were not exerting any pressure on things while I repeated this test and I got the same result.

So my question is do I have an issue in the clock itself or is there some other mechanism that would help lock/restrict things to prevent this from happening. I don't want to remove and disassemble the clock to find that is not the issue.

Also if it is in the clock what likely broke and is it repairable or will I probably need to replace the clock.

Thanks for your help.....much appreciated.

[jmisatu]

I would check to make sure the fan part of the clock is firmly soldered to the shaft. The clock will unwind rapidly if it is loose and give the result of the problem you are having.

[Bally Bill]

yes good place to investigate that issue

[WoodrailFanatic]

jmisatu,

Thank you for your reply and that suggestion. It was something I had not considered. I have investigated and I believe the fan is ok. At least when I rotate it with my finger I see a cog in the clock move....is that a sufficient test? When I grab the shaft with a pair of needle nose pliers and push on the fan it will move but then my Mills Black Cherry which is working find behaves the same way.

In addition when I wind the clock past a certain point it does really unwind rapidly it just jumps back.

[WoodrailFanatic]

Bally Bill,

Thanks for your response and confirming that it is likely a clock issue. I will pull it from the machine and investigate.

I appreciate the photo from the Marshall Fey book. I have that publication and it is well done and a huge help!

[WoodrailFanatic]

Wanted to provide an update on the Golden Nugget I was working on.

It was, indeed, the clock.

I replaced it and the machine is humming along.

Thank you both for your help.