My Rowe BC-25 change machine

TheShanMan

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Got 2 of these babies on my way down to CA for my CAX/family trip. One went back with FullThrottle to Fonty21 in WA and one of course went back with me. Got them in Red Bluff, CA (near Redding, northern CA) right off of I-5 so it wasn't even out of the way. They were $75 apiece.

The guy told me he bought them a dozen or so years ago from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which makes them even more cool because I went there a bunch of times in the 80's. There is even evidence of that: corrosion from the salt in the air! And then to add to the coolness - we actually went to the Boardwalk last Thursday (and yes, we played arcade games - I'll be posting on the classics that were there soon). The change machines they have there now look virtually identical, except they're blue instead of brown.

Apparently it started out in life as a BC-20 but got upgraded to a BC-25 around '85-ish as best as I can tell. I have no idea what is different between a 20 and a 25 (anyone know?).

For being manufactured at the end of '79/beginning of '80 it seems to be in decent enough shape. It will need some cleaning up for sure but I'm certain I'll be happy with the end result. The one thing that bugs me most is a big dent in the "shelf" part where the coins get dropped - if you look closely you can see it to the left of the big coin tray. I'm wondering if I can take that piece off and hammer it back into shape from the back side.

My biggest problem though is I have .984 tokens, and being a hair larger than a quarter, they are jamming the hoppers. I'd hate to convert to smaller tokens but I'll do what I gotta do (see my help/repair thread here if you know a way to make it work with .984 tokens).

And my plan is to make the reject button do a test vend (dispense tokens), although I obviously don't want it to simultaneously engage the bill reject motor so I'll have to decide if I want to disconnect the reject wire and hook it to another button that I mount internally maybe. If anyone has a clever idea there, let me know.

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Nice pickup. I am pretty sure your issue with the tokens is just an adjustment. I would run it by Ken Layton. I am thinking it is a similar adjustment to a coin mech that will accept both $.25 & .984 tokens.
 
They was selling change machines (no clue what brand) at the arcade auction for $5 for 2 machines. No one wanted them.
 
I don't have space in here for the BC 20/25 but the more I think about it the more I want to track down one of the skinny brown Rowe machines and find somewhere in my place to put it. That one looks great, brings back a lot of memories. Anyone know the model number of the skinny ones? Like the brown version of the current model BC 100. Something tells me the skinnier ones may run for more money because they've got a smaller footprint.
 
I love my BC-25.

.984 tokens you need the larger hoppers. No adjustment :mad:. I did luck out and 1 of my 3 will take the larger tokens without jamming. If it means anything the one hopper that does work has green slides instead of black. I'm tempted to use a dremel tool and try to get the tracks to be able to take the .984's on one of the other hoppers. You can convert the small hoppers over to the larger but you have to buy some parts that I have no idea where you would find them.
http://www.eastcoastamusements.com/images/uploads/brunopdf/Rowe_Bill_Changer_Hoppers.pdf

This has some great information on the hoppers.

As far as getting your machine on free vend I tapped into the $1 coin sensor and put a switch in where the out of service light was.

Here are some videos of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rw-CXudHxQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCgKW-osa2U
 
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Nice find - keep us in the loop if you come up with a workaround for the tokens. I also use .984 tokens in my games, and wanted to get one of the skinny ones for my gameroom.
 
There is no work around for the hoppers. I'm not sure if you can buy hoppers for the larger token size, but I would guess that you can. That big empty space on the bottom of the change machine is usually where ops put a few cinder blocks to keep the machine from tipping.

The thinner Rowe (or one of them) is a BC150, I dumped my BC25's and picked up this one:
http://www.tokensonly.com/2008/09/misc/building-a-stand-for-my-rowe-bc150-changer/
Still trying to figure out a way to add a "credit" button, but putting the switch in the light seems like a good idea.
 
I'm not so sure there's a workaround with a dremel in this case. You'd probably have to know how the hoppers work to understand why.

But on a positive note, gene at vintagearcade has had a number of large coin hoppers on ebay: BIN $60. Too much for me, but I got Fonty21 and 1badv6 to band together with me, and gene was willing to accept $25 each given that we were ordering 4 total! Hard to complain about getting over 50% off! :D I'm getting 2.
 
I'm not so sure there's a workaround with a dremel in this case. You'd probably have to know how the hoppers work to understand why.

But on a positive note, gene at vintagearcade has had a number of large coin hoppers on ebay: BIN $60. Too much for me, but I got Fonty21 and 1badv6 to band together with me, and gene was willing to accept $25 each given that we were ordering 4 total! Hard to complain about getting over 50% off! :D I'm getting 2.

Actually I do think a dremel will work as the tokens fit fine in the chain it is just the rails that the tokens track on are just a little too tight and the tokens get stuck. I think you just need to relieve the inside corners a little and it should work.
 
OK, I stand corrected. I thought the pins were causing the hangup but now that you say that, of course it's the combination of the pins and the rails.
 
When I get my backup hopper I'll tear apart on of the standard quarter hoppers and try to modify it. I'll youtube the video if I have any success. I'll also see if I can move the pins on the chain as well.
 
The dremel tool is almost as all powerful as duct tape...

Thanks guys - hopefully I can pick one up soon and try as well, or confirm a mod to make these work.
 
Look forward to that, Scott! I don't know that I'll ever have enough tokens to warrant modding one of my small coin hoppers to give me a 3rd, but it'll be nice to know if I have that option rather than having to find and buy a large coin hopper.
 
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