What does it mean to refurbish a slot?
Slot machines take a lot of abuse
As everyone knows, slot machines sit in casinos for many years, powered on 24/7/365 and must endure people banging on the buttons, spilling drinks on them, and then there is all of the cigarette smoke. Casinos wipe down the outside of machines to make them look nice, but only slot-techs are allowed on the inside and they NEVER clean the machines. Their job is to get the machine working and making money again as fast as possible, cleaning is just not part of that process. Casinos don’t care how clean a machine is on the inside, just that it’s working and making $$.
De-Smoke, Smell, and clean
Casinos clean the outsides of machines so they look nice. However, they NEVER clean the insides. A slot-tech’s job is to get a non-working machine back in operation as soon as possible, not worry about how clean or dirty the inside is, so these machines never get cleaned while in operation. When they come to us, they are fully of dirt, parts, extra wires from the casino, grime, smoke, and gunk. So we start by tearing the machine down to the bones and cleaning everything. We have a 3-step cleaning process that uses 3 different cleaning products with time between each step, for all metal parts that. It starts out looking like this.
Disassemble and clean more
We never know what gunk and crud we’ll find in machines, so we have to tear them apart, sometimes even disassembling button decks to get in and really clean and see what has to be replaced or repaired after the full cleaning.
Sanding and Painting
Slot Machines are made of metal, sometimes sanding and painting is required to make the inside look nice again.
Remove all of the Casino junk
Casinos have all kinds of extra wiring and left over junk from use in a casino operation. This stuff just collects dirt and dust and in the home space, is not needed nor is it usable. So we remove all of this extra wire and other player-tracking stuff so your machine is nice and clean and has the best airflow and least dust/dirt collecting space.
Get it Clean
After removing the extra wire and casino junk, we start our 3-stage cleaning process. We go through bushels of rags (wash and re-use!) cleaning out these games that are full of gunk, dirt, and crud. Once we’re done, they start looking presentable on the inside.
LED Lighting Upgrade
After the cleaning process is complete, then we start replacing the internal lighting. All lighting is upgraded to LEDs. Not only does this use less electric and provide a brighter, crisper experience, but by switching to LED lighting, color bleaching caused by internal florescent lights stops. Button lights are also all replaced with LEDs as well.
Chips and updates
Manufactures often have many versions of chips along with numerous revisions. One of the first things we do is update everything to the most recent or best-known versions of these chips or OS cards so your machine runs as bug & problem free as possible.
Testing and troubleshooting
After the cleaning and LED conversion, then we start the machine up and start testing and working through the problems the machine came to us with. Casinos don’t sell off working machines, they sell off machines that don’t work or have issues. So we start the testing and troubleshooting phase. Sometimes machines come with bad MPUs (Main Processing units), sometimes wiring issues, sometimes power supply issues, sometimes reel motors are bad, sometimes they have the wrong chips, sometimes the sound is bad, sometimes the buttons don’t work… all of these issues are resolved during this phase of the refurbishment. This phase takes the longest it requires hundreds of spins and parts and component replacements. Usually this phase takes 1-3 weeks to complete.
Take your machine home
The Last phase of our refurbishment is taking your machine home. This process involves meeting us at our location, receiving your 30-60 minute training and orientation, providing you with printed manuals, giving you your “jackpot key”, and helping you load the machine.
During the training and orientation, we show you how to remove key components to your machine, how to maintain it, keep it clean, and the do’s and don’ts of owning a slot machine.
We provide lifetime tech support to the original buyer of the machine and a 90-day warranty. Please see the Warranty Page for more details on what is covered.
