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Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine

EditorRandy Fromm

Technical WritersJames Borg, VicFortenbach, ChuckLentine, Craig Nelson,Kevin Noble, Pat Porath

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Slot Tech Magazine Editorial Opinion

Page 4-EditorialPage 6-It’s a Writing Pen! No, it’s an SPC2 RAM Clear Tool!Page 12-TechFest 25 ReviewPage 13-Slot Tech Training at Ft. Hall CasinoPage 14-Quick & Simple Repairs #87Page 18-The Name of the Game-JCM’s UBA-Part 1 of 2

For Subscriptions - See the website @ slot-techs.com

Randy Fromm

TechFest 26Detroit, MI

Motor City Casino

Nov. 6-8, 2012

OOOOOpen Letter to Gaming Commission:pen Letter to Gaming Commission:pen Letter to Gaming Commission:pen Letter to Gaming Commission:pen Letter to Gaming Commission:

Your slot shop’s ability to perform component-level repairs canhave a profound effect on your casino’s bottom line. Manyelectronics repairs can be made quickly and cheaply if theparts are available to your slot techs. Unfortunately, many slotshops are crippled by regulations that require ALL vendors toobtain a (sometimes costly) license to do business with yourcasino.

I recognize that the impetus for this regulation is that thecasino cannot do business with any entity that is not squeakyclean. However, the upshot of this licensing prerequisite is thatcasinos often have to purchase complete (read “expensive”)replacement assemblies because the discrete components orintegrated circuits (usually with a cost of just a dollar or two,often less) required to effect the repair are unavailable throughany of your licensed suppliers. As wonderful as it is to have afull-line supplier like Suzo-Happ or Patriot Gaming, theysimply cannot stock the plethora of components required to fixeverything down to the component level.

Some casinos work around this requirement by allowing some“outside” purchases, placing a strict limit on what can bepurchased (and from whom) and with a low dollar limit (suchas $100-$300/month). Purchasing a handful of capacitors andtransistors from a reputable electronics distributor such asKiesub Electronics, MCM Electronics or Mouser Electronics (ordozens of others) doesn’t expose your casino to anything excepta more efficient slot department and higher profit. Clearly thislow dollar limit precludes any sort of “criminality” just asnobody counterfeits one-dollar bills.

With all due respect to your vigilance and duty, I am beggingyou, Mr. or Ms. Commissioner, to consider a modification toyour regulations that will allow your slot department to becomemuch more efficient through the purchase of electroniccomponents from reputable (but otherwise unlicensed) sources.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Publisher-Slot Tech Magazine

July 2012Slot Tech MagazinePage 6

Slot Tech Feature Article

RAM clearing an SPC2board is a challengethat increases depend-

ing on where the SPC2 boardis mounted. Inside olderAristocrat slot machines, someSPC2 boards are mounted onthe left side wall near themain door hinge. Other boardsare mounted way in the back,behind the florescent fixturein the top of the cabinet. Nomatter where the SPC2 boardis mounted, it seems like youneed multiple hands to com-plete the RAM clear.

The most popular way to RAMclear the SPC2 board is to usea paper clip as the RAM cleartool. A small sized paper clipis reformed into two, closelyspaced, parallel prongs. Theprongs fit into the RAM clear

It’s a Writing Pen!No, it’s an SPC2 RAM Clear Tool!

By Vic Fortenbach

holes on the SPC2 board. It’snot very elegant but it gets thejob done. Other slot techni-cians use a Wiha chip extrac-tor tool to RAM clear the SPC2board. While Wiha tool isobviously intended to removechips, it can also be used toRAM clear the SPC2 boardsince the end is forked andshaped with two small prongs.The prongs on the end don’treally fit into the RAM clearholes like a paper clipdoes, but if held tightlyagainst the SPC2board RAM clearholes, the RAM clearcan be com- pleted.

I have used both thep a p e r clip and theW i h a chip tool to RAMclear the SPC2 board. Whileboth tools have their positivesand negatives, I thought therehad to be a better way tocomplete the RAM clear. Ilooked at all the tool catalogsfor a tool that would work,only to be disappointed. Sincethere was no true SPC2 RAMclear tool that was easy to useand easy to hold, the onlyoption was to make one. Theparts that I used are notexotic and can be purchasedat Wal-Mart and Home Depotor Lowe’s. This SPC2 RAMclear tool that you can makeis not some hokey lookinghomemade tool; it looks pro-fessional, and does the job,easily.

