A&A's 50 cent mech

[lurtsman]

I recall hearing that A&A made a 50 cent mech that fit the Northwestern. For anyone that has used it, how do you like it? Is it high in quality, hard to jam, resistant to abuse? Anyone who can compare that to the 50 cent mech Northwestern sells? I'm planning to put an order for product in with A&A soon and wanted to look into having the mech's added to my order. (Simpler than setting up an account with Northwestern, and A&A's business is focused on economical distribution)

[will.vend]

you might be talking about the mech that t bird is having problems with check his post.

[sherlock]

I have the 50cent mech from A&A and use it on a NW 80.

It is a quality mech.

I have had NO issues with it and I believe it's lower cost than the one from NW itself.

Read the thread lurts pointed to above...but, I think T-Bird's issue might be the exception and not the rule.

I've never heard of any problems with that mech outside of T-Birds thread.

[lurtsman]

Does the same mech fit the NW super 60, and the super 80? All my super 80s are out on location so I can not test this. My super 80s run 75 cent mechs.My issue is with upgrading my super 60s to sell mania on commission. (25 cents just doesn't work out well enough)

[lurtsman]

bump

[havending]

There is nothing wrong with A&A parts.  When you order just tell your rep what machine you want it to go on and they will send you what you need.  They also sell all the other parts that you may need for your NW machines capsul wheels, doors , lids etc.

Makes sence to order the parts from A&A rather then paying a seperate freight charge from NW.  Dont for get to order things like pricing stickers to keep handy.

[T BIRD]

There is nothing wrong with A&A parts.  When you order just tell your rep what machine you want it to go on and they will send you what you need.  They also sell all the other parts that you may need for your NW machines capsul wheels, doors , lids etc.

Makes sence to order the parts from A&A rather then paying a seperate freight charge from NW.  Dont for get to order things like pricing stickers to keep handy.

I believe everyone but it is amazing how I am having such issues with this mech.  I was supposed to be hearing back from a tech of some kind about the problem.  The problem happens when the 2 quarters leave thew mech on the bottom of it.  It jams there on me too many times.

[Big Mike]

Does the same mech fit the NW super 60, and the super 80? All my super 80s are out on location so I can not test this. My super 80s run 75 cent mechs.My issue is with upgrading my super 60s to sell mania on commission. (25 cents just doesn't work out well enough)

No they are different.

Mike

[lurtsman]

I will plan to call A&A this week to put in for some nerds GBs, a few toys, and get a price check (hopefully buy) the 50 cent mechs to match my machines.

If I get their mechs, I will update the forum with my opinion on the piece.

[lurtsman]

Updating this thread, since I expect many people will be doing searches for 50 cent mech.

I had opted to go with Northwestern upgrade kits, they ran me about 14 bucks per. I called A&A this morning. Ricky said they do not sell upgrade kits for NW super 60s, only for the super 80. They do sell coin mechs for the super 60. They charge 14.04. I prefer this option for buying from them--shipping will cost a little more because of the weight of entire mechs vs upgrade kits, but I save a significant amount of time--AND I have all the 25 cent mechs afterwards. If upgrades become reasonably priced (IE A&A gets in on it and drives the price down with high supply) I can upgrade them, or I can sell them off as great condition mechs for super 60s. I will probably be ordering a huge batch of these soon. Until I know how well they work I will be using the mechs I upgraded and have tested extensively in the locations where I do not want to risk a mech getting stuck--no matter how low the possibility.

[will.vend]

Updating this thread, since I expect many people will be doing searches for 50 cent mech.

I had opted to go with Northwestern upgrade kits, they ran me about 14 bucks per. I called A&A this morning. Ricky said they do not sell upgrade kits for NW super 60s, only for the super 80. They do sell coin mechs for the super 60. They charge 14.04. I prefer this option for buying from them--shipping will cost a little more because of the weight of entire mechs vs upgrade kits, but I save a significant amount of time--AND I have all the 25 cent mechs afterwards. If upgrades become reasonably priced (IE A&A gets in on it and drives the price down with high supply) I can upgrade them, or I can sell them off as great condition mechs for super 60s. I will probably be ordering a huge batch of these soon. Until I know how well they work I will be using the mechs I upgraded and have tested extensively in the locations where I do not want to risk a mech getting stuck--no matter how low the possibility.

thanks for the update lurts, I have several nw's that I was gonna leave at 25 cents but based on your post I can save around 4.00 per mech buying po95 50 cent mechs vs po89 50 cent mechs. the majority of mine are po89's and I have spent a butt load in the past few months upgrading at about 18.00 per mech. thanks again and here is a good example of vendiscuss working for us.

[lurtsman]

These 50 cent mechs are hell in a mech for super 60s. They do not fit in nicely, and require a great deal of twisting and pushing to have any chance at getting them into place. The locking mechanism is screwed in slightly too tight, so even if you do get it in you need to have adjusted the screw first or it won't slide into place.  Are you looking at upgrading any more of your machines using these mechs will.vend?

If not, what is A&As policy on returns? They told me these fit a super60, and that is a bit of a stretch. As of this morning, I'm wishing I had just dealt with doing upgrade kits. It only takes me 6 minutes to do an upgrade kit. It is taking far more time than that trying to get a pm95 mech into a super 60. If they don't fix this, I'm done with them as a supplier.

