Author Topic: Rowe BC-25 Change Machine (Read 13094 times)

TheShanMan · « **on:** July 20, 2009, 05:11:46 pm »

Bought a Rowe BC-25 change machine on my way to CAX this year. Pretty good condition as far as I'm concerned, but I like making my arcade stuff look as nice as possible so I ought to start a restore thread.

I'll work on how it looks inside and out. And I plan to convert the reject button into a "dispense tokens" button. Otherwise it seems to be fully functional.

One bit of trivia I was happy to learn: This unit was used at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The prior owner bought it from them a dozen or so years ago.

WunderCade · « **Reply #1 on:** July 20, 2009, 05:40:05 pm »

This is a great thread underway, can't wait to see what gets done with it. Nice score.

Mauzy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2009, 09:53:06 pm »

oooh neat! Something different!

smalltownguy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:04:08 pm »

Ahhhh.....yezzzzz....zomething different.....

No, but seriously, how did you happen to get your hands on this? Most times operators use these until they're so badly functioning they end up in the dumpster. This one actually looks salvageable. Downright minty, almost.

Oooh, the potential......

TheShanMan · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:26:59 pm »

The prior owner bought them for a pool hall he had a go at owning for a few years. As for why the Boardwalk sold them I have no idea. We did go to the Boardwalk while we were in the bay area last week though, and now they have blue units that otherwise look identical to these.

Spyridon · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2009, 08:55:16 am »

Nice. I'd love to get one of those someday. Really adds an authentic arcade experience to the home game room.

Dr Zero · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:27:13 pm »

That is such a flashback to days gone by, let me look also I might still have a manual for one of those back at my old house.

There is a fellow near me with 2 units one for tokens the other quarters they are the tall skinny kind vs the one you have if anyone is interested.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #7 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:35:17 pm »

I've got the manual, but thank you anyway!

Anyone have a good suggestion on how to deal with the corrosion on that gold colored plating (I guess you'd call it plating) that can be seen on the hoppers and other parts? I want to clean them up without damaging the print and, if possible, without getting rid of that plating (maybe that's too much to ask).

Beley · « **Reply #8 on:** July 21, 2009, 09:02:38 pm »

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 21, 2009, 01:35:17 pm

...gold colored plating (I guess you'd call it plating) that can be seen on the hoppers and other parts? I want to clean them up without damaging the print and, if possible, without getting rid of that plating (maybe that's too much to ask).

Its called gold cadmium plating i think.

Kevin Mullins · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2009, 03:04:17 am »

Nice one...... usually when you find those they are already robbed of anything that makes it even remotely functional. (circuit board, hoppers, bill acceptor, etc)

Looks like they have the coin slot blocked off, does it have the coin mech in it?
(can't quite tell)

Any idea what all works on it yet ?

TheShanMan · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2009, 10:13:33 am »

Good eye, Kevin. I was wondering if anyone would notice that. In the pic, I have the plate blocking the coin slot partially worked off. I have it totally off now. It does have the mech. I have no reason to think it doesn't work (not that I'll need it, but of course I'll want it working anyway

). Bill acceptor works too. The only thing missing is the alarm

. So I do believe everything works on it. Right now I have a lot of the parts pulled in order to get that plate removed (the PO went to a lot of trouble to get that installed!) and to wire up the reject button to perform a vend. Hopefully I'll get it back together tonight. I'll have to take a few pics of the parts first.

And the only disappointment I've had so far is that the hoppers don't work with .984 tokens - you need the large coin hoppers for that. But there were some on ebay, so I found a couple other guys who wanted one (I wanted 2) and talked the seller into selling them at $25 each - they were listed BIN at $60!

TheShanMan · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2009, 07:18:59 pm »

In the process of figuring out where I need to hook in to make the reject button do a vend, I removed a number of parts, so I figure I might as well post some pics.

I'd love suggestions on how to clean up these parts without eliminating the print that's on them.

Here is the power control center:

Here is the coin dispenser/hopper motor part:

Kevin Mullins · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2009, 01:02:22 am »

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 22, 2009, 10:13:33 am

It does have the mech. I have no reason to think it doesn't work (not that I'll need it, but of course I'll want it working anyway

I'd want it to work as well, even if not really to use.

