Hi all,

Well I am at my wits end... I have a pretty damn mint Theatre of Magic which was absolutely fine until yesterday when I went to remove the glass. The lockdown lever moves fine but it seems like it's not engaging anything and the lockdown bar is stuck solid.

It's definitely not gunk or rust this is a very tidy machine. The lockdown mechanism has always been smooth as anything and the glass was taken off about 2 weeks ago with no issues. I think maybe something on the guide lever has just become detached (is there some sort of plate above that releases the lockdown bar)?

Has any one ever had an issue like this? I don't think breaking the glass will help, and the lockdown bar has some sweet powdercoat so I don't want to ruin it if possible... help!

Hmmm i took a look inside - but not much i can see, the whole assembly appears to move just fine, but there's the lever arm which disappears up through the cabinet to the lockdown bar and I assume that's the bit which is faulty. I'll see if I can get a good video, but it looks like the problem is well hidden.

I guess i can try the suggestion of giving the lever a good yank to see if it can somehow catch the lockdown...

Yeah I thought that at first but it's definitely not stuck - it's not unlocking at all.

Well, I've now looked at this thing every which way. The lever is definitely not catching anything in the locking plate, so the lever moves freely, but the bar just isn't being released. Since I don't have another Bally/Williams at the moment I cant get a good look at a working mechanism, and at this point I am thinking I may have to drill a hole from the underside of the lockdown mechanism (from inside the cabinet) so perhaps I can attempt to manually slide the plate with a screwdriver or something. There's actually no existing hole I can see from the underside - the lever has its own opening, but it fits into an exact slot and I can't shove anything else in there. Will this work...? Asking for opinions here if anyone can see a working Bally/Williams mechanism and offer advice.

What a weird problem to have...

Cheers!

Ah - thank you @aeneas! So that whole assembly that the lever is attached to is supposed to slide back, and those inwardly bent tabs are the bits holding the lockdown bar in place...?

That's awesome aeneas - exactly what I needed. So, after getting that help figuring out the mechanism (and that there's no hidden plate above the lever release), it turns out the lockdown bar had literally "sunk in" too far and the lockdown bar tabs had simply got stuck. It's almost as if the lockdown bar itself had been hit from above down into the cabinet... Hmmm perhaps I need to have a word with my kids...

Anyway a few (moderately firm) taps with a hammer upwards on the 2 locking tabs sticking out underneath the bar while the lever was pulled and hey presto it popped off. Thanks for the help everyone - what a great forum.