[will.vend]

lurts at first inspection Im not too impressed either, I havent had time to fit them into the body but will test them later today, I noticed the cog is very loose and cant easily be adjusted, Im worried how it will stay aligned with the wheel, some of my older .25 mechs were this way too, so maybe it's designed like that, I need to confirm this but Im pretty sure they dont have a drop thru feature either. how much are the upgrade kits? I have been dissapointed with aa's machine parts every since they switched vendors about 2 yrs back, parts from pre 2 years dont always line up with current parts. anyway, I will let you know later this evening.

andy

[lurtsman]

It isn't drop through. Of the 50 mechs, 1 was broken when it arrived -- the handle is actually broken off. I don't know what force hit that thing, but I sure wouldn't expect a northwestern coin mech to fall apart. I can confirm for you that the coin mech is not eating foreign coins. However my NorthWestern coin mechs from the super 60s I just purchased won't do it either--perhaps they are older mechs? My newer mechs that have been modified to 50 cents won't eat them either though--who knows why the upgrade would cause that. I need to do more research, but can't seem to find time. The schedule has gone beyond oppressive. I'll be talking to A&A as soon as I get a chance--but only God knows when that will be.

[lurtsman]

This has been on my mind all day. Still thinking about it. Any advice on how I might come to a win/win with A&A is appreciated. I'm struggling to find the path that works for both of us.

[antoniocinisi]

are the new side by side 50 cent mechs for the 60 out yet lurst?that probably is a better option,this has been discused before and I have seen it.some kids dont figure out it takes 2 quarters  front and back with the regular 50 cent 60 mech.

[Profits]

It hasn't been released yet.  I talked to Northwestern about it on Monday Aug. 10th, and they told me it's "still in testing".  I think she said it would be at least a month until they start shipping them.

[will.vend]

This has been on my mind all day. Still thinking about it. Any advice on how I might come to a win/win with A&A is appreciated. I'm struggling to find the path that works for both of us.

unfortunately lurts you need them more than they need you, of course we can all run our businesses without using aa but it would bother me more to know I dont have them as an option. all bulk vendors are necessary evils to a degree, I have a good rapport with my salesman and so far he has always taken care of any problems. That's why when we were all discussing in a thread about whether you liked dealing with a rep or doing online orders, with out question I prefer the one on one interaction,  I cant imagine the screw ups with just online interaction esp. with aa. so my advice is to have a good relationship with your salesman (which im sure you do) and deal with problems one at a time.

now about the pn95 50 cent mech...I didnt have any problem fitting it into the base like you mentioned you did, I have though struggled with this style mech .25 or .50 in the past on both nw and pn95, I guess because you cant just slide it down onto the base it gets tricky.

Right now my biggest concern is it doesnt have a  drop thru feature, that being said I will not use these on racks, imagine you had 3 or 4 of these on a rack and one by one they get jammed with a penny, nickel or dime. 2 months go by and you return to find this out, I would be pissed. Some of my nw .25 cent mechs have a drop thru so I hope the new side by side has this feature. Depending on the price I will either use the nw 50 cent mech or just keep all my nw super 60’s at a quarter. I mainly have the oak and po89’s in use and I like aa’s 50 cent mech for those. However, these mechs do not fit all bases, I have had to use a dremel and widen the mouth on some oaks I presume. Im guessing all po89 bases have the wider opening.

the stacking of quarters isn’t that big of a concern, Ive mentioned before that on a 75 cent mech you stack 2 quarters on one side and the kids know what to do, I prefer side by side but it’s not an issue with me.

In summation, because it doesn’t have a drop thru feature I will not use these mechs on racks and I will buy the nw side by side if the price is reasonable. With that said I give this mech an unsatisfactory rating.

[will.vend]

It hasn't been released yet.  I talked to Northwestern about it on Monday Aug. 10th, and they told me it's "still in testing".  I think she said it would be at least a month until they start shipping them.

do you know the price and if they have drop thru capabilities?

[Profits]

do you know the price and if they have drop thru capabilities?

I don't know what the price will be.  Since I'm only buying new machines, it will be reasonable to simply pay for the difference between the standard mech and the upgrade... from the initial purchase, instead of as an afterthought.

I can't imagine the new mechs not being drop-through.  They'd simply be crazy not to.

[T BIRD]

This has been on my mind all day. Still thinking about it. Any advice on how I might come to a win/win with A&A is appreciated. I'm struggling to find the path that works for both of us.

I think you need to get used to how to jiggle the mech into place lurts.  It was a prob with me in the beginning.  But I am fine now putting them in place.

[lurtsman]

T-Bird, do you use these on racks? I managed to jam one so quick I can't imagine putting these in my high volume accounts. I risk losing the account if jams are preventing sales. What I really don't understand is why the NorthWesterns I bought recently are not doing drop through. Perhaps they are old enough to not have the feature? How long has drop through been standard on NW. Anyone have a 50 cent mech on a NW that does the drop through? My upgraded mech didn't drop through--but it also didn't let me Jam it.

[lurtsman]

I'll call NW and ask them if the 50 cent for super 60 has drop through and post the answer here if noone beats me to it. It's just hard explaining to them what "drop through" means.

[Hillbilly]

When I last talked to Northwestern the "Drop Thru" feature can be added at no extra charge. It is not standard equipment though. You have to ask for it. A machine ordered without requesting it will not have it.

I asked about orders that came from Sam's and Melanie said to call and let them know you wanted it and they would change the order.

[lurtsman]

Thanks for the info hillbilly. The person at northwestern I had talked to was not near as helpful.  I'm working on installing these A&A mechs. The piece that slides in to lock it in place is 1 full turn too tight. 90%+ of the time I can fix it. The other times the screw strips because they used a cheap soft metal and didn't make a deep enough cut for a screw driver to get a good hold. (I went and found a head that fits it perfectly--but there just isn't enough space to spread out for the force since they don't always lube/fit them properly)  All in all, calling northwestern and getting drop through 50 cent mechs would be worth the difference in price. Over 2 years or so you should get your 6 bucks back from the drop through, and you won't have to deal with lower quality pieces.