Thinking about trying my hand at making my own bowler. But I am curious how normal ball bowlers connect lane exstensions? Anybody have any good pictures of how that is done?

On my Bally ABC, there's a steel strip behind the carriage bolts. In addition, there are four bolts that hold the "boxed" sections together.
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To add to the previous poster, there are also 4 bolts that pull the two sections together before you can put those heavy straps in. I am very familiar with it as I had to make a completely new end plate for mine.

I just finished getting my ABC Bowling Lanes up and running this past weekend. I started a post over at arcade-museum as it seemed like that site had more initial info. Nowhere near the same traffic as on this site.

I am looking for a few misc parts if any of the other owners out there could help. Initially, really only need one of the internal reel lights for the score unit. The ~6" long two piece with the socket in the middle.

If anyone is interested (and it's allowed), here's a link to the post showing what I did.

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=402655

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Your machine is lacking one of the score reel light sockets? If so, I have some..

Yes, I have one missing and one pretty badly damaged. I'd be happy with one for now. PM me what you'd like for one shipped to Ohio and ill make it happen.
Thanks!

Added over 7 years ago: EDIT:

Thanks Mopar! Just received the extra units so I can finish up the lighting! It's much appreciated.

United Cascade Shuffle Alley..
After getting the bugs/quirks out of this alley, it made the move to the basement. I had to open up a closet floor in the garage to get a clear shot thru the basement door.

Steve

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^^ Dedication right there.

The things we do.

That's awesome
I finally moved my shufflebowler in the basement just now
Been in the garage waiting for me to be motivated

Have you repaired the closet floor yet or did you get working on the alley first?

We all already know the answer to that!

While I'm in this thread, just got this working nicely. Made me appreciate how much better the quality is on chicago coin games vs united. Plays fantastic though. Going to turn out nice with a coat of paint and some new trim.

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Anyone have any plastic bowling pins (from a parts game) for a '58 Bally All Star Deluxe Bowler?

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So the ball lift motor on my united Aztec just isn't powerful enough to lift the balls and constantly jams up. Has any retrofitted a more powerful motor into one of these things?

I carefully superglued mine together, then coated them with fiberglass and resin. Sanded/painted/striped. Good as new.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I haven't bought the game yet so I don't know what I'll find as far as broken pins yet.

Did the original motor ever work? If it did, you need to find the problem and fix it. Probably grease somewhere that has gathered dirt and gummed up over time. Putting a larger motor in is likely to just tear things up down the line.

Agree! A lot of times these motors just need a good cleaning and some oil to them and they will work!

That Ball lift is chain drivin', right. Doesn't that motor have a couple
ports to put drops of "3 in 1" oil in?

My Bally has a motor that's probably very similar:
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I had to repair a cross pin on mine, and that took care of the problem.

Yes, that is similar with the two oil ports, and I'm thinking an Aztec also
has those ports. The late 50s and early 60s Uniteds had that type of motor,
and I was thinking the mid 60s would have also..
A couple drops in each port could make a huge difference with a very dry
motor..

I took it apart completely, replaced the grease and put it back together and it still operated crappy. I then ordered a new coil pack from st louis ball bowlers and it worked a little better. Had a party on Sat for my kid and the motor basically locked up halfway thru the day and now it just doesn't have enough torque to lift the balls. I don't believe it's a wiring problem. I guess I could test the voltage and see if it's low. I have the momentary switch bypassed right now.

That looks like the exact same motor except the drive sprocket is different.

The Ball lift runs with a chain and sprocket, not a conveyor belt, right?
Does the bottom gear that the chain rides on turn nice and freely?
If all that checks, you probably don't have a Vari-AC, but with the machine
off, can you cautiously hot wire the motor with 110V?

One possibility is hardened grease in the gearbox that affects the bearings and gear engagement. I have seen several synchronous and shaded pole motors that can fail if the rotor bearings don't move very smoothly. The shaded pole motors use bronze "Oilite" bushings that, once they dry out, lose their ability to roll smoothly.

