Arcade Coin Doors! How they work, how to inspect/restore them, and install into your cabinet! Ep#10

Use precaution when working with electricity! It is advised to service any electrical parts/equipment with the power off. While testing be careful to not touch contacts when supplying 12V DC power and shut off power to service your coin door. Electricity can hurt and/or kill you!
In this very special episode, I show you how arcade coin doors work, how to inspect the parts, how to restore them, and how to install them into your custom raspberry pi arcade cabinet.
If you are planning on putting in an arcade coin door into your arcade cabinet, this episode is for you so you can learn some tips/tricks and learn from my mistakes/successes. It is a lot of work but so worth it in the end when you see those red glowing coin returns and the sound of an inserted quarter drop into your build!
I was able to purchase a cheap used coin return and fully inspect it before restoring the finish so it looked brand new in my cabinet. Not only did I learn a lot about these guys, I have a great looking coin door in my arcade cabinet that is 35 years old (super nostalgia!)
Special thanks to Blaster.ca for the used coin door and cheap coin mechanisims and for taking the time out of his day to remove the coin door from a broken down cabinet for me. Cheers dude!
This custom arcade cabinet can be used as a stand up arcade cabinet or the control panel can be removed from the cabinet so you can take it to a friend's house and plop it on their coffee table, hook up a HDMI cable and plug it in and play! It is a portable arcade with everything needed to play inside the control panel.
Have any questions about the build? Please feel free to comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I like to help people....it's my job.
If you would like to keep up with behind the scenes info, pictures, and videos, follow us at / way_of_the_wrench
If you enjoyed the video, learned some cool tech tips, or would like to use my plans, I would appreciate a like and a subscribe so I can be inspired to create more videos and continue to make better content for you guys! Thanks for watching and if you hit the post notification bell, you will know when our next videos are out! I hope that these videos can help someone if they want to create their own arcade cabinet and if you would like to make a similar version as mine, go ahead. I will be posting all designs and plans throughout the build videos and a final video showing build costs and plans.
If you have any ideas for future content, please leave a comment down below!!
The next video will be part 2 of installing all of the goodies like vinyl on the control panel, chrome t molding, buttons, joystick, trackball,etc! If you missed the earlier videos, start here www.youtube.co.... for episode#1.
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Disclaimer: These videos are intended for entertainment and inspiration. Working in a woodshop, metalshop, or autoshop is dangerous without proper safety and experience. Always seek professional advice and training before using any power tools/machinery. If you have any uncertainty before performing any shop procedure, stop and learn a safe method/technique. Do not attempt anything simply because you saw it in one of my videos. Be smart, use common sense, respect your power tools/machines, use safety glasses/guards and be safe.

[@MassyMax]

Bellissimo video! ottima spiegazione! anche molto rilassante!!!

[@wayofthewrench]

Awesome! Glad you enjoyed the video and my teaching style! If you deem me worthy, I'd really appreciate it if you could share out my channel on your social media so I can help more people. Thanks for the watch and welcome to the channel!

[@ArcadeShepherd]

Good detail on the general operation of an arcade coin door. Appreciate the time you put into the vid.

[@wayofthewrench]

Thanks ! Glad you liked the video, lots more where that came from. You should check out my vpin series. Thanks for the watch!

[@DrForbin001]

I'm doing my build thanks to you, I'm a PC guy so it's a PC based unit. I'm so glad you are such a good teacher. I used your basic design and built a 4 player unit with a 43 inch monitor. still buying odds and ends for it and of course artwork is a thing too. Thank you for the inspiration, bro!

[@wayofthewrench]

That's awesome! Glad I could inspire you to make an arcade cabinet! Yeah I would suggest upgrading to a PC and use Bigbox for the front-end/digital marquee. You'll have to send me pics of your cabinet! Thanks for the watch and your support for the channel!

[@johneygd]

It still just amezes me how a coindoor works,it’s just incredible how well tout full it was designed with all those situations in mind😁🤣.

[@wayofthewrench]

Yeah it really is a complex piece of tech even though it's really old. Thanks for the watch!

