Help with antique Digger / Claw machine

reddogrob

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Hi. I have this digger that I'm restoring but I have a few questions. I can't figure out who made it or what it is called but it looks pretty close to an Exhibit Supply Merchantman I think. The biggest question I have right now is about the wiring of this cannon plug. I think there is a coin meter missing that would plug into it but there must also be some simple circuitry inside that controlled a coin lockout coil and maybe some other items that I don't know about. Can anyone shed some light on the pinout or schematics for this missing component? Thanks in advance for any help.
 

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Hi. I have this digger that I'm restoring but I have a few questions. I can't figure out who made it or what it is called but it looks pretty close to an Exhibit Supply Merchantman I think. The biggest question I have right now is about the wiring of this cannon plug. I think there is a coin meter missing that would plug into it but there must also be some simple circuitry inside that controlled a coin lockout coil and maybe some other items that I don't know about. Can anyone shed some light on the pinout or schematics for this missing component? Thanks in advance for any help.
I have two videos on digger cranes, neither may help but you may be able to figure something out with them:

Worst case scenario, it probably just connected to a simple circuit with a relay or two, and you could probably figure out a way to make it work yourself. Would love to see pics of the whole machine, it looks pretty unique!
 
Ok. I'll look at these and get back to you. I saw a photo of another old crane connected to what looked like a metal enclosure with a coin meter showing in a window. I'm worried that I'll need whatever is in that box to make this work. Thanks a lot!
 
Ok. I'll look at these and get back to you. I saw a photo of another old crane connected to what looked like a metal enclosure with a coin meter showing in a window. I'm worried that I'll need whatever is in that box to make this work. Thanks a lot!
I ended up finding what looks the same model as your machine online. The guts are all on the second level and the bottom looks to just be a coin counter. Most importantly, the mechanism looks exactly like the one in this video that I did, so this should help you at least get the machine working:
 

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Those videos were great. Good tip on replacing the fluorescent lamps with LED too! I was worried about energizing a ballast from the 40's. In fact, I'm going to make all of the wiring more bulletproof before energizing this at all. I'm hopeful that the coin counter box shown in that photo isn't needed but I can't tell what else would be controlling the lockout coil. Hopefully the motor will run since it doesn't exactly look original. Another question I had was about the sawtooth triangular piece. Mine just has a simple triangle with no teeth. Think that will work or do I need to fabricate a replacement? Thanks again for your help.
 

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Those videos were great. Good tip on replacing the fluorescent lamps with LED too! I was worried about energizing a ballast from the 40's. In fact, I'm going to make all of the wiring more bulletproof before energizing this at all. I'm hopeful that the coin counter box shown in that photo isn't needed but I can't tell what else would be controlling the lockout coil. Hopefully the motor will run since it doesn't exactly look original. Another question I had was about the sawtooth triangular piece. Mine just has a simple triangle with no teeth. Think that will work or do I need to fabricate a replacement? Thanks again for your help.
Thank you! If you have any other questions I missed, feel free to reach out, since my machine is almost exactly the same as yours, mechanically.

Worst case scenario, you could easily work around the lockout coil by tying into the wiring somewhere- you can use the circuit diagram I made to try to find the best place.

Looks like someone sawed off the sawteeth? It probably won't work too well without them since it needs those to grip the boom and hold it in place. Could probably just cut some new teeth onto that triangle if you had to.

Also, that machine looks great! So many of them have had the front brutalized to add modern coin mechs and whatnot- that's a really restorable peice!
 
I did my best to trace all the wiring in this cabinet today and I made up this "wiring diagram." Any thoughts on what I'd need to connect to the other side of that plug to get this thing working? I might [hopefully] just need to jumper some wires. I love to see what it looks like inside that missing coin meter box.
 

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I did my best to trace all the wiring in this cabinet today and I made up this "wiring diagram." Any thoughts on what I'd need to connect to the other side of that plug to get this thing working? I might [hopefully] just need to jumper some wires. I love to see what it looks like inside that missing coin meter box.
I will see if I can modify your drawing later, but for now, try to make it work like the one I have attached. At the very least, I think you'll need to add a relay.
 

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