Always use synthetic oil and synthetic grease on the moving parts. You might consider opening up the motors' gearbox and taking a look inside.

Also, check the lift belt. Here's what the Bally uses:
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And the roller guide (if you have this) that runs vertically along the ball return channel. Check to see that all of the rollers are free-wheeling:
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It uses a chain and sprocket system. I'll take it apart again this weekend and make sure everything adjusted correctly. St louis ball bowler has a new motor on the site but I rather not spend 300 bucks since I've already got significant time and money invested in this thing if I can just fix or retrofit what's already there.

I found an inexpensive gear motor that should work with a bit of modification. Cost is about $50, runs on 12v DC (you would need an external power supply) and might fit in your application. If you find it's a bad gearbox/motor, might be an option.
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Yes, and while it's out of the machine, with elegator clips perhaps you can
directly apply 110V to it and see if it still has power while giving the shaft
a little squeeze. Your motor has a fan blade on the tail, right? Does the shaft
move easily when manually turning the fan? Also the lower sprocket at the base
that the chain rides on. You'll want to make certain that it is turning freely.
I take them apart on Big Ball and Small Ball bowlers and clean with carbuator
choke cleaner and repack with wheel bearing grease which holds up well..
Out of many dozens, if the Ball Lift motor's windings were okay, I never had a
motor (both Bally and United) that was bad once oiled, but did have the lower
roller worn where I had to put in a sleeve (1/2" hard copper pipe) to take
out the slack..

I would also like to stress to try and seriously clean it out first. I will usually do so without actually disassembling the motor itself.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaster-Penetrating-Catalyst-12oz/16816083

This stuff can work miracles. I have used it in the past many times to free up motors and get them working again. It is non conductive so you can completely soak the motor in it and hand turn it at first to get the unit freed up and than continue to spray and turn it to get an debris, rust, grease, etc. out of the inner workings of it.

If the unit is really bad, I will start with PB Blaster first and let soak and than use something more aggressive to get any caked on grease out of the inside. I'll use brake cleaner, contact cleaner or carb cleaner to do so. Once it's cleaned out really well, I'll respray it with PB blaster to help lubricate it up.

Old motors need to be seriously damaged before they can't be rescued.

I have literally filled seized old convertible top motors up 100% with the stuff and than turn the motor on and let it run to break things free inside. Than let it drain and repeat. I have not had one time that it failed to resurrect a seized one. (if they didn't physically looked fried). For these motors, I would probably NOT run them filled as they are 120v not the 24v ones I have done that with. Not saying it wouldn't work, just that I have not personally tried it.

Good luck! And post pics!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I was pretty frustrated with this one but am now inspired again.

So I purchased a new coil pack for the motor because I had taken it apart and cleaned all of the old grease out of it using carb cleaner as suggested above. The only thing I hadn't cleaned and greased was the shaft that has the actual drive sprocket on it as I wasn't sure how to get it off at the time. I installed a plug on the end of the motor after cleaning it all up and plugged it in and it just didn't have enough torque to start with no load on it at all. It would just sit and buzz.

The old coil pack looked pretty cooked at one of the engineers at my work said that sometimes those motors get some internal shorts caused by the insulation being cooked off the windings which will lead to low starting torque. I ended up just pulling the trigger on the new coil pack. When it came and I installed it the motor sprung to life with what I thought was good torque. It seemed to solve my problem but every now and then the motor would lock up if there were all three balls on the lift chain at the same time. It would only do it now and again.

We had a party for my son and the bowler was played a lot and ended up locking up and then it pretty much lost all torque. The motor would still start the chain but the moment a ball was on the lift it would just lock up. I figured maybe the motor shaft I hadn't cleaned might be the issue.