In the process of creating thistool, I had five specific designfeatures I wanted to incorpo-rate. The first and most im-portant was the size andshape. You have to be able tohold on to it (unlike the paperclip); the size and shape of aball point pen would be per-fect. The second factor is loss

prevention. A pocketclip is a must so the

tool can clip to your shirtpocket. This also makes it

easily assessable. The thirdfeature is safety. I wantednothing sharp that can pokeand hurt anyone. Many timesI have placed the paper clip“tool” in my front pocket andbent over, only to have thepaper clip prongs stab me.The fourth feature of the SPC2tool is that it has to be handsfree; the tool should stayconnected to the SPC2 ramclear holes in the PCB withoutfalling out. Having the toolconnected to the SPC2 boardholes and not having to holdonto it makes removing powerfrom the SPC2 board easier.The fifth feature is that it hasto look cool.

With the features defined, Icame up with the perfectsolution; modify a click-ableball point pen. The pointedend of the pen where the ballpoint sticks out had to beplastic since the end pointneeds to be cut or ground off

Slot Tech MagazineJuly 2012 Page 7


to make the end openinglarger. I went to Wal-Mart andchose a Paper Mate Profile1.4B click-able pen. Thesepens are available in packagesof two for about two dollars. Iwanted to keep the clickfunction of the pen intact sothe two (sharp) pins used toRAM clear the SPC2 boardwould retract and not cause asafety hazard. I disassembledthe pen by unscrewing the topclick part. The pen looks likethe middle part would un-screw, but it’s the top sectionwith the pocket clip thatunscrews. On my pen, the toppart was screwed on verytight; I had to use pliers tounscrew the top. Be carefulnot to damage the plasticpocket clip when unscrewingthe top.

With the pen disassembled, Iremoved all the parts, includ-ing the pen’s cushy grip (itjust slides off). As I men-tioned, the point end of thepen needs to be removed. Besure to remove the spring frominside the pen; it’s not at-tached to the ink cartridge.Using the shop grinder, Iground down 3/8 of an inch ofthe plastic from the point endof the pen, leaving a plastic lipto hold the cushy grip.

Next, I needed the actualprongs that will be used toRAM clear the SPC2 board. Ifound and removed a two-pinheader from a non-workingBally Pro-slot 6000 logicboard. This two-pin header isactually two straight gold-plated pins with a black plas-tic base. The Bally logic boardhas several of these two-pinheaders that are used foroption jumpers. I found that aJCM UBA CPU board also hasthis same two-pin header thatcan be used as well. These

headers are pretty common onother logic boards so thereshould be no problems findingone. When removing the two-pin header from the logicboard with a soldering iron,use caution not to overheatand melt the plastic base ofthe two pin header, meltingthe plastic base will cause thepins to be misaligned or fallout.

The center actuator is the partthat replaces the long inkcartridge. I reformed a largepaper clip to be completelystraight. At one end I bent avery small “U” shaped hook.This hook will make it easierto attach the header to thestraightened paper clip. Thetwo pin header will be sol-dered to the U-shaped end.The two-pin header solderseasily to the paper clip end,but because the header is sosmall, it will move aroundwhen trying to solder to it. Usesome tape to hold the headerto the workbench top. Thismakes it easier to solder thewire to the header. When yousolder the header to the paper

clip, it’s important to keepeverything straight and in line.Once the header has beensoldered to the paper clip endand cooled, this becomes theheader wire. Cut the headerwire to 4 3/8 inches long endto end counting the pins of theheader. Compare the insidedimensions of the grounddown pen end to the headersize. The header must fitinside the pen and slide easily;it must not be a tight fit. Mostlikely the plastic base part ofthe header and your solderingjob will be too large. Theheader base and wire can filedalong with the solder to makea smooth looking round con-



nection. If part of the wirehook you bent is sticking outfrom the base of the header,trim or file it off. The headerwire must completely fitsmoothly and slide inside thepen case. When filing theplastic base for size, don’t filetoo much of the plastic baseas it still has to hold the twopins securely. Check to makesure the two-pin header wireslides easily, in and out of thepin with no binding.

