Post all BYOAC, MAME, .984", & 25mm Token Mech modification hints in here.

[Santoro]

OK, I thought it would be a good idea to have a single place for people to find information about adjusting their mechs for the .984" (25mm) BYOAC tokens.  (Really any .984" tokens.)

I was easily able to adjust my metal "Coin Controls" mechs for the tokens.  It took two steps.  

1) I adjusted the white plastic screw to allow the mech to accept a token slightly larger than a quarter.  I had to turn it about 5 degrees clockwise if I recall. (thanks to Quarterback for the better pics)



2) I am not sure if this is necessary for everyone, but I had to fiddle with a second adjustment at the bottom in order to get the mechs to take both quarters and tokens.  I think this is a step that checks the weight of the coin, but I am not sure.  It took me a good 30 minutes to get both of my mechs just right.  It is just trial and error.



At the end of the day, about one of every 25 tokens/quarters doesn't pass.  This is close enough fo me.
Dave

[hulkster]

1) contact TheNasty and buy his all in one mech.  it accepts pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, tokens, and just about anything else that is close to those sizes.  i think he said it took washers too but dont tell your friends that!  i bought one, and replaced the mechs that came with my happ coin door, and it works great.  

[Stingray]

If you have a Bally-Midway coin door that was originally set up for quarters you might want to be aware that the BYOAC tokens won't fit through the slot, they're just a tiny bit too large in diameter. This is something that can be fixed with a dremel and a little patience, but I just though folks might want to be aware of it. The chrome coin slots can be removed from the inside. It's easiest to take them off and work from the back side in case you slip with the dremel you won't scratch the side that shows.

-S

[mp2526]

Happs IL quarter coin mech adjustment.

http://www.miavio.com/HappILMech.htm

[JustMichael]

I am using a pair of the Imonex $.25, .882 & .900" Token Coin Mech (#42-6901-00) from Happ Controls.  I bought them quite a few years ago (back when they were $15 each).  The only modification I have done to them was to loosen and move the triangle piece that is where the coin enters the mech.  This piece of plastic limits the size of the coin that the mech will accept.  I did this quite a while back to make them accept a Chuck E. Cheese token I had.  These don't accept coins smaller than what they are supposed to but do accept coins that are bigger (with the adjustment). Below is a picture of the back of the mech:

[Alucard90]

My friend's father is the president of imonex! Ill ask him! im not lying! i do!  

[crashwg]

i think he said it took washers too but dont tell your friends that!

Washers are worth more than pennies for the most part...  I'd rather get a few of them than pennies, at least washers are usefull!

[Timstuff]

I've got the tan plastic type (coin controls I think). I don't know how you'd go about modding them for tokens, but I'm sure there's a way to do it, right?

Until I figure that out, I could always just have a cup full of quarters on the shelf next to my cab. But then there's the possibility that my friends might "accientally" walk off with them, and Tokens would definately solve that problem. I'd probably want to change the reject button stickers if I switched to tokens though.

[Kremmit]

I've got the tan plastic type (coin controls I think). I don't know how you'd go about modding them for tokens, but I'm sure there's a way to do it, right?

Until I figure that out, I could always just have a cup full of quarters on the shelf next to my cab. But then there's the possibility that my friends might "accientally" walk off with them, and Tokens would definately solve that problem. I'd probably want to change the reject button stickers if I switched to tokens though.

Folks are probably more likely to "accidentally" hork your tokens than plain old quarters!

[Timstuff]

lol

I suppose the best thing to do would be to order a sampler pack and toy around with my mechs until I can get them to accept the tokens, but it'd be nice if I knew exactly what I was doing. And I'll probably want to replace the stickers on the reject buttons to say "Tokens" instead of "50 cents", but I'm not sure what the best way to go about that would be.

[gotstik]

Anyone have any new successes modding your mechs to accept .984" tokens?

Hey Dave _ While I wait for my tokens using an old chipmunk vending token to realign the slots on my mechs.. I have 3 that have adjusted perfectly for quarters and .984 tokens! The other 3, I am struggling with that secondary adjustment..

