Quarters sometimes sticking on coin ramp

MaximRecoil

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 11, 2003
Messages
3,105
Reaction score
86
Location
Maine
This is in a Missile Command with its stock coin door. I've already taken the ramps off and cleaned them with soap and water, and that helped some, but sometimes the quarter just sits on the ramp instead of rolling down into the coin mech (the coin mechs work perfectly, assuming the quarter actually gets to them).

Is there any solution to this? It seems like a design flaw. I remember it happening sometimes when I was a kid in the arcades too; and you'd have to hit the coin door a few times to make the quarter roll down into the mech, and risk getting yelled at by whoever was in charge.
 
That was a big problem with those early Coinco (Coin Acceptors, Inc) doors. The slope was not great enough for a consistant roll down and quarters would indeed "sit there".

When Coinco redesigned the door to use the entry buttons where the quarter went in _beside_ the button, they increased the slope of the entry trough.

The only thing I found to help out on the old style entry was to either wire the inside surfaces with a DRY silicone lubricant or polish those surfaces with BRASSO.

The BRASSO seemed to work the best.
 
That was a big problem with those early Coinco (Coin Acceptors, Inc) doors. The slope was not great enough for a consistant roll down and quarters would indeed "sit there".

When Coinco redesigned the door to use the entry buttons where the quarter went in _beside_ the button, they increased the slope of the entry trough.

The only thing I found to help out on the old style entry was to either wire the inside surfaces with a DRY silicone lubricant or polish those surfaces with BRASSO.

The BRASSO seemed to work the best.

Ah, so it is a design flaw. I noticed that the floors of the troughs are somewhat rough/pitted from corrosion, so that is probably making matters worse. It would be hard to get in there with sandpaper or whatever to smooth it out, unless the entry troughs can be separated into two halves without damaging anything. It seems the two halves are held together in the back by two tabs which were inserted into slots and then bent.

The quarters don't get stuck on the trough most of the time, but when they do it is annoying.
 
Last edited:
The coin entry trough does indeed unbolt and seperate into halves. I use a brass bristled "detail" brush from Harbor Freight or a Dollar Store to clean off and smooth out the bottom track of the trough. It really helps.

Back in the day when these games were still new and on location, lazy operators simply cranked the game front levelers higher to tilt the cabinet back towards the wall more. This gave a little bit more pitch to the coin entry trough.
 
A friend had one years ago and he waxed the top of the slide with car wax. That reduced the friction so the coins didn't stick.

ken
 
Back
Top Bottom