The click action of the retract-able part of the pen uses aspring at the end of the inkcartridge. Since we haveground down the pen end, thisspring has to be relocated. Thenew place for the spring is inthe middle area of the pen.The Paper Mate pen case isreduced in its center area to asmaller size, which is perfectarea for the spring. Moving thespring to this location willprovide the new click actionfor the two-pin header. Twonew “spring stops” will have tobe created. The new springstop has to have a smallenough hole to allow thestraightened paper clip toslide thought it, but not thespring. A 4-40 hardware nutfits into the pen perfectly. Thenut has the required hole forthe header wire but it is notlarge enough for the spring.The nut is sized to allow it towedge horizontally into thesmall area of the pen case.The size of the nut needs tobe loose for assembly, butthe nut must NOT slip pastthe middle part. This is oneof the spring stops.

Assemble the nut, spring,and second nut onto theheader wire as shown. Twosolder blobs will have to beadded to the header wire. Iknow the solder blobs are

not the best looking, but whenthe SPC2 tool is assembledyou will not see them. Soldersticks very well to the paperclip. The first solder blob isattached to the header wire at3 7/8 inches, when measuredfrom the header end; thesecond blob is at the oppositeend of the header wire (Seepicture of the completedheader wire). Once everythinghas cooled, slide the headerwire into the pen case. Thefirst nut will stop at the partof the pen case that is re-duced.

Some trial and error may benecessary. You may have toreform the end solder blob soit does not bind inside the toppart of the pen. The blob hasto be large enough so theheader wire will not slide intothe pen cap. Look inside thepen cap to judge the size ofthe solder blob you have tocreate.

After you have assembled thetool, check the click action. Ifthe two-pin header just movesin and out of the pen casingwithout clicking and staying“locked,” the paper clip wire istoo long or the solder blob isnot correctly placed. Thevisible part of the two pinheader can be adjusted bymaking the header wire longer

or shorter. If you need tomake the wire longer you willneed to start off with a newstraightened paper clip.

With this tool, it is mucheasier to clear a SPC2 board,not to mention the looks I getfrom the other technicianswhen I use my “pen” to RAMclear an SPC2 board.

Parts List1 – Paper Mate 1.4 B ProfileClick Pen - Wal-Mart1 – Large Paper Clip1 – 2 Pin header – from oldlogic board2 – 4-40 Hardware Nuts –Lowes, Home Depot

- Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

For schematic dia-grams, software,drivers, service

manuals and much,much more, visit theSlot Technical Server

at slot-tech.com.

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Slot Tech Events-TechFest 25 Las Vegas, Nevada

Eagle Mountain Casino’s homeboys Tou Cha,Herman Ecobiza, Dustin Paguia, Mike Hensley andLisandro Sandoval pause for a group photo beforeheading home after the event.

Yep! There are more pictures of happyslot techs this month. TechFest 25 washeld in Las Vegas. We had an excellent

turnout, especially considering that this wasan “overflow” event due to a sold-out TechFestin December 2011. President Obama was intown and although he didn’t stop by to see mepersonally, Air Force One did fly 1000 feetdirectly over my head upon his departure as

Mark Roberts (3M Touch Systems)

Brett Bruce-Ceronix


Slot Tech Training at Ft. Hall Casino, Idahothe venue is located near theairport just 3/4 of a mile fromthe departure end of runway25R. I was outside at the time.Dang, that is one shiny air-craft! It really was a prettyawesome thing to see.

TechFest 25 was the usualgood time all-around (this wasLas Vegas, after all), withspecial thanks to Eagle Moun-tain Casino and Tachi PalaceCasino for sending five slottechs each to the event. Also ashout-out and danke schön toOsterreich Lotterien GMBH(the Austrian Lottery) forsending Michael Grotzl andMarkus Pesendorfer all theway from Vienna, Austria.This was their second timeattending TechFest as theyattended TechFest Austria in2008. Twenty-nine slot techsfrom a dozen properties at-tended TechFest 25.