[@alerey4363]

Holy arcades Batman, I never would have thought those coin mechanisms are built like a tank! 👍

[@wayofthewrench]

Yeah they are pretty solid, I guess if they were too flimsy people would smash through them to get the cash. Thanks for the watch!

[@tubeitmark]

Tank? Yes, but these coin doors are easily hackable if the coin return flap is missing. Been doing it since I was 13 (1970’s).

[@wayofthewrench]

What about the coin blank on a string trick?

[@tubeitmark]

@@wayofthewrench Most games have a razor in the mechanism to cut the string. Doesn’t work.

[@mitchellblack2879]

hey man you inspired me and my dad to make an arcade machine! keep up the good work!

[@wayofthewrench]

Dude that's awesome! This will be an sweet project to do with your Dad! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I would love to see some pics of your cabinet when your done! Do you have an idea of what you want to build? Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it!

[@JamieVegas]

Those microswitches are also timed to prevent stringing. That's why they're set up this way. Games from the 80s until today have tracked coin switch closure by the millisecond to reject non-gravity acceleration that would occur from attempting to dip the coin up and down. Those spring switches also provide a very specific upward force that is about half the weight of the target coin.

[@wayofthewrench]

Yeah I couldn't get the quarters to work on a string when I tried as a kid. I would have been waaaaay better at pinball if I could have. Thanks for the watch!

[@shauncamden4259]

I've been sorting out a Williams Defender and Robotron where the coin doors aren't currently connected. What a really informative video. Really handy when you're trying to debug 40-year-old technology. I'd also add some continuity tests with the multi-meter for wire connections as this serves to prove where the wire goes but that the circuit is sound. Nice dancing by the way!

[@wayofthewrench]

lol...I forgot about the dancing! Glad you liked the video. Yeah continuity tests are good to find where wires go but you have to watch using them alone. A voltage drop test with power flowing is better at checking connections/voltage drops. Thanks for the watch!

[@TheClarencebeeks]

Very informative, thanks for making this!

[@wayofthewrench]

No worries, glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the watch!

[@exploreshare7925]

You‘re best, i ve learned so much from you 🙏🏻 Thx my arcade master 💋

[@wayofthewrench]

Ha! I don't know about master but I sure love these things and I'm more than happy to share my experience and trade secrets with you. Glad you enjoyed the video. Cheers!

[@scotcolt2421]

Thanks so much !

[@wayofthewrench]

You're welcome! You building an arcade cabinet? Cheers!

[@codenamezero7357]

Thanks for the knowledge

[@wayofthewrench]

My pleasure! Hopefully I earned your subscription today. Thanks for the watch!

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

Some coin mechs do not have a coil that will prevent the coin from dropping into the coin bin!

[@wayofthewrench]

You're right! Some don't. Thanks for the watch!

[@cbaxter6527]

You have just installed a coin door and you are fresh out of quarters and misplaced the door key. There are three ways to wire a button switch with a coin door switch: parallel, serial, and hybrid parallel/serial. Each configuration has different switch requirements using SPST and/or SPDT switches. Note: SPST do not need to mark contacts as COM or NO, both are interchangeable. #1 - Parallel: both switches are SPST (two spade contacts), with Gnd and Coin wires individually spliced daisy chains. Since both switches are SPST, connection location is immaterial, but using standard practice; switch 1, wire COM to Gnd & NO to Coin and splice both into switch 2, COM & NO - COM to COM and NO to NO. #2 - Serial: both switches need to be SPDT (three spade contacts), switch layout forms '3-way' similar in a home (1 light - 2 switches). Gnd and Coin wires will exit from opposite ends of switch circuit and use two runners. switch 1, wire COM to Coin, switch 2, wire COM to Gnd, join opposite switches NO to NC and NC to NO for both runners. #3 - Hybrid Parallel/Serial: needs a SPST & SPDT switch with a runner. A choice needs to be made to which Gnd or Coin wire will be a spliced daisy chain. Gnd and Coin can be swapped but since Gnds are normally spiced in a long daisy chain between switches, this will be given as example. Note: wiring will appear opposite to normal. switch 1, wire COM to Coin and NO to Gnd, plus NC to switch 2 COM, switch 2, wire NO to Gnd and COM as the runner (already wired) alternate as switch 2 is SPST. switch 1, wire COM to Coin and NO to Gnd, plus NC to switch 2 NO, switch 2, wire COM to Gnd and NO as the runner (already wired)

[@wayofthewrench]

Funny you just added this. I just made a video ( not out yet) where I add micro switch behind the coin release buttons and wire them up to work with the original coin micro switches so you can have free play or coins needed. Thanks for the info!

