Is It Possible to Alter Coin Mechs?

[Boingo]

I have a coin door with coin mechs that I purchased from the U.S. (from eBay) two years ago.  At the time I assumed that a coin mech set up for U.S. quarters would also accept Canadian quarters, because both coins are nearly identical in size, weight, and composition.  This turned out not to be the case.  The coin mechs did not allow  Canadian quarters through.  (I tested the mechs without power.  I do not know whether or not coin mechs require a power connection to function or not.  Please advise if possible.)

Also, I am considering buying tokens for use in my machines, so I can give tokens to visiting kids, which will be used in the machines, instead of quarters, which may disappear forever.

So I am wondering if it is possible to alter coin mechs so they can accept different coins or tokens.  Does anyone know how to do this, or know of any articles on the net revealing techniques for doing this without damaging the mechs? 

The technique does not need to be specific to quarters or tokens.  I will be perfectly happy to have coin mechs that accept pennies, slugs, or washers as well. 

[CheffoJeffo]

To use Canadian quarters, you need to pull the magnets out of the mechs  -- I do this all the time.

What kind of mechs do you have ?

[maddags]

If your wanting to convert them to tokkens this might help.

located in the sticky
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=22251.0

[protokatie]

The technique does not need to be specific to quarters or tokens.  I will be perfectly happy to have coin mechs that accept pennies, slugs, or washers as well.

If you don't care about what round object is put through the coindoor, then remove the mech from the back of the door, and jerry rig the switch right behind the coinslot so that anything that goes through the slot will hit the switch. The mech is only used to validate that a proper coin is going through, and routes the coin past the switch if it is proper. All you need is the coinslot and the switch.