TechFest 26 is scheduled forMotor City Casino in Detroit,Michigan, November 6-8,2012

My Own Private IdahoMy Own Private IdahoMy Own Private IdahoMy Own Private IdahoMy Own Private Idaho

Through some schedule jug-gling and coordination withColista Farmer, Slot Managerfor the Fort Hall, BannockPeak and Sage Hill Casinos, Iwas invited to train the follow-ing week at the Ft. Hall Casinonear Pocatello, Idaho. It’s justa day’s drive from Las Vegasto southern Idaho (somesections are posted at 80 MPHso you can imagine how fastpeople actually drive-not that Iam admitting anything, mindyou).

The weather was awesome andthe slot techs that work there

(we had 15 in the class) arereally a pleasure to know. Wecovered the usual mix ofcomponent-level repair, con-centrating mostly on PowerSupply repair and LCD moni-tor repair.

If you are interested in spon-soring training at your casino,feel free to contact me. - - - - -Randy FrommRandy FrommRandy FrommRandy FrommRandy Fromm

619.838.7111619.838.7111619.838.7111619.838.7111619.838.7111editor@[email protected]@[email protected]@slot-techs.com



Quick & Simple Repairs #87By Pat Porath

IGT Denomination TouchIGT Denomination TouchIGT Denomination TouchIGT Denomination TouchIGT Denomination TouchPad Not WorkingPad Not WorkingPad Not WorkingPad Not WorkingPad Not Working

First off I thought I hadheard that a keypadneeded to be re-

placed, not a touchpad so Igrabbed an Oasis SentinelII keypad and headed to thegame. What the? The key-pad looked fine, I tested itand it worked OK. I askedagain over the radio whatneeded to be replaced. Thedenomination touch pad.Ah, OK. These are very easyand simple to replace. Ofcourse, power off the game,remove the two smallscrews that hold the metalbracket in place, removethe touch pad cover, thenremove the touch pad boardfrom the glass. There isonly one connector on theboard. Simply remove theold denomination stickerfrom the original and put iton the replacement. One ofthe four denoms wasn’tworking before the replace-ment. It didn’t matter whereyou touched, the thing justwould not work. After re-placing the denomination

touch pad board, it workedperfectly. These are multi-denomination IGT S2000sthat have four differentdenomination selectionsthat can be made right atthe game.

UBA Error in a SpieloUBA Error in a SpieloUBA Error in a SpieloUBA Error in a SpieloUBA Error in a SpieloGameGameGameGameGame

I received a call that aSpielo game had a bill ac-ceptor error that wouldn’tclear. When I arrived, theJCM UBA transport assem-bly was reseated and madekind of a funny noise whenit was cycling. The cashboxwas removed, the area wasinspected for any foreignmaterial (such as a tornbill) then it was reinserted.The transport assembly wasremoved from the game,opened up, inspected andclosed. Nothing unusualwas found in that areaeither. With the unitremoved from thegame, I looked at thetop area of the billacceptor housing.Located on an opticwas a very small tornpiece of printer paper, justsmall enough to cause anerror. After the tiny piecewas removed and the trans-port assembly put back inthe game, it cycled nor-mally. When the slot doorwas closed a blank ticket

was tested to make sure thebill acceptor grabbed itproperly, which it did. Thebill acceptor was workingonce again.

Repairs After Three MainRepairs After Three MainRepairs After Three MainRepairs After Three MainRepairs After Three MainPower InterruptionsPower InterruptionsPower InterruptionsPower InterruptionsPower Interruptions

We had a couple of moder-ate thunderstorms rollthough our area and hadthree power interruptionswithin a 24 hour period.The first was a bit aftermidnight during which themain casino power went offfor a few seconds then cameback on. The second wasaround 4:30am with thethird occurring around9:30am. The gaming floorwas a mess.



The previous shift statedthat they had started offwith around 23 gamesdown. When I arrived, Ireceived a list of 11 thatwere still down. This wasbefore the last power inter-ruption at 9:30am. At thetime of the last power fail-ure, I happened to be work-ing on a Konami gametrying to figure out a de-nomination display failureerror. When the main ca-sino power went off for afew seconds then cameback on, my co-worker andI were like “The heck withit, might as well wait torepair anything else untilthe storm passes.”