[Kremmit]

lol

I suppose the best thing to do would be to order a sampler pack and toy around with my mechs until I can get them to accept the tokens, but it'd be nice if I knew exactly what I was doing. And I'll probably want to replace the stickers on the reject buttons to say "Tokens" instead of "50 cents", but I'm not sure what the best way to go about that would be.

They're the same size as Chuck E. Rat tokens, if you want to test with those.

[aumameman]

Hey all,

Just a random thought, another option is to get one of those electronic coin mechs that check a sample coin (or token) against the coin being inserted and accepts or rejects accordly. I have one and they work great.

[Q*Bert_OP]

Make this a "Sticky topic"...

[quarterback]

I just adjusted my Coin Controls mechs to accept quarters and two sizes of tokens and I will have comments shortly

But first, here are some clearer pics of what Santoro orignally posted in this thread.

[quarterback]

Okay, first off I want to thank Santoro for posting this thread.

[KonkeyKong]

Has anyone modified one of the older tan coinmechs (the ones that say wash in hot soapy water on them) to accept tokens?

[MustardTent]

Hey all,

Just a random thought, another option is to get one of those electronic coin mechs that check a sample coin (or token) against the coin being inserted and accepts or rejects accordly. I have one and they work great.

I really like this idea...where do you get these?

[quarterback]

I really like this idea...where do you get these?

A Google of "electronic coin selector" (from the front of the boxes) turned up a number of hits, including:
http://www.coinopexpress.com/products/parts/cash_handling/Anti-String_Electronic_Coin_Selector_5723.html

[MustardTent]

Well, I was going to reply with some smug "I know how to google" comment, but then I realized that the link you point to (one that I did visit) is what I want.

D'oh.

[MameJunkie]

I really like this idea...where do you get these?

A Google of "electronic coin selector" (from the front of the boxes) turned up a number of hits, including:
http://www.coinopexpress.com/products/parts/cash_handling/Anti-String_Electronic_Coin_Selector_5723.html

The link shows minimum order : 21.
Guess you need to pick up a carton.

[aumameman]

ebay was my source. ultimarc.com the maker of the ipaq have then on their website for sale as well as coin doors that you can use with these mechs (i dont know why you'd bother..see ultimarc.com)

Hey all,

Just a random thought, another option is to get one of those electronic coin mechs that check a sample coin (or token) against the coin being inserted and accepts or rejects accordly. I have one and they work great.

I really like this idea...where do you get these?

[holdennut]

Has anyone  modded a Happ Ultimech $.25 Coin Mech to accept .984" tokens yet?

One of these: http://www.happcontrols.com/coindoors/42307900.htm

Cheers

[Santoro]

It was done and linked-to above in MP2526's post but unfortunately the link is dead now.  If anyone happened to save that it would be cool if it could be posted here.

The text is here: http://web.archive.org/web/20050212035946/http://www.miavio.com/HappILMech.htm

but the photos are gone.

[holdennut]

Thanks Santoro, if anyone has the photo's that would be awesome.

[holdennut]

Hey guys, found a quick fix that should work for the Happs IL coin mechs

First remove the little black cir-clip holding the "Red L-Shaped Leaver" in place. The lever should now come off. You should now find that the BYOAC tokens work a treat.

I can't verify this as I don't have any BYOAC tokens, but mine now accepts quarters, aussie half penny and 2 francs. All very close to the BYOAC tokens.

Hope this helps


Before...


After...

 

[Santoro]

Here are the instructions for these mechs from the original site.  Big thanks to Mike Perry (MP2526) for this - he was cool enough to go and retake the photographs for us!!

Thanks Mike.

Modifying Happ Quarter Mechs for .984" Token Use

[Santoro]

Quarterback,  somehow I missed the fact that you re-took my pics until now.  Awesome, thanks.  I am going to replace the ones up top with these. 

Mind if I use them on my website too?