Is it strictly a quarter mech or is it one of them multi-coin type ? (nickel, dime, quarter)

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 22, 2009, 10:13:33 am

The only thing missing is the alarm

Probably removed due to "annoyance".

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 22, 2009, 10:13:33 am

And the only disappointment I've had so far is that the hoppers don't work with .984 tokens - you need the large coin hoppers for that.

For some reason I thought there was a plate/disc of sorts in those that got changed out for different size tokens. But I may be mistaken, might be thinking of a different kind of hopper.

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 22, 2009, 07:18:59 pm

In the process of figuring out where I need to hook in to make the reject button do a vend

Two places I could think to start looking anyways would be the coin mech or one of the three "test" buttons.
I would check that the "test" buttons actually "vend" first of course.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2009, 01:43:13 am »

Already got the reject button wired this evening.

I haven't examined the mech closely. I know BC-25's are capable of handling different kinds of coins (I think quarter/half dollar/dollar) but whether mine does I'm not sure yet. It is a much larger mech than you see in arcade games though, if that's any indication.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2009, 09:34:15 pm »

Here are some pics of the wiring I did to make the reject button do a test vend. You can see the brown wire that I added on. I didn't want to hack the original wiring, so I just wrapped the wire around the molex end, and put some clear heat shrink tubing over it. It goes through the hole separating the hopper side from the coin/bill validator side and then you can see it plug into the micro switch behind the reject button. The dangling wire is for the reject. I'll probably wire it up to some button I'll mount inside at some point.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #15 on:** July 24, 2009, 09:36:41 pm »

Here's a box of about 2350 tokens I bought locally. Just so happens a guy listed them yesterday, right at a time when I was looking to buy from Noice at klov. Noice has great prices, but this guy set me up even cheaper - $60 for the lot!

WunderCade · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2009, 11:41:00 pm »

Great pics. Want to thank you for the wiring instructions. Very cool.

Kevin Mullins · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2009, 06:10:35 pm »

Quote from: TheShanMan on July 23, 2009, 01:43:13 am

I haven't examined the mech closely. I know BC-25's are capable of handling different kinds of coins (I think quarter/half dollar/dollar) but whether mine does I'm not sure yet. It is a much larger mech than you see in arcade games though, if that's any indication.

According to that label.... it's quarter only.
Are there three or four slots at the bottom of the mech, each having a little plastic flap that triggers individual switches?

Cool that you have the "vend" switch going.

smalltownguy · « **Reply #18 on:** September 30, 2009, 07:32:28 am »

Any news on this machine lately?

TheShanMan · « **Reply #19 on:** September 30, 2009, 11:15:22 am »

Unfortunately no. We're in the process of finalizing the sale of our home and buying our next house so this kind of stuff is low on the list of priorities right now. Not a dead project... just on hold.

smalltownguy · « **Reply #20 on:** November 09, 2011, 10:41:25 am »

Sorry for the dead thread resurrection, but I just picked up one of these machines a few weeks back, and I'll be wiring mine the same way you wired yours. TheShanMan, can you share some tips on how you set up a switch behind that reject button?

Also, did you figure out how to set the machine up for tokens?

Thanks!

TheShanMan · « **Reply #21 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:10:59 am »

Congrats SmallTown! It's definitely one of my favorite items in my collection. Wiring it is dead simple. Inside there are "test vend" buttons and I just wired the coin reject to that. If you need any pics or whatever, let me know.

Setting up for tokens, assuming you're using .984's which are larger than quarters, either requires "large coin" hoppers or requires you to modify the standard hoppers. I can't remember where I read about the mod (klov I think). I came across some "large coin" hoppers on ebay so I went that route. And if you're using tokens that are smaller than a quarter, then you don't have to do anything special to use them. The machine doesn't care what the coins are - it just vends whatever it finds.

Do you have a manual? They show up on ebay fairly regularly.

My machine needed a little work to get consistent vends (it used to either dump too many coins or too few) and to make it better at coin pick up (sometimes you'd have to wait a while for it to replenish, and sometimes it would time out and go into out of order mode). If you find either issue to be the case with yours, I can probably help you a bit on that.

