Mills War Eagle Jackpots

[thepennyarcade]

Hello All
I surf ebay slots daily, as I assume most of the members do too , and I keep seeing different Mills War Eagle Jackpots.
Does anyone know if these are all factory original designs released over the years of production or are some reproductions?
I have attached a picture of the 3 jackpots I keep on seeing.
Thanks
John

[RameGoom]

I've been wondering the same thing. I suspect that *most* War Eagle machines are knock-offs.

Or, maybe they fell into the "revamp" scenario which seems pretty common.

[watlingboy]

The guys who built the reproduction War Eagles want them to be as close to original as possible while at the same time, sticking as much money in their pants as possible. They did not and would not go to a model maker to have a different casting designed. The War Eagle and the Mills Castle Front were very popular and lots of them were made. Mills made changes to the castings over the years. Some with a single jackpot showing and some with the reserve showing. Don't know if it came with all machines but they supplied a removeable casting where you could cover up the reserve and it matched the motif of the casting. If you look at the top castings of castle Fronts, you will see slightly different designs with the rope and also other areas. Not a clue why they did this. If it was because they wanted to change the casting for a make over for a new year, I'm afraid it is so suttle, no one noticed. The answer to that question is gone and won't be answered. I'm sure you will see different castings on the repro War Eagle because numerous people have reproduced them and they cast from the castings they had available.

Watlingboy

[RameGoom]

I know that if you cast anything using the original part as a pattern, the cast part will come out slightly smaller - in all directions. The aluminum shrinks when it cools, at a very specific rate.

Suppose you're going to re-cast a part. You would need a pattern that has all of these dimensions expanded. So lets say if a section of metal is 1 inch thick and the shrink rate is 1/16" per inch, the finished product would be 15/16" thick. That shrinkage applies to every dimension. I don't know what the actual shrinkage is for alloy aluminum, but the manufacturer of the metal does.

So with that example, if you want to recast a back door that's 12 in. long, 1/2 in. thick, and 10 in. wide, your pattern would need to measure 12-3/4 x 12-5/8 in. x 0.532" thick.

that is my understanding of it. Any re-casters out there, please chime in.

[watlingboy]

Best to check with your foundry. They can tell you the shrink for the alloy they are using. My experience is that shrinkage is 1/4" to 3/8" per foot and the shrink varies with the type of metal you are using, i.e. aluminum, cast iron and brass. I think if you build up your part 3/4", you'll be doing a lot of grinding.

Watlingboy

[nvmos2]

"When (the Silent) first came out, it had two jackpots and a dark stained oak cabinet. ....When two small jackpots fell into disfavor, Mills came out with a single, larger jackpot model isn a light oak cabinet called WAR EAGLE."
Bueschel, Solts Vol 1, p111.


"When the MYSTERY first came out, it had two jackpots and a dark stained oak cabinet. By 1937 two jackpots were old hat and the single jackpot was the thing. So Mills redesigned the fronts of all their popular machines to go the single jackpot route, also changing the cabinets from dark to light stained oak."
Bueschel; Slots Vol 2, p 115.

[SLOT DYNASTY]

I have made many recast parts over the years, for restorations in all metals. There is sometimes a variation in the shrinkage
rate between different foundries. The standard shrinkage rate for aluminum & brass, is 3/16" to the foot, and slightly under
for cast iron. These were the shrinkage rates for the foundries that I was using. I used several different methods, for building
up an original pattern, and it all depends on the complexity of the part. A simple example, would be an aluminum back door
for a trade stimulator. You would build up the outer edges with bondo, just over 3/16 ", to allow for trimming to the correct
size of the recast part. There have been some people who don't want to spend the time to do the process right, therefore the
end results are parts that do not fit correctly. Also, an item such as a small handle for a trade stimulator, does not require any
build-up, because the rate of shrinkage is so minute, it doesn't affect the final results. One of the worst problems with recast
parts for many years, is with the Victorian Uprights. If the person did not have access to a cast iron foundry, they would have
the parts cast in brass or aluminum, and when the recast part was plated, no one would know the difference, unless they were
the few of us that carried a magnet with us at all times. For the most part, most of these castings were never built-up to allow
for shrinkage. One of the most recast parts on an Upright, are the 'Play Nickel', 'Play Quarter', etc. marquees, on top of the head.
Put a magnet to those, and you will find a great number that don't stick, unless Waldo or Myself has recast it.

[RameGoom]

At the office, we use a 3D prototype machine which can produce a plastic prototype just about the size of a loaf of bread. We use SolidWorks to produce a 3D drawing, feed it into this machine, and it makes a faithful prototype of the part. I can imagine doing this with jackpot pieces, make them slightly oversize to allow for material shrinkage, and use the prototype as a green-sand model for casting. With the resolution of this machine, you could put stress marks in the part and make it so authentic, you'd never know.

Now I'm wondering if that technology is being used for the antiques.

Years ago in high school, we had a foundry in our METAL Shop, where we could make castings in green sand. One of our favorites was to use the Hurst "T" shifter handle as a pattern (we'd collect six of them at a time from the cars in the parking lot) and carve out the gates and risers, make great copies. The copy was pretty close to the original, and all we'd do is sand the gate marks off, then drill and tap the hole.