Thanks

I just adjusted my Coin Controls mechs to accept quarters and two sizes of tokens and I will have comments shortly

But first, here are some clearer pics of what Santoro orignally posted in this thread.

edit: Fixed dumb mistake 

[quarterback]

LOL,  I am *a* metalhead, but I'm not *the* Metalhead

But, beyond the mistaken identity, sure.  You should absolutely use those pics wherever & however you like.    I took them for that purpose, but thanks for asking anyway.
Cheers

Metalhead, somehow I missed the fact that you re-took my pics until now.  Awesome, thanks.  I am going to replace the ones up top with these. 

Mind if I use them on my website too?

Thanks

I just adjusted my Coin Controls mechs to accept quarters and two sizes of tokens and I will have comments shortly

But first, here are some clearer pics of what Santoro orignally posted in this thread.

[Santoro]

*Blush*  Sorry - the Avatar threw me.   It's also widely known that I am scatterbrained..  Oh well.

Thanks though, I am not sure how I missed those before. 

[Santoro]

aumameman has successfully modified his Bally/Midway coin slots to accept .984" tokens. 

>> http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=52277

[stan2323]

Someone mentioned tan plastic below.  I have tan plastic coin mech and I had no problem moding it to take tokens.

First squeeze the 2 pins that the arrows are pointing at in the first picture to open the side of the mechanism.

Then remove the E clip on the end of where the arrow is pointing in the 2nd picture.  It has already been removed in the picture.  Then take off the piece that it holds in place.  You will not need that.  I think what that does is not let a coin that is the wrong weight go through.  It acts as some kind of weighted trip lever.  I do not know for sure. 

3rd file the lip where the arrow in the 3rd picture is pointing to let a token pass.  The 4th is a close up of the completed filing job.  Once a token passes through shut it and test.


The last picture is the other side.  It was next to the game counter so I could only open it a small amount but I was still able to remove the pieces and file it down to take tokens.   

It took 10 minutes to do with a Leatherman to pull of the clip and the file on the Leatherman to do the filing. 

[TheShanMan]

Thanks for those instructions. I'm pretty sure that's what mine looks like (stock mechanism from a centipede cab). So with your mod, does it allow both quarters and tokens? It sounds like you are basically disabling the limiter (or whatever it's called) so it won't reject non-quarters, thus causing it to accept anything that will fit through the slot. Is that true?

[stan2323]

Mine will not take pennies, dimes, nickels, 1 Euro coin, 2 Euro Coin, 50 Euro cent coin, or Syracuse bus tokens. It still rejects too small items and too thick items. 

It did take Quarters, Chucky Cheese Tokens, and some other generic tokens I have with my slot machine.

[shardian]

That is a sweet guide for modding plastic mechs! I will be trying that out some time soon. I have 5-10 "broken" plastic ones, and this might bring them back to life as a token mech.

[shardian]

That is a sweet guide for modding plastic mechs! I will be trying that out some time soon. I have 5-10 "broken" plastic ones, and this might bring them back to life as a token mech.

Once again, I'll say you rule for the plastic mech mod! I had 5 that wouldn't even accept quarters that I was going to trash. Pulling off that locking piece allowed quarters to work again. The sanding didn't quite work though. After inspection, I noticed that the ChuckECheese tokens were hitting the hinge of the coin reject. I sanded the round part down a bit and they work flawlessly.

In closing, 

[stan2323]

Congrats.  Glad it helped.

[NIVO]

gonna go ahead and sticky this for now. Good useful info here as usual  May be moved down the road to another area, keep your eyes open for redirect links.

[TheShanMan]

Thanks stan2323 - I just modded mine, and it couldn't be simpler. Thanks for the pics and for figuring it out!

[Boz]

Here are the instructions for these mechs from the original site.  Big thanks to Mike Perry (MP2526) for this - he was cool enough to go and retake the photographs for us!!

Thanks Mike.

