Elmco First Class Slushie Machine, Gearbox repair

Elmco First Class Transmission Repair

So this machine is something of a pain in the ass. I decided to pick up a slushie machine before MAGStock, to bring to MAGStock. I didn’t jump on the more expensive Bunn unit and opted for a Elmco unit which was located farther away. The journey to get the machine from Ocean City Maryland was fun, and I visited 5 arcades on the trip. But, so far the repair of the machine hasn’t been the easiest.

For the first post, I’ll talk about the gearbox. In a slushie machine if the slush mix is just water it will freeze. There has to be a certain content of sugar. And when cleaning the machine, or running it it seems like it’s a pretty big risk of it happening. The machine has a optical sensor on the input side of the gearbox so the controller can monitor the RPMs of the motor, but there isn’t an encoder on the output side. If there was one on the output side it could cut power to the motor and save it from expensive damage. But no, they put it on the wrong side.

When I bought the machine, it appears that one side had a cracked gear. The gears are easy to buy, and to be honest removing the gearbox wasn’t too bad! It was made to be serviced, probably because they break easily. So for $60 you can get a new plastic gear and be set!

This fully fixed the machine, until slush mix dripped down into one of the controllers and it died. So that repair is in another post (I’ve cleaned it up but haven’t tested it yet.) Slushie machine ownership is not to be taken lightly, setup and tear down time (and mess) is pretty strong. The bowls sit on a seal and the seal doesn’t always seal so well until everything is cold.

Galaga Arcade Cabinet Bottom Panel Repair

This one is checked off and done, although the pictures don’t show it. This was quite a PITA, honestly.

The place I live had a condensate drain clog. The floor has a drain, but the concrete was graded in a manner that everything flows away from the drain. This led to it getting in carpet, then soaking up into my Galaga cabinet which is made of particle board.

I used Milwax wood hardner and soaked it into the wood really good to stiffen it. I removed the broken soaked bottom panel and replaced it with a cut piece of plywood. It took two tries to get the cuts right, as I measured it wrong on one of the attempts (oops.) Also, given that the wood was flared out a bunch it didn’t go so easily. I added some L brackets, and also lots of pieces of wood glued to the side and bottom. I ordered new leveler feet, although I’m still nervous about having the cabinet sit on the replacement board 24×7. I might just leave it and the new game that is joining it sitting on 2x4s in case the carpet gets soaked again.

Pictures are of the initial removal, I didn’t seem to have any of the replacement in the album and it’s back on it’s feet.

Galaga Cabinet Repair