Repairs were mostly normalones such as power sup-plies, LCDs, RAM clears,and such. A few of theAinsworth games needed tohave their main powersupplies replaced, some ofthe WMS WAGEnet and IGTSBX games needed to berebooted, a couple of WMSBluebirds needed a RAMclear. A few LCDs needed tobe replaced on differentmanufacturers of games. Afew power supplies werereplaced in Bally CineReeland or Cinevision games. Aflash board had died in anIGT Wolf Run Party gamewhich had to be ordered(The game flash boardconnects to the top of themain game processorboard, it could also becalled a piggyback board).

On the Konami denomina-tion display error, I lookedat game options, I tried a

couple of reboots, andboards were reseated. I wasunable to clear the error.The following day, I asked aco-worker what in the worldwas with that denom dis-play error. I learned that aRAM clear was done with-out clearing everything, theone cent denomination wasselected, then it was good togo. On a few stepper WMSBluebirds (CPUs withoutthe hard drive) were thegame has physical reelsand a small LCD on thebottom, a few of the LCDswere black. A simplereboot or two of the gameand they were workingagain. If the text doesn’tappear on the first try, tryanother reboot. I’ve run intoa few of them where on thethird reboot, the LCD wouldcome back to life. In a nut-shell, all techs worked theirbutts off to get the floorlooking good again after nottwo but three main powerfailures within a 24 hourperiod.

WMS Monopoly Topper,WMS Monopoly Topper,WMS Monopoly Topper,WMS Monopoly Topper,WMS Monopoly Topper,Totally DarkTotally DarkTotally DarkTotally DarkTotally Dark

I had a WMS Monopolytopper on a game that wastotally dark. None of thelight bulbs nor the LCD hadany power at all. Maybe themain power cable that runsto the top part of the gamecame loose? The outer partof the topper was removedand the LCD was removedto see what was going on. Itappeared the power cablewas in place and snug andthe upper power switch wasin the ON position. I

checked below to make surethe cable was plugged intoa receptacle, which it was.Could a fuse be blown?Located near the 110vinput power cable is a fuseholder. I disconnected thepower cable from the powersupply and looked at thefuse. Since it was a smallceramic type (non-explosive)you can’t tell by looking atit. A multi-meter has to beused to check for continu-

ity. After verifying that thefuse was bad (open), it wasreplaced. It was replacedwith the same rating fuse,the IEC power cable wasplugged back in, then theupper power switch wasturned ON. The topper litup beautifully. For someodd reason the topper hadsimply blown a fuse. Nowthe game was workingproperly once again.

IGT AVP 3.5, No GameIGT AVP 3.5, No GameIGT AVP 3.5, No GameIGT AVP 3.5, No GameIGT AVP 3.5, No GamePowerPowerPowerPowerPower

While taking a walk aroundthe gaming floor, I noticed agame that looked like it wasshut off for no reason. Whatthe heck, why wasn’t itdocumented in our logbook? Why wasn’t there awork order for it? Whydidn’t the previous shift tellme why it was shut off? Tomy surprise, right afteropening up the door on thegame I noticed that themain power switch was still


in the ON position so myassumption was totallywrong (I make my share ofmistakes, no doubt). No-body had turned the gameOFF, it just died. At somepoint, power failed to keepthe game running but sec-ondary power remained ONbecause the Oasis displaywas lit up. My first thoughtwas the failure of either theAC power supply or the DCpower supply. The Alternat-ing Current power supplyhas the 110v power outletwe use to power our OasisSentinels. The Direct Cur-rent power supply gives thevoltage needed for the gamesuch as the 24vdc ticketprinter. I turned the powerswitch ON and OFF a fewtimes to see what wouldhappen and the numerousinterior LEDs on boardswould only flash for a frac-tion of a second, then goblack. This failure alsopointed me toward the

direction of a bad powersupply. First the AC supplywas swapped withthe game next door,then the DC. Nodifference was no-ticed when the ACsupply was swappedbut when the DCpower supply wasexchanged, thegame lit right up. Itstarted the boot upprocess right away.A spare wasgrabbed to replacethe bad unit andnow both games areback up and run-ning.

- Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]



The Name of the GameBy James Borg

Fig. 1 Coin Comparator

The name of the gamein any casino is without a shadow of a

doubt, money. It’s the bloodthat flows through its veins.Without this precious com-modity, a casino could justpack it in, close its doorsand die permanently.

What good is having anattractive looking andsounding slot machine?What good is having a su-per game on it? What goodis having a queue of peoplewaiting to play on it, ifnobody can insert anymoney into it? I’d say itwould be pretty useless andit might as well be switchedoff.

Technology has come to therescue, once again, as ithas brought about moreways than one of feedingcash into a hungry slotmachine. The oldestmethod in the book of in-serting money into a slotmachine is by means of acoin. This could be thecurrency of the casino’scountry or the casino couldhave its own customizedtokens, bearing the equiva-lent in value to the actualcurrency. Typically 10c, 25cor higher can be used. Oncethese are slotted into themachine (and accepted)they are registered as cred-its by means of a cleverpiece of equipment called aCoin Comparator, as shownin Fig 1. In simple terms, acoin (or token) is insertedas a reference into a holderand all the coins enteringthe coin comparator arecompared, using differentparameters, to this refer-ence slug. If the coins en-tering the unit match thereference, they are ac-cepted, otherwise, they willbe rejected. Simple,straightforward, and effec-tive. They did have theirlimitations but overall,these comparators did theirjob efficiently and withoutany major hassle.

However, for many casinos,the days of the coin are longgone, making room for moreadvanced technology withthe introduction of billvalidators. A bill validator(AKA bill acceptor) scanscurrency by means of opticand magnetic sensors. Thescanned ‘image’ is com-pared to the signature heldin the validator’s pre-pro-grammed memory and thecurrency is then acceptedinto the cashbox or rejectedback accordingly. Theirbuilt-in high-tech avoidscasinos ending up withtheir cashboxes full ofcounterfeit money.

Venues that have kept boththe coin comparators andalso upgraded to bill valida-tors could then boast ofhaving slots with twosources of inputting cash. Ifthe coin comparator wentFUBAR, then there wasalways the bill validatoroption, or vice versa, which

Fig. 2 UBA Bill Acceptor Head


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Repair Monitors, Power Supplies, Gameboards?

meant a client could thencarry on playing, withoutloss of revenue for thecasino. However, not hav-ing a machine acceptingcoins, for any reason what-soever, would put the coincommunity off, especially iftheir budget consisted ofonly a handful of coins.The procession of goinground machine after ma-chine while holding abucket of coins and reli-giously inserting a coin ortwo, in every machinepassed by (in the eternalhope the next one playedwould be the lucky one)would come to an abruptend.

Cashless systems were

eventually introduced, aswell as Ticket-In-Ticket-Out(TITO) systems. There was

just no stopping the variousoptions so money can findits way into slot machines.

Fig. 3 Bottom Bill Path


Without doubt, even thoughcashless systems and TITOhave become very popular,the bill validator still re-mains tops.

A common bill validator isone by JCM: Japan CashMachine. Founded January11, 1955, over the years,they have developed the billacceptors currently foundin many new slot machines,the UBA (Universal BillAcceptor), which followedits predecessor, the WBA(World Bill Acceptor). Thesebill acceptors are verypopular and reliable, pro-vided proper care andmaintenance is given tothem. Of the many featuresthe UBA boasts, automaticcentering and anti-stringingtechnology are perhaps twoof its most interesting. The

UBA’s weight is about 4kg.It can be powered by either12v or 24v. The latter re-quires a 24v to 13.5v con-version board. In use at12v, this unit consumesapprox 1.6 Amps, while at24v, it consumes approx 1Amp. In standby mode, theconsumption is that of300mA and 150mA respec-tively.

Normally, UBA acceptorsare followed by a number,for example, 10, 11, 14, 24and 25. These numberssimply mean 8 Meg FlashMemory, 8 Meg EPROM, 16Meg Flash - USB compat-ible - SS configuration, 16Meg Flash – USB compat-ible – SU configuration, and16 Meg EPROM – USBcompatible – SU configura-tion, respectively.