Modifying Happ Quarter Mechs for .984" Token Use

The links for each image in this tut are broken. However, the larger (much larger) images for this tutorial can be seen if you save the web page contents using Firefox (and I suspect IE as well). I'm saving them for future reference should the site suddenly get hit by a bus.

[Santoro]

Odd.  I'll check it out. Thanks for mentioning it..

[Santoro]

Actually - they load for me. do you have a slow connection?  They are huge files, and that page is not designed properly.  I'll get to fixing that one day.

[Boz]

Actually - they load for me. do you have a slow connection?  They are huge files, and that page is not designed properly.  I'll get to fixing that one day.

The images load when looking at the page itself, but the larger copies of those images (when you click on each one) is a dead link. They point to "http://www.arcadetokens.com/images/". It's not that big of a deal, though someone might miss the fact that there are bigger images to be seen for detail. Good find though. I thought I had saved this tut and couldn't find it when you posted this. I was nervous for a second there.

[Mauzy]

+1 for TheNasty's mod. Took 30 seconds and everything that will fit through the initial opening works!
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=19200

[stan2323]

+2 more for TheNasty's mod.   I just did this to a couple and it works great.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=19200.msg153173#msg153173

I think the mod post should be added to this thread so it will be in the sticky.

Stan

[shardian]

I came up with an interesting mod the other day for coin controls mechs. I normally use the 'slightly smaller than a quarter' tokens. I believe they are .900. Anyways, these tokens normally fall straight thru Coin Controls mechs. If you notice, the reason it falls thru is because the 'pivot' piece it first falls into is too big. I took a flatblade screwdriver and bent in the little lip thing that swings to the bottom when a coin is in it. Trial and error is necessary to get it working without jamming.

I did this to all the mechs in my gameroom. Works great.

[mvsfan]

I've got the tan plastic type (coin controls I think). I don't know how you'd go about modding them for tokens, but I'm sure there's a way to do it, right?

Until I figure that out, I could always just have a cup full of quarters on the shelf next to my cab. But then there's the possibility that my friends might "accientally" walk off with them, and Tokens would definately solve that problem. I'd probably want to change the reject button stickers if I switched to tokens though.

Folks are probably more likely to "accidentally" hork your tokens than plain old quarters!

i think your right. aif they could find an arcade with functioning games, these tokens would be worth more than quarters.

unfortunatly the few surviving ones here, their maintenance is just absolutely lousy.

even at a big well established bowling alley with a bar, nightclub, and hundreds of people visiting each week,

nobody at that place has heard of replacing a cherry switch. every game has something wrong with it. I personally feel like going bowling one day with a bag of switches and asking for the manager.

[mvsfan]

shoot ill do that anyway usually with a small fee though.

theirs plenty of small places around like laundromats and pizzerias that have one or two games their

the owners got them off an auction or something and they dont know jack cause their not really in the business or the hobby know what i mean?

when i happen to one of those i usually let someone know whats wrong and often their very friendly about it.

[Sledgehammer]

Hi All,

Sorry to update an old post, but I have been investigating how to modify my Suzo Happ coin mechs to accept tokens (currently they accept quarters only) and was able to do it today and wanted to share some info.

All the sites I have come across for Happ coin mechs seem to refer to filing down some plastic to get the .984 tokens to be accepted.

When I was looking at my mechs today, I realized the area where I was to file was metal, not plastic, and it was a bracket being held on by a tiny screw that had some locktite (or something to that effect) applied to it. I had to swing back the piece that is hinged on the mech to get to this screw.

By backing out that screw and sliding the bracket back, I was able to my my mechs take .984 tokens and $.25 quarters.

Forgive me if this is not new info....but I had not seen it posted anywhere else in my couple days of searching.

Below are some pics of what I am talking about:

My coin mech:



The screw in question..just by my finger tip:



I unscrewed it and slid the bracket back until it would let my token pass (this is a shot of where it is now):



Coins and .984 tokens now work 100%:



Hope this helps someone in the future if they are reading this post and looking for help!

