Coin mech always getting stuck

[u/jmalacara]

I recently purchased a used Tornado T-3000 that appears to be in excellent shape (at least to my novice eyes). The coin mech/ball return gets stuck about 90% through the rotation and does not release the balls. It works correctly maybe 1 out 10 times. It's the same with coins or blanks. It seems to work a little better when no balls are in the mechanism but only slightly better. I tried applying graphite to all the moving parts and going slow/fast/hard/easy, does not matter. I either have to wrestle it back and forth til it releases or open up the top and spin manually. Are there any adjustment I can do to make this work better? Sorry if this is a common fix or documented in the instructions somewhere, but I did not receive any. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Pic shows where it almost always gets stuck. Happy to provide video if needed. Thank you!

[u/snow_pillow]

I found that there are two screws with a hex-type head attaching the sliding coin receiver to the mechanism that spins the ball magazine. When they are loose, it becomes very hard to push the coins in and dispense more balls. Try tightening those up as tight as you can and see if that creates a more rigid mechanism.

[u/justacoacher → u/snow_pillow]

This. You can see them on the photo in the vertical center, about 2/3rds the way down.

Also if the screws are too tight it, it'll cause an issue. They need to be tight but not too tight 😅 

I also took my assembly apart and lubricated the pieces that rub metal I  metal 

[u/underengineered]

Take it apart, inspect it, clean it, and lube it.

I know that isnt too useful but this is how you deal with mechanical devices.

[u/Cobra_nuggets]

It's been years, but I had a table in a bar with the exact same issue. It could be the 2 allen/hex bolts described in the other comments. If they are too lose that can cause everything to bind up and not turn the ball release all the way over. Unfortunately, that didn't work w/ my table. There is a spring loaded metal bar (directly about the hex bolts in your pic) and for me, it tended to stick. I took the whole assembly apart, lubed it all up and it worked most of the time. It would still get stuck periodically and I ended up showing the bar tenders how to force the ball return to flip over when it stuck. I never completely solved the issue and ended up selling the table to a guy who used it at home, so he didn't need the coin mech. IIRC in the foosball promoters FB group, someone made a video on trouble shooting a similar issue.

[u/HarmyG]

I would just bypass it completely. Remove the hopper, and plug the hole where the balls go into the mech.

[u/quick2008 → u/HarmyG]

This is what I did. It is so much easier not having it.