Well I decided to look up the motor number in the parts manual and noticed the sprocket was held on with a roll pin. Next, I removed the sprocket and was able to clean up the drive shaft and lubricate it. I figured it might be causing the binding. I did this and reinstalled the motor and it didn't improve the torque at all.

I haven't tried just testing the torque with the motor outside of the game as I had before, but I will try that next to see if maybe the bottom sprocket on the chain is binding.

wasn't sure where to post these photos. can anybody help with some info. on this slot machine? i am thinking of buying, looks complete mechanically but seems to be missing the header/display from the back of the game.

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1941 Mills Three Bells.

Here's a pic of the header in this link. Very cool but essentially decorative.

https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=12944

Love the old Mills slots! Quality construction.

This one is pushing the envelope for 'mechanical', but it is coin operated. Gravity comes into play here, as a nickel inserted up top will fall inside and catch a groove causing the wheel to turn. The coin falls into the viewing window so the operator knows it's not a slug. The operator then clears the coin and it drops into the glass coin box at the bottom. Came with the original key that opens a little wooden back door.

1895 'Fairest Wheel' cigar store trade stimulator, made in Decatur IL.

Your nickel always gets you one cigar, but you can win up to three!

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*The collector I bought it from passed on some words of wisdom to me. We were discussing (trying to justify) the expense of having all these silly toys. He said, "Spend all your money having fun. And you'll know you did it right when you're happy to the last day, and then the funeral home check bounces".

SOLD!

I think I've seen one or two of these here. 1947 Exhibit's Automatic Mauser Pistol Shooting Gallery. Just four targets and it's pretty simple in play, but the aesthetics were so cool and the size was right. I did a close up pic of a target, but when playing the mirrors make it seem like a distant shot. 50 ft (?). The pistol has a kick to it, too. Paul Reno restored this beauty.

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Thanks to threads like this my 'tastes' have gone a lot of different ways! But I mostly blame Alexf and Dirtflipper for steering me down these roads

Paul farmed out the painting for this (auto paint place), but I don't think he regularly paints cabinets. ?? Well I guess I know he doesn't, but maybe he has other connections.

Nice Genco!! Very cool. I wouldn't of even had room for that one, I needed smaller. I'm packed to the gills but this one just fit. I still like to be able to move games in/out, remove pf glass etc
Good luck with your game.

Just stumbled onto this thread. Very cool peanut dispenser!

If anyone is looking for a project CC Foreign Legion
ebay.com link: itm
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Another small Trade Stimulator. A 1941 Groetchen 'Klix', made out of Chicago Illinois. A nickel per play and you'd win up to 20x your bet (paid by the operator). First two windows initially are shown, then you press the buttons to reveal one to two more cards for a high 21 hand. This one has a twist where the dealers hand is revealed last, and you'll want to beat 17-21. The viewing window on the side shows the last coin played (no slugs!), and would be cleared after a win by the operator. This one also gives a gumball after every play (gumball supply seen in little window).

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Okay, not vintage...but they didn't make robot vacuums 50-100 years ago! A must for cleaning under/around all the games and legs etc. I can set it to clean at a specific time, and always walk into a clean room. Prices are coming way down on these. Highly recommended, by me

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Question, how hard is it to find a wooden pin hood for a ball bowler? Are they hard to reproduce? There is one for sale that i was looking at, but the hood is missing. (Chicago coin bowling league)

I just picked up this 1959 ABT Frantz (US Marshal) gun game. I was told that the yellow version is very hard to come by and was mostly made in the blue version. Fun game!

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This also followed me home. A 1947 Exhibit Supply Mauser Pistol Shooting Gallery (Dale Gun).
No Dave ... LOL ... I am not trying to copy you, it's just a very simple and really fun gun game, which does not take up a lot of space. This is also from my good friend Paul Reno.

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Thank you sir, I will take the measurements for you tomorrow. Yes it is really clean and the bottom side panels are usually missing.

I forgot to mention that I am getting a much nicer backglass for my 1947 Dale Gun Game.