Jason

[EightBySix]

Could someone post the dimensions of the tokens - I'm considering a DIY coin mech and want it to accept the tokens too.

Thanks

[DennisInMN]

The BYOAC tokens are .984", as shown on http://www.arcadereplay.com, they seem to be about the same thickness as a quarter...I have some tokens at work. 

[Kman-Sweden]

Here's my coin mech adjustments. Originally for Swedish 10 Krona coins.

[scept1c]

has anyone got coin mech modification for 50 jpy?

[Donkbaca]

FYI, if anyone has a Asahi Seiko coin mech, all you have to do is move the screw at the top to the back (away from the coin slot) to allow the token to pass, that's it.  The tokens drop straight through no problem.

[Superully]

i've been trying to convert this coin controls mech to accept tokens - unfortunately it's a little bit different from the ones described in another thread. have a look ...



i can remove the "moveable" parts on the left and bend the metal piece as described earlier, but the token simply drops through on the left then. how can i change it so that the coin "moves" to the right where the magnet is and then drops down ?

[TheShanMan]

For quite a while now I've been modding all my mechs by creating a ramp to divert coins away from the reject chute and through the accept chute. I use a hot glue gun to do it. Easy peazy.

[Superully]

For quite a while now I've been modding all my mechs by creating a ramp to divert coins away from the reject chute and through the accept chute. I use a hot glue gun to do it. Easy peazy.

that's what i've been thinking as well: somehow the token has to go from the left to the right! are you simply "squeezing" in hot glue and let it dry? are you removing any other parts from the coin mech?

[TheShanMan]

I leave the cradle but remove the arm (it still has to get past that initial entry point of course), but you could remove both if you wanted I'm sure. Sometimes it's a little bit tricky on the mechs that don't come apart to get the tip of the gun in there, but it's always been doable.

[Superully]

and how does your "ramp" look like? could you post a picture of it, please?

[TheShanMan]

All it is is a straight line of glue long enough to cover the reject chute and with enough of an angle to prevent a coin from getting stuck there, maybe around 15 degrees. You can always pull the glue back out and try again if you don't get it quite right, so give it a try!

[WindDrake]

Here's how I did my coinmechs.







Now my mechs take anything from pennies to big huge tokens.

[Arcadenut]

There is another alternative to buying those mechs and going through the trouble of modifying them.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111317.0

[stan2323]

+2 more for a total of 4 for the TheNasty's mod.

+2 more for TheNasty's mod.  I just did this to a couple and it works great.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=19200.msg153173#msg153173

I think the mod post should be added to this thread so it will be in the sticky.

Stan

[migraineman]

Picked up an older cabinet with metal coin mechs.  I wanted the kiddies to "feed the beast" rather than be on free-play ... it's part of the experience, after all.

I removed the lower cover, then the thin spacer (on a second mech, this spacer is more substantial, but the method still works.)  From a scrap of 1/8" aluminum, I made a ramp that redirects tokens to the "acceptable" outfeed slot.  Dimensions aren't critical - just clear the little floppy tab between the two outfeeds.  Put everything back together, using a 6-32x1/2 screw to secure the ramp in place.  Works like a charm, and is completely reversible should you decide to revert to normal operation.  On one mech, I did have to reduce the thickness of the ramp with a file, but that was really minor.  Slightly thinner aluminum (2.5mm or 0.093") would probably work, too.

Note - this only works with quarter-sized tokens.  Pennies, nickels and dimes follow a different reject path, and will continue to be rejected.  Also, make sure your tokens will fit into the infeed slot - some of my mechs trap the tokens right at the ingress point, and they'll be rejected when you hit the reject button.  However, if the tokens drop all the way through, this is a mostly-painless method of getting them to work.

[BigCurtis]

If you have $8 to spare, and don't want to mod any coin mechs (has to effect resale, yeah?), give one of these a go...


https://www.arcadeplastics.com/any-coin-v2

Even though I just shared this in another thread, want to be clear that I'm not involved, just think they're great.