Aristocrat Arcadian

Somebody knows... Maybe you?
Post Reply
yooser27
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:14 pm
Reaction score: 0
Location: Neston , Cheshire.U.K.

Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by yooser27 »

Hello all,
I have an aristocrat Arcadian that I bought at the Elephant Auction a few months ago, now I have a bit of spare time I've had a proper look at the machine.
There are a few problems,
It doesn't payout any coins , the reels spin O.K. , they stop from left to right,the vertical levers are pulled back during the wind up cycle and held in place with a bar. When I watch the vertical levers moving into the holes in the discs they all seem to be working O.K. but when the payout slides move slightly the vertical levers appear to 'bounce' causing there to be be no payout.
I've also noticed the reels have quite a few incorrect items such as number 7's etc as per my photos, I was going to get a new set of reel strips ,but I don't know the correct sequence or what are supposed to be on the reels.
I've tried running the machine on tanners and new pennies , there were a few farthings in the mechanism as well !
I've not started fiddling with the mechanism until I have an idea of what is correct and what isn't !
I hope this makes some kind of sense .
Regards from Neale.
Attachments
Shortened lever
Shortened lever
Payout card
Payout card
Number 7s
Number 7s
Melons
Melons
Discs close together
Discs close together
Slides thickness
Slides thickness
Shortened lever
Shortened lever
User avatar
coppinpr
Posts: 5111
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 2:01 pm
Reaction score: 20
Location: Lewes, East Sussex
Contact:

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by coppinpr »

There seem to have been some operator changes made so the payout, as it stands, may not follow the reel strips. Some payouts have been removed from the belly glass where the red band is. Have the old payouts been covered up or (as it would appear) scratched out? The first vertical lever has been shortened to remove one or more jackpot payouts, I think, but let's get it paying out first. If there are 5 slides, and each one holds 2 coins, then the payouts on the award card can work.

Are you experienced at working on bandit type machines? If not, check there are no coins jamming the payout tube or the slides, then cycle the machine (which most likely started life on 6d and either stayed that way or was converted to 1p) and listen to what happens. You should hear the three reels clank to a stop in turn, then another clank as the vertical fingers release and look for payout holes, then a final clank as the slides are released. All these need to happen, in that order, for a payout to occur. The last one is the one most likely to be missing, if any. Let us know how this goes and we can try to move on.
Last edited by coppinpr on Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
treefrog
Posts: 4813
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:46 pm
Reaction score: 31
Location: Suffolk

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by treefrog »

Hello there.

Looks an interesting setup. The reel strips are not Arcadian, but for some other machine, eg Mad Melons used similar strips. From what I can see, looking at the melons and 7s, there are lines like either they are patches or patches over these symbol has been removed, e.g. the previous owner may have removed. You will need to confirm the payout for each reel on the reel tins to confirm what these should be covered with.

The slides are the same because they are two coin slides paying up to 10. The extra long slide at the bottom looks like it was once a token vendor slide. If you look at the vertical fingers picture below you will see only two fingers triggers the bottom slide, maybe 7s and melons. This looks to have been changed, maybe when machine became an Arcadian. Don’t worry about chopped vertical finger.

Why not paying? Could be many reasons. Are slides freely moving? Does the slide locking lever on the left of the slides release the slides? Also, it would be interesting to see what the bottom slide looks like if removed - I reckon a long slot to allow other slides to pay. Are all springs on the lower fingers...? I can go on.
Attachments
829BE1CB-9F83-405F-BA68-2E21ED1BC6C0a.jpg
yooser27
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:14 pm
Reaction score: 0
Location: Neston , Cheshire.U.K.

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by yooser27 »

Thank you for your quick replies,
I have checked for jammed coins in the slides etc., also I checked (as suggested). I spin the wheels and they stop in turn from the left to the right, then another clank noise as the vertical fingers travel to the discs, then a final clank as the slides are released.
As I pull the main lever the brakes release, a bar pushes the vertical levers back, then the slides are pushed to the front, then the holding pad slides behind the slides, then the wheels spin.