[@cbaxter6527]

@@wayofthewrench I originally posted my first draft to a video from Retro Active Arcade of coin doors. Casey was explaining/complaining about how to wire a Coin door switch with a free-play button switch. After watching multiple times and scratching my head, I realized he never indicated where the wire for Coin signal was connected. I am highly confident he knows how to build Arcades but I believe he winged the double switch wiring in his head and was incomplete in detail. I rephrased the paragraphs into something the ordinary person could follow as many are perplexed to some simple wiring. Same as working on a model train railroad and its wiring.

[@wayofthewrench]

Yeah it's not too hard to wire up, just gotta realize that it is basically a in parallel wiring so that both can trigger a coin insert but if the switch is off, only the coin mech micro switch registers a coin. Cheers and thanks for the experienced suggestions for people!

[@jjones7831]

awesome video

[@wayofthewrench]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, the coin door worked and looked great in my cabinet. Pretty awesome for a free coin door pulled from an arcade cabinet going to the dump! Cheers!

[@lander77477]

25:40 that's what she said

[@wayofthewrench]

Lol dirty dirty.....tsk tsk. Lol

[@hehe4life957]

Awesome video :)

[@wayofthewrench]

Thanks! 😀

[@halesposito679]

At 27:52 Is it possible to change the locking orientation without setting to insert the key horizontally to unlock going clockwise? I’d like to insert the key in vertically and turn clockwise to unlock and counterclockwise to lock

[@wayofthewrench]

Yes you can change the leg increment in 90 degrees so you can set it up for your need. Thanks for the watch!

[@DushniyD]

Nice video!!! Like!

[@wayofthewrench]

Thank you very much!

[@SickleSlash]

I know about free play but say if I wanted to use the coin mechanism and didn't have quarters what could I use in it's place?

[@wayofthewrench]

You have to have whatever you use for the coin mechanism. You can get CAN quarters or American quarters or CAN dollars or 2 dollars or tokens for the mechs. You could also add a switch on the back of the coin return so you can add credits that way too. Check out my virtual pinball coin return button video. Thanks for the watch!

[@JamesMorano]

I’m trying to put one of these into a car.

[@wayofthewrench]

Lol....how much is a ride? .25 cents?

[@Megalocade]

Your better off using continuity test for the coin microswitch, a lot of these switches are getting old now and get oxidised inside the switch so the often messure resistance but dont work, just bought a complete coin door for my sf2 cab with change bucket the lot but both switches didnt work, lucky most microswitchs strip a part so you can clean the contacts, did this to mine and now both work perfectly.

[@wayofthewrench]

That's actually why I use a resistance check instead of a continuity check because you can see the actual amount of ohms rather than continuity which can be up to 50 ohms sometimes. In most electric circuits, the higher ohms could cause all kinds of electrical issues such as voltage drops. Nice a sf2 cabinet, soooo many quarters put into that one but man I used to be good at that one. Ryu was ma boi! Hadoken!

[@EvilDrFish]

Great video, really helpful thank you! I just bought a coin door but it is missing the coin mechanisms themselves. The rest of the door looks identical to yours. (electromganets, microswitches, acceptor etc) Do you know what 'terms' I need to look for to find a compatible coin mech please?

[@wayofthewrench]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. That's too bad your coin mech is missing. I got mine from blasters.ca for $10 CAN and he had .25 cent, loonie, and token mechanisms available. He had a bunch so he should still have some if you contact him. If not your next best bet is finding an active arcade and asking if they have spares to buy (usually have extras for when their machines need them). Good luck!

[@EvilDrFish]

@@wayofthewrench thank you for the link! Keep up the good work. I'm building a virtual pinball machine atm and it's an utterly vast project 😂

[@wayofthewrench]

Oh I bet! I really want to make one but I can see it being almost twice as much work as the cabinet. Send me a message when your done, I'd love to see what you created.