Best online resource for these machines: www.eastcoastamusements.com/coin-op-service/bruno-s-page/ Just bear in mind that it'll be information overload there.

evh347 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 03, 2012, 08:24:12 pm »

Shanman,
I'm going to be purchasing one of these machines in the near future as well and was wondering if you had any clearer pictures of where exactly you connected your ground wire...both to the reject micro switch and down to the $1 test switch. Thanks.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #23 on:** May 03, 2012, 09:09:44 pm »

I think once you get your machine it'll become fairly easy to match up the pics I showed here with your machine. If it's still not obvious once you start digging into it, hit me up, but this was a fairly trivial effort so I bet you'll have no trouble with it.

And congrats on the acquisition. Even with all the games I have my change machine continues to be quite the topic of conversation when people come over, whether fellow collectors or non-arcade geeks.

evh347 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 03, 2012, 09:11:14 pm »

Thanks Shanman.

evh347 · « **Reply #25 on:** May 16, 2012, 10:56:55 am »

Quote from: TheShanMan on May 03, 2012, 09:09:44 pm

I think once you get your machine it'll become fairly easy to match up the pics I showed here with your machine. If it's still not obvious once you start digging into it, hit me up, but this was a fairly trivial effort so I bet you'll have no trouble with it.

And congrats on the acquisition. Even with all the games I have my change machine continues to be quite the topic of conversation when people come over, whether fellow collectors or non-arcade geeks.

Shanman,
I got an email from the owner of the BC25 machine last night and he says it doesn't work. It acts like its jammed but it isn't. The circuit board lights up good.

I'm wondering if the bulbs inside have been damaged when it was moved from his work facility into storage. I've read that those can cause issues and are extremely sensitive to being transported.

Are those bulbs easily replaced? Where do get them?

Here's the listing: http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/bfs/2907725351.html

It has NO manual, one key.

He offered to drop the price from my offer of $100.

I thought about having him check the bulbs, but he admits he doesn't know electrical stuff well. I'm 50 minutes away and not sure what I should do.

Advice?

TheShanMan · « **Reply #26 on:** May 16, 2012, 12:29:43 pm »

Do you care that much if the bill validator works? If you're going to set it on "free play" then I'd take the discount he offered and run. You can always have a look later if you want to see if you can get it working.

Manuals show up for the BC-20/25 fairly regularly on ebay. I think there's an original one there now IIRC as well as a pdf version you can buy there.

These don't show up every day. I know in some cases people look for one for years. If I were you I'd go pick it up now before someone else does.

evh347 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 07, 2014, 12:07:23 am »

Which model of the Rowe "large coin hoppers" work with 984 tokens? I see some on eBay named "high-capacity coin hopper" also labelled to work with 705 to 955 diameter and I'm guessing those aren't big enough?

Specifically what model should I be looking for? Thanks.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #28 on:** January 07, 2014, 01:35:53 am »

I'm pretty sure the high capacity ones just means they hold more coins (a larger bucket, in essence). You want the ones that say something like "large coin hopper". I picked up a couple of those for my .984's. If you need me to verify the exact name, I can do that. It is also possible to modify the standard coin hoppers, but I don't think that would be as ideal as finding large coin hoppers because if I understand what the mod is, it would basically slow down coin delivery a bit. IIRC there are details on doing that mod at the #1 rowe info site - http://www.eastcoastamusements.com/coin-op-service/bruno-s-page/

Good luck!

evh347 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 07, 2014, 05:37:52 am »

ShanMan, if you could look that up for me I'd appreciate it. I'm trying to avoid the mod for exactly that reason. I'd rather locate one (or two) of these "large coin hoppers" but I'd like to know exactly what I'm supposed to be looking for.

evh347 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 07, 2014, 05:32:46 pm »

ShanMan, I finally scored a BC25 (after nearly 2 years of looking) and I wired the reject just like yours. Thanks for the pics it worked just like you said it would.

I got it from a roller skating rink for $190. Everything works and it even has a new bill validator that takes $1 and $5 even the new $5. That alone is worth $300.

1) Where do guys find replacement bulbs for the BC25? The "Temp out of Service" bulb on mine is missing and I'd like to find some worth backup bulbs for the coin sensors in the back.

2) ~~Any good place to download a manual? eBay?~~ Never mind I bought one off EBay.

3) I need a new lock, where is a good place to get one?

4) And if you could answer my question about the specific hopper I need to run 984 tokens I'd really appreciate the info.

Thanks.