The slides release smoothly if I manually move the horizontal arms and the coins drop down for the payout, the slide locking lever at the bottom left of the slides releases the slides. I notice the slides don't fully move away from the front, even if there is a possible payout due to one or other of the vertical levers having moved into the disc hole/s.

All the springs are attached to the arms and appear to be correct for length and tension.
The hole in the sliders for the coins is approximately 23 mm and all are circular.
I'm not sure if the terms I've used are correct.
I've found a large collection of stick on 'patches' for the reels in the cabinet and underneath the mechanism and in the cash tray under a piece of cloth!

I hope this all makes sense!
Regards from Neale.
Attachments
Looking down on payout slides
Looking down on payout slides
Underside of slides
Underside of slides
Vertical levers pad
Vertical levers pad
coin slides
coin slides
User avatar
coppinpr
Posts: 5111
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 2:01 pm
Reaction score: 20
Location: Lewes, East Sussex
Contact:

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by coppinpr »

OK, from what you say it actually looks like it's going to be something simple! The cycle of the machine seems to be working correctly other than the free movement of the slides, so for the moment let's concentrate on what makes them move or hold.

Cycle the mech (it doesn't matter if it comes up a winner or not), manually hold back ALL the horizontal fingers once the slide lock clicks in, then let the cycle finish with them still held back. It might be possible to simply pull the slides forward by hand without running the mech., hold back the horizontal fingers then release the slides and see if they go back all the way (on some machines it's easy to pull the slides forward by hand, on others no so much, but looking at yours it just might be possible).

This will simulate a full payout of all the slides, as there will be nothing to stop them. Do they all move back all the way and make a payment?
If they do not, the problem has to be the slides themselves. If they don't, then something prior to the slide lock releasing is causing them not to move and we can look for that later.

If, with the fingers held back, the slides don't move all the way backwards, start by removing the slides (you may even find that as you release the bolts on the slide cover plate the slides release). It's not unheard of for the top plate to be too tight and holding the slides from moving.

It would be a good chance to remove the slides for cleaning anyway. They appear to be all the same size, so the order is not critical. Remove any rust and polish the slides but, of course, USE NO OIL! Check all the springs are good, and clean the runway the bottom slide moves on and replace one at a time checking the movement on each as you go. Clean the underside of the top plate and check that there is the smallest of gaps between the top slide and the cover plate,but not enough to make the slides jump about (this is a very small gap).

If the slides DO move back all the way when the fingers are held back, then check just one thing for now and come back to us... When the slide lock is engaged, are all the horizontal fingers free to move, or are they held fast by the slides themselves with the slide lock engaged?

As to the award card and payouts, my guess is that the jackpot finger was cut to stop ANY jackpots from paying out and the patches you have found would have covered all the "7", all the "melons", and the first 2 "Bars". To be honest, they didn't need to be covered, but it would look odd if 3 x bars, 3 x melons and 3 x "7" were losers, which in fact they now are. I'd be interested to know what the patches you found were?
aristomatic
Posts: 1123
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:13 pm
Reaction score: 4

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by aristomatic »


20200409_170935a.jpg

As others have posted, this mechanism and cabinet combination, like many others, looks to have had maybe not 9 lives, but more than one at least. As TF says, it's very unlikely that the reel strips and reel bundle were installed into an Arcadian model by the factory. The reel strips look more likely to be from a Nevada Melon model, see poor pictures attached. I've also attached an image of an Arcadian with attached topbox model. This shows payout artwork for 7s, Melons & Bars using token payout.

It's unlikely that this artwork is a one-off for an individual, probably by an operator so it's possible that your mechanism with its 7s, melons and bars and token arrangement may have been housed within a similar model setup at one time?

The original Nevada melon reel bundle & strips was an attendant paid jackpot payout option, not a token or visible dropping jp setup, e.g. the number of coins paid was displayed on the lower front artwork. I don't think the Nevada melon reel bundle had any 27 ways payout, e.g. pays anywhere in the window.

