MISREPRESTORATION

[marsonion]

Let's call this thread a quiet place to whine and moan about the travesties of so-called "restoration" to which we've been treated over the years.

I'd like to start with a set of black reel strips I purchased recently from a leading slots restoration supplier for $30.00. The particular model of Caille machine I was working on was originally manufactured with black reel strips, but for whatever reason it had some badly stained and worn but nevertheless authentic buff strips in place. When the flimsy paper repro strips (advertised to fit 1930s Cailles that take black strips) arrived, I wasn't too thrilled with the lithography: the engraved detail in the symbols was mostly plugged or gone entirely and, worse, the things were printed in retina-ripping day-glo colors I haven't seen since the 1970s. I sadly set about pulling the old strips and installing these, only to find that, no matter how I readjusted and crimped them on the reels, the symbols fell out of register on the payout line. I finally pulled one of the strips out and laid it alongside the original, authentic buff strip. Look at the plums lining up on the left, and see what happens all the way to the right-- these repro strips are 1/2 symbol off! They are not only aesthetically abhorent, they are blatantly, mechanically inaccurate. This is garbage. Has anyone else had this sort of trouble with repro strips?

I've decided to make my own Caille reel strips. Anybody who's interested, drop me a message.

[markymarkuk]

Reel Strip replacements are often incorrect as I too have discovered. What I realised, having made templates for numerous reel strips, when these repro guys make up the strips in a graphics program, such as PhotoShop (or equivalent), They set all the measurements such as reel strip length and width exactly right. No doubt about it! I too did this, the strips were exact to the originals, not a fraction more or fraction less!
However, after having these printed off, I usually visit Staples Office Supplies UK (Officedepot in US is similar, I think!) the length of the strips shrunk!!!!
Other print houses I went to did the same.
It turned out after much test printing, I realised that most of these laser / auto printer / Color photo Copier machines all have a standard page margin. This means when anything is printed, it shrinks the original image on to the paper chosen size, but, as it keeps it's own pre-set margins on and clear, it reduces the supplied image by a small amount. To most customers this would not be an issue, but for reel strip lengths its a no no.

Whenever I take my USB memory stick to my Office Supplies to print my reel strips, I ask the staff to remove the margins setting, and check the option NOT to "Scale to fit". This gives the perfect size, as intended.

I use Staples as they can print on A2 size, thick stock glossy paper. A2 size allows the full length of the strip, in fact you can fit about 12 strips (enough for 4 machines!!).

I have a template in PhotoShop format if anyone wants it. It contains all common symbols, but you can add your own.

Hope this helps explain why even some commercially available reel strips are slightly less in length than they should be.

[TonyB]

Hi... would your photoshop template work for my Mills High Top machine? I'm new to collecting and would like to attempt to update my reel strips. Thanks Tony B.

[marsonion]

I went through the same tail-chasing routine as MarkymarkUK describes when I first attempted to get my own reel strips printed out by the usual suspects in the quick-copy industry (you'd recognize the company names). The skilled craftsmen who push the buttons at these places insisted they couldn't turn off the automatic reformatting of my files, which printed out to perfect scale (but only onto small, legal page sizes) on my office printer, but shrunk or distorted on theirs. I finally located an architectural imagesetting outfit that could print off of 56" rolls of card stock and provide matte or gloss lamination to match... all while maintaining the correct file sizes. Imagine that!

At this point I have made reproduction strips for not only the Cailles I service as a hobby (10-stops for Dough-Boys in both standard and "bonus" versions, also Grand Prize 1-2-3-4's, plus 20-stops in black and buff in both standard and "tight" payout, also "No Lemon" strips for Play-Boys), but also for Jennings (Club Chief Tic-Tac-Toe) and a couple of Mills models also. Most recently I made some odd 20-stop Mills strips for a collector/dealer friend who needed them right away for a show; in fact the machine was a High Top. Besides the black 20-stop Caille strips, none of these particular repros I've made are specifically listed in any of the restoration supplier catalogs I have on hand.

I'm away from my shop right now traveling, but I'll post small images of some of the reels I've scanned and reassembled in a week or two, in case anyone's interested. As indicated above, if you have both the scanned symbols for a particular make and model on hand, and a template to lay them out on, you can generate any symbol order or payout scheme required using well-known digital manipulation software. It's sort of fun.

[marsonion]

I'll post small images of some of the reels I've scanned and reassembled in a week or two, in case anyone's interested.

[marsonion]

A couple more odd strips-- the Jennings Club Chief is a "Tic Tac Toe" model and the Mills CC-207 variety was very liberal with the jackpot bars.