Fixed my coin mech - nickels ok (vendo 81d)

Previously I posted that although my Vendo 81D works fine with dimes - the nickels drop right through to the coin return.  I received some good advice.  It was the slug rejector as most people suspected.

I took it out, sat it on the table, and started dropping nickels (I fist dropped a dime to see where the coins were supposed to go - and it dropped down on the right side).  I started found that it actually did accept about 50% of the nickels (they dropped down and out on the right side) and rejected the other 50% (they dropped out the bottom left side).

I tried to see which parts moved during the drop.  It is impossible to tell exactly what is going on.  However, I could see several rocker arms with tiny counter-weights quickly move and return to their resting point each time I dropped a nickel.  There is a "decision point" where a rocker either sends the nickel to the right, or to the left.  It must use the weight of the nickel as a deciding factor, because it has a little counterweight.  Apparently it was either too sensitive, or dirty.

I sprayed two very small squirts of WD-40 into the entire mechanism, and then I manually worked all of the moving parts back and forth repeatedly.

Viola !!  The nickels began dropping on the right side, as they should.  Problem Solved.

Everybody and his brother have warned me not to use WD-40 on sensitive mechanisms.  But it works, and it has worked for other delicate machine parts for me in the past.  I think the key os to use it very, very sparingly.  I imagine the warm, soapy water trick that I have heard about on this forum would have also worked.

As a side not - here's a section of my gameroom. I thought you guys might find the Payphone an interesting addition.  It was quite a challenge to research, assemlble, and wire it up - but it works perfectly and people get quite a kick out of it.  I keep a cup of quarters next to it.  Makes a great night-lite too !!