The payout artwork on your machine may or may not be as shown. It would be interesting to know if the reel bundle does have 3 bells pays anywhere in the window option? So no answers I'm afraid just more info for you to digest.....
Attachments
dscf1603-8c06922c-large-9eeb0467-primary.jpg
dscf1603-8c06922c-large-9eeb0467-primary.jpg (7.75 KiB) Viewed 19779 times
2626-ba.jpg
yooser27
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:14 pm
Reaction score: 0
Location: Neston , Cheshire.U.K.

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by yooser27 »

Thanks again to all for your helpful replies.
I have now (as suggested) held the horizontal fingers back and cycled to see if the slides go all the way back - yes they do!
But, they don't pay out!

I pulled out the very bottom large slide with the 32 mm diameter hole, the one that sticks out from the front under all the other slides. I've attached a photo to hopefully make this clear. It then pays out the coins.

I've also checked that when the slide lock is set all the fingers are free to move.
I've attached a photo of all the patches removed from various places on the machine. Also I found a couple stuck in almost solid grease - they were not recoverable.

I shall also check the payout options tomorrow and thanks for the photos. It does look like my machine has had many changes in its long life.

I've attached some photos to hopefully help with solving the problems. I'm on a steep learning curve at the moment.
Attachments
Underside of payout slides
Underside of payout slides
Payout in action
Payout in action
Just before the reels spin
Just before the reels spin
Patches
Patches
Case
Case
User avatar
coppinpr
Posts: 5111
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 2:01 pm
Reaction score: 20
Location: Lewes, East Sussex
Contact:

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by coppinpr »

Well, it's moving along. We now know the slides do work correctly and it appears the bottom slide is blocking any payouts. I'm unfamiliar with this bottom token paying slide. Aristo is the man to ask now, but looking at what we can see now:

Clearly this slide needs to be open during ANY payout. It appears to be the old jackpot slide that blocks the hole. If it is, it has no function on your machine because the JP's have been removed, not that you can remove it, as it makes up the correct number of slides. As it is, it seems to be moving too far, thus blocking payouts. What I think is happening is this (but others will perhaps know better):

That slide was designed to only move when a jackpot came up, at which point it moved to the position it shows now on a payout, intentionally blocking the payout hole so ONLY a token was paid and not coins as well. When the jackpot was removed, the horizontal finger has no vertical finger to fire it on a JP win, so it should stay in place holding the JP slide forward at all times. At the moment I believe the machine thinks it's paying a jackpot every time, because the horizontal finger is not holding the JP slide forward and so it moves back and blocks the coins.

Two simple checks will show if this is the problem. If the horizontal finger is still in the machine, move it across to lock the JP slide and fix it there during the test. Force a payout to see if the machine pays correctly, but more importantly, check under the mech and see if the offending slide now leaves the hole open during a payout.
yooser27
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:14 pm
Reaction score: 0
Location: Neston , Cheshire.U.K.

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by yooser27 »

Hello ,
Sorry for the long delay ,but other jobs cropped up ! I've had a good check over as suggested and have attached some photos.
I tried to get a payment with the bottom horizontal finger temporary locked in place to stop it moving ,then set up a two cherry win , it paid out four coins,then I tried for eight coins, with plum -- bell -- plum as it appeared the bell should have been a plum. The result was eight coins.
Next I tried all the above tests with the bottom horizontal finger released and got the same results !
I then had to leave it , I was starting to get confused and didn't want to start altering anything I wasn't sure of .
I hope the photos make some sense to you and helps to explain what I have done so far.
Attachments
IMG_0723.JPG
IMG_0720.JPG
User avatar
new_kid_on_the_block
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:33 pm
Reaction score: 0
Location: Norwich, Norfolk

Re: Aristocrat Arcadian

Post by new_kid_on_the_block »

Anyone know where to get a replacement penny denominator?
35D41DCE-A091-4F75-981D-1C649EEC36D3.jpeg

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 17 guests