[@KRIS__B]

Hello I have a question: Maybe you know what they are called and where you can buy these clips or what it's called: 15:48 :P

[@wayofthewrench]

Ya know, I don't know if you can get these anymore or what they are called. If I needed these for my build, I would just fabricate some out for some steel tubing or flatbar. They are only fancy looking brackets because they can be turned around to clamp different thicknesses of wood. I'd just make em, they would probably want to much for them anyways. Thanks for the watch.

[@matthewovermyer7781]

Can you rig the coin mechanism to accept any size coin in order to use it as a piggy bank?

[@wayofthewrench]

Ya know if you just want it to accept all kinds of coins, you just take out the coin mechanism and don't power up the coin return coils. Then any coin will just go in and never come out. If you're trying to get any coin to trigger an input for an arcade piggy bank, then you might have to get rid of the coin mech and just jimmy up the micro switch wire so anything triggers the input on the way to the coin box. Thanks for the watch!

[@NiGHTSaturn]

I wonder how I could change the size/weight mechanism so my machines accept specific arcade coins. I have a Konami based (that was changed for US quarters) and an Astro City on the way that has 100¥ slots. I found old Sega Arcade coins that looked awesome… I just wonder where i’m going to find the proper mechanisms.

[@wayofthewrench]

I know that there are different coin mechs (pulls out of the coin door) available for running American quarters, Canadian quarters, Loonies, Toonies, and tokens. They all have specific weights on the rotating mechanism to toss the correct coin or prevent incorrect coins from continuing on. The only other adjustment I know about is the screw at the top corner on the side which adjusts how far a magnet is away from the side of the coin ramp which determines how thick a coin can be that will be accepted. So if you are trying to use a specific token, I would see if any local arcades have a coin mech for tokens and see if you can adjust it to just barely allow your token plus a half turn bigger. Good luck and love the idea of having real tokens for a home arcade!

[@knightrdrx]

i don't have a 12 v to light the coin buttons so i could buy usb mini lights?

[@wayofthewrench]

You could but for the cost, you could also buy or get a free 12v power adapter and then you can use the brighter 12v bulbs.

[@alfonsolucerotomasrodrigue6301]

hey there way of the wrench- I have a similar double entry coin door-what do you recommend for a quarter cash box or coin catch tray that sounds like it did in the 80's

[@wayofthewrench]

If you look online they were just heavy gauge sheet metal boxes that had a big enough opening that they would catch both coins from both sides and could be slid out the bottom coin door (just a metal door to access the coin box). I don't have one yet as mine is setup for free play right now and my arcade cabinet doesn't actually have the bottom coin door panel either. I never intended on running my cabinet on quarters so I never even thought about the bottom coin door/coin box. It would actually be a pretty easy addition to add later, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a used one. If you can find a thicker sheet metal container that should work and sound just like it did back in the day. I might make a video on how to make a sheet metal stretch out pattern and the actual coin box later once I have a bottom coin door. Cheers!

[@alfonsolucerotomasrodrigue6301]

@@wayofthewrench ok sounds interesting and yes that would make an awesome video for others in this same situation. Gonna look around the house for any metal piece then. Maybe even a tin or die cast metal bowl would work then. Thanks for the feedback madly appreciated! Cheers and Godspeed! Love the channel very hands on and informative

[@firebird8600]

The arcade I worked at, most of the games had old cut off tin gallon cans. The rectangular ones that you can get paint solvents in. Might be an option if you have room for it.

[@jjones7831]

Just wanted to ask about the electro magnets and from where do they receive the incoming power from

[@wayofthewrench]

The coin door needs a 12V power supply in order to work. When you turn on the power supply, the electromagnet turns on and prevents the coin from auto returning. If the power is off, the electromagnet is off and any coin goes automatically to the coin return so the cabinet doesn't steal quarters if its off.

[@jeroenklaassen4078]

50 to 200 bucks for a new coin door? over here the news ones start from 200 for a simple 1 slot.

