Rock Ola 473

I have been working with the other problems and also found a few more. For the credit registration it turned out that the coin switches was connected in the wrong way. Two switches had to be closed at the same time to register a credit, that’s why I sometimes managed to get a credit while fiddling with the switches. Once they were properly connected it worked as it should. Also the coin acceptor had problems to accept the coins and this was due to old oil and grease. I have cleaned the mech and now it accepts the coin most of the time. I need to take it apart and clean it again to see if I can get it to work better.

The selector problem was a bit tricky. The key press sequence worked as it should, the lights for the first and second number lighted up and the third key was locked in the pressed position by the lock coil, but the write in motor didn’t start to spin. The cause of this problem was that the slider of the 0 button had derailed and didn’t make contact as it should.

 

The ground has to pass through the 0 switch and through the rest of the buttons in numeric order to reach the pressed one. Then the write in relay is energized starting the write in motor. Once the proper selection is reached the hold solenoid is turned off and the ground is disconnected from the write in relay due to the opening of the latch switch and the write in motor is stopped. So in my case the ground path, marked in red in the schematics, wasn’t properly closed due to the derailed 0 switch. Once the slider was put in place the selection system worked as it should.

 

The switch board had been damaged earlier and was repaired by glue and a stick of wood. I think that’s the cause for the derailed slider, the board isn’t as rigid as it was from the beginning. I did my best to secure the board to the mechanism and cross my fingers.

 

I also cleaned the locking mechanism while having it at the workbench. It was very greasy and the solenoid made a loud buzzing noise while energized. I degreased all parts and then run them through the glass bead blaster. Once assembled and lubricated where it should be lubricated, not all over it, it worked without any annoying buzz from the solenoid.

 

The window above the selector mechanism had some residue from a label on it. I cleaned it with alcohol and polished with Novus but then I realized that there must be something missing here. I’m quite sure this is the inner glass and that there should be also an outer glass and the picture entered should be sandwiched between the two. I made a new outer glass of Lexan, now I just have to figure out what picture to put in there. 

 

 

I also found two new problems while working on the machine. The second digit of the record display does display a number 1 instead of number 7 and the amplifier is quiet at the right channel. But that will be for another day.