Brilliant, efficient and effec-tive as it might be, it willbe, however, totally uselessif it doesn’t operate prop-erly. Preventive mainte-nance is a must for theseunits to keep them runningin top gear. Having a cus-tomer attempting to inputcurrency repeatedly into aslot machine, will eventu-ally put anybody off playingon that particular game. Asmuch as a client would loveto try ‘lady luck’ on thatparticular game, frustrationwill undoubtedly prevail. Ifthe person is particularlysuperstitious, commentslike: “The machine is obvi-ously showing me it will notpay out by not acceptingmy money. It doesn’t likeme today, so I’ll go on an-other machine.” Unfortu-nately, I’ve actually heardcomments similar to these

Fig. 4 Top Guide


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myself on more than oneoccasion, and they can bequite annoying, especially ifI know for a fact that thatparticular acceptor hasbeen recently serviced. Outof pure curiosity, just liftingthe lid would usually showhalf the lenses blinded bycigarette ash. Wonder ofwonders why the poor thingwouldn’t accept the cur-rency. It’s a shame howcertain types don’t seem torecognize the differencebetween an ashtray and abill acceptor but that’s adifferent story altogether.

The frequency of thesebabies needing some TLCdepends on the number ofbills inserted over a giventime and on their naturalhabitat. In a clean environ-ment, months could passbefore another cleaningsession is required. In adusty and smoking zone,the rate of cleaning has tobe more frequent.

It is very important that noform of alcohol is usedduring the process, unlessit’s Isopropanol alcohol(C3H8O), and this is onlyto clean the wheels and thebelts, BUT NOT THELENSES. Applying alcoholor solvents to the transpar-ent lenses will eventuallymake them go cloudy,which will impair theamount of light goingthrough them. Alcoholhurts the equipment andmight even make it end upworking less efficiently,reducing its acceptance ina drastic way once the

‘maintenance’ has beencarried out. Just usingsoapy water is more thanenough and is highly rec-ommended. The belts, roll-ers, bill path and the lensescan be ‘washed.’ ‘Washing’doesn’t mean immersingthe lot in a bath but justwiping down gently theconcerned areas with adamp cotton bud (Q-tip) ora soft, lint-free cloth.

Lifting the lever to raise theupper guide (see figure 3)exposes the bill path, alongwith the belts, optics, andeverything else concernedto make this bill validatorwork smoothly. Please notethat the upper guide doesnot stay up on its own so

either hold it with yourhand or insert a support tokeep it open. Should thiscome down suddenly, dam-age might occur (even toyour fingers). The bottomlenses and rollers can easilybe cleaned, as well as theUV reflector, which is situ-ated at the back.Some rollers need morecleaning than others andcare must be exercised notto damage these in theprocess. The use of metalobjects (such as screwdrivers) to scrape off mate-rial stuck to these rollersisn’t recommended at all.The same applies for theparts in the upper guide.

Compact as it might seem,


the top guide is burstingwith versatile componentsinside, all of which havetheir particular importantfunction (see figure 4).

General cleaning and wip-ing down is all well andgood but at times, it is justnot enough and the accep-tor has to be stripped downto pieces. This can be donein two steps. There’s the toppart (simple) and thenthere’s the bottom part,which is more complex todismantle. The top cover iseasily removed by sliding asmall flatscrewdriver inthe areasshown infigure 5.

A similar set oftabs is alsofound on theother side.Once all thepoints havebeen released,

the blue cover can thencome away, exposing theupper electronics board (seefigure 6).

The upper electronics boardneeds to be removed byunscrewing the six mount-ing screws. The solenoidconnector, shown in thepicture with the red wire,needs to be unpluggedbefore the board can belifted gently back.

- James Borg - James Borg - James Borg - James Borg - James [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

Fig. 5 Insertion points for screw driver

Part 2 Cont. Next Month


“OK. You asked and I listened. My new tech class eliminates obsolete CRTmonitor repair and the associated monitor repair lab. In just four or five days, yourslot techs can learn to repair Power Supplies, LCD Monitors, Ticket Printers, BillValidators and more. It’s easy and it’s fun.“- Randy Fromm

“I can help you bring down thecost of casino electronics repairs”

tel.619.838.7111 fax.619.593.6132

Randy Fromm


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