TheShanMan · « **Reply #31 on:** January 08, 2014, 01:43:40 am »

Quote from: evh347 on January 07, 2014, 05:32:46 pm

ShanMan, I finally scored a BC25 (after almost a year of looking and wired the reject just like yours. Thanks for the pics it worked just like you said it would.

Pics or it didn't happen! Seriously, I'd love to see some pics of yours, and I'm interested to hear what you do to it. One of these years I'm going to get mine fixed up nicely, but it just hasn't become a big priority yet. One cool thing I'll have to post soon is I semi-reproduced the Rowe "tokens tokens tokens" sign that goes over these. It's a slightly smaller form factor and hangs from my ceiling above the machine, but otherwise it's pretty dead on to the original graphically. As soon as I finish the sign I'll let others reprint it through Rich (rikitiki) at ThisOldGame.

Quote

1) Where do guys find replacement bulbs for the BC25? The "Temp out of Service" bulb on mine is missing and I'd like to find some worth backup bulbs for the coin sensors in the back.

I haven't had to replace mine and have never looked closely at it, but if it's unique to these change machines I would try PWS Laundry. I got a bunch of parts for mine there for the payout mechanisms and the hoppers which made my machine much more reliable.

Quote

3) I need a new lock, where is a good place to get one?

My lock was fine so I don't know, but again, PWS might be a good place to start looking.

Quote

4) And if you could answer my question about the specific hopper I need to run 984 tokens I'd really appreciate the info.

I was a bit off on the name, but here's a pic.

evh347 · « **Reply #32 on:** January 08, 2014, 09:13:27 am »

Ha! My luck just gets better with this thing....I actually have one 6-50276-06 hopper already installed...I wasn't using it until I saw your pic. The standard hopper would do maybe 2-3 vends before finally getting a token jammed and then eventually causing the machine to cycle through each hopper before faulting (my fault light doesn't work because I'm missing a bulb).

The machine was really clean by all standards. When I got to the skating rink, the owner was cleaning it up for me. He had three to sell and two were spoken for already from someone who promised to be there in 4 hours. I shouldn't be surprised it was in good working condition as he was using all three Rowe BC25's (it's a roller skating rink) up until this week. He had three newer Rowe change machines in stock ready to replace them. It's hard enough finding one of these in good condition, let alone working, let alone a descent price, and yet let alone within a reasonable driving distance (20 minutes). It's got some wear on the outside, but I'm not complaining. I like the fact that it looks used.

The owner acted kind of surprised when I told him it was for my "home" game room (and not a laundry mat). His eyebrows kind of went up when I told him I was gonna configure the reject button for free play. I told him it has been a always dream of mine to add one of these "poop-colored" machines to my collection and he smiled. He was gonna give me the blue/white one up until I told him that. I'd assumed all three available machines were brown up to that point. One man's trash becomes another man's treasure.

When I originally phoned the owner about my interest in the machine, he told me the only thing wrong with it was that it had a bad kit in it. The other interested fella would be there in four hours, so he told me if I wanted to see that it works, he would quick (temporarily) swap a kit from one of the working machines into the one he had intended for me. He offered to knock another $50 off the agreed upon $190. I hung up to think about it.

I almost gave up because a new kit is at least $180. I wasn't trying to be too picky about the price, but I had to decide if the hassle was worth it. I called him back when my transportation arrangements came through and he tells me he was mistaken...all three kits work!....under local consultation, he just didn't have the one in question plugged in properly. If my friend with the minivan hadn't called me to say "let's go get it" I would've been out of luck today. Ha!

Anyways.....I swapped the 6-50276-06 hopper with the standard hopper and it vends perfectly every time now. As stupid as it sounds, the BOLD red writing on the outside of the hopper should've been a clue I suppose. In my defense, I didn't bother to try it because I thought I was looking for a hopper that said, "large coin hopper".

I have a hopper (in the middle) that isn't labelled except with tape from from the previous owner. I have no idea what size token that will take.

Is there really a difference between the 6-50276-06 and the 6-50276-07 hoppers?

TheShanMan · « **Reply #33 on:** January 08, 2014, 11:51:47 am »

Cool story! Your machine looks nice. You should be able to determine which hopper it is by looking at the chain and comparing it to your other two hoppers. The spacing of the "fingers" that catch the coins is what determines the size of the coin. I don't know what the difference between my two hoppers is.


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