[@wayofthewrench]

Well $50 isn't a pretty one and sometimes they are even just a fake decal. I think they look pretty cheap and no where near like the original ones. Honestly just keep your eyes open for a destroyed cabinet and take one out of it. I have a local guy I go to for these and they are cheap, just need repainted and check over. Cheers!

[@waynegram8907]

Way of the Wrench, why does arcade games coin doors use NEGATIVE 6vac and not Positive vac voltage? I'm confused why they used negative voltage and not a positive voltage for the coin door light bulbs

[@wayofthewrench]

The light bulbs and the electromagnets for the coin return use 12V DC (Direct Current). This coin door is wired for the lights and electromagnet in series which gives both of them 6V DC. Not as bright but makes the parts last longer. If you were wondering about how I tested the bulbs, I was using 12 V DC from a power supply and it doesn't matter which way you are supplying the DC voltage across the bulb terminals because at that point it is just a resistance wire and can accept DC voltage either way. If you are supplying the 12v dc to the entire circuit, the polarity matters because of the diode on the electromagnet ( diodes are like one way valves for electricity). The diode is there to prevent the opposite electromagnetic field which would repel the coin return switch instead of attract it (switching the polarity of neg/pos switches the magnetic polarity). An AC voltage would constantly switch the magnetic polarity and so can't be used for the coin return electromagnets. The original arcades would have a transformer inside to change 120V AC to 12 volt DC but I just modified a xbox 360 power supply that I got for free. I hope this answers your question, if not just reply back and I'll try to help.

[@waynegram8907]

@@wayofthewrench There is arcade games coin door lights that use negative -6vac. I'm not sure why they used negative 6 volts instead of using positive 6vac. I'm guessing that negative AC made the AC light bulb have less noise? If there is "NO diode" used on the Coin return switch. When the Coin return switch would turn OFF the opposite electromagnetic field from the Coin Return Switch would cause the Coin Return Switch to Turn ON?

[@wayofthewrench]

No idea about -6V AC. As far as I know, AC is constantly switching from positive to negative voltage on a sine wave and the switching happens a certain amount of times per second ( Hertz). So -6V AC doesn't make sense. The diode is used to prevent voltage from going in one direction but allow it to flow in the other. In the coin doors, it prevents the wrong polarity from going to the electromagnets and creating the wrong magnetic polarity. We only need the one magnetic polarity to pull the metal coin return switch over when power is on and when the power is off to the cabinet, the springs pull the metal switch over redirecting the coin to the coin return. If your coin door doesn't have diodes, then it just means that your polarity needs to be correct. Hope that helps. If you figure out what -6 V AC is, let me know.

[@waynegram8907]

@@wayofthewrenchI Watched your video and the electromagnet that has the diode across it will pull in the metal coin return switch, but I can't see what the "coin return switch" looks like. I see the Electromagnet component but I can't see what the Coin Return Switch looks likes. The other black microswitch should have a name because that microswitch will switch ON when a quarter is dumped into the coin box. If you look at arcade games in the early 80's the coin doors used negative -6vac or negative -6vdc. I'm not sure why they used a negative voltage for the lamps on the coil doors but its common with arcade games in the 80's. The Most common failures with coin mechanism is having the quarter stuck inside the coin mechanism or jammed inside. How do you fix problems like this that are mechanical coin door mechanism problems to get the quarter that is stuck or jammed inside the coin mechanism?

[@wayofthewrench]

So I remembered working on a computer build 10 years ago and I faintly remembered seeing a power supply that had neg voltage DC. When converting the AC voltage sine wave you end up with a positive DC and a negative DC voltage. Nowadays we only use the positive voltage and transform it to 12V or 5V for most electronics. However, in the old days there were electronic parts like op amps, Rs232, and audio parts that needed negative voltages to operate. There were other reasons to use negative DC voltages too. The potential difference between 0 and 12V is 12 Volts but between 12v and -12v is 24 v. So instead of wasting it, you could use it to power more powerful parts. I found a site that helps explain it a bit forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/what-is-12v-or-any-negative-voltage.227573/ Hope that helps, cheers!

[@ahsanusma3539]

What is size

[@wayofthewrench]

of what?