Scan Coin 303 hates quarters now.

[OurTown]

Our coin counter works fine with dollar coins but not with quarters. It has been progressively getting worse for months but today for some reason it was pretty much done. I carefully looked at it for a long while today and after reading the service manual determined that it might be the out feed belt out of adjustment. At first it was not picking up quarters under the belt very well and some getting stuck under the output pulley. After adding a tad bit of tension to the belt I adjusted the clearance under each end. The output end is great now and they do not get stuck there anymore but I still can't get them to pick up the quarters very well. The belt is about 6 months old but it doesn't seem very sticky as if it might be glazed. I cleaned it with denatured alcohol and that didn't help. Then I thought maybe a tiny bit of belt dressing would make it sticky but it didn't help. Then I removed it and washed it with Goop waterless hand cleaner with pumice and rinsed it off really well. It looked and felt pretty good after that but it did not help the feed issue. Maybe there is something I'm over looking. Anyone ever have this issue? We do not have a spare but I'm going to start looking for one now.

 

[OurTown]

This shows where the quarter gets stuck at the belt pick up area.

 

[OurTown]

This is right where it gets stuck and I lifted the belt out of the way.

 

[Keno]

Do the quarters slide freely if you try to move them with your hands through the coin path? Obviously no power to the machine. I had a used counter I bought that the thickness and size gauges were out of adjustment and would jam quarters constantly. After I got those readjusted, no issues. We currently only count quarters, so no denomination switches for our counter. Is there some crud in the coin path? These are pretty simple machines, but must be kept clean. Dirty quarters from the vacs and wet and dirty quarters from the bay vaults give us issues still.

 

[Keno]

We have gotten an EZ60 scale to weigh and count the quarters now. Big time saver and as accurate as our counter, within 2-4 quarters per $500 bag. But we only take quarters, you would have to separate the quarters and dollar coins first.

 

[OurTown]

Do the quarters slide freely if you try to move them with your hands through the coin path? Obviously no power to the machine. I had a used counter I bought that the thickness and size gauges were out of adjustment and would jam quarters constantly. After I got those readjusted, no issues. We currently only count quarters, so no denomination switches for our counter. Is there some crud in the coin path? These are pretty simple machines, but must be kept clean. Dirty quarters from the vacs and wet and dirty quarters from the bay vaults give us issues still.

I can easily push them through the coin path. The thickness and diameter seem adjusted correctly but I did fiddle with those some but did not help.

 

[OurTown]

View attachment Scan Coin 303.mp4

 

[Keno]

I think you mentioned adjusting the belt tension. Did you set that properly according to the manual? Only reason I ask is because I set it way too tight and it caused me all kinds of jamming problems until I lowered the tension

 

[OurTown]

I think you mentioned adjusting the belt tension. Did you set that properly according to the manual? Only reason I ask is because I set it way too tight and it caused me all kinds of jamming problems until I lowered the tension

The manual does not give a value for tension but I tried it a little more loose and tight with no change.

 

[Keno]

The service manual has a procedure to set the tension with the thinnest coin you count. Are you using the service manual? I have it saved in my files if you need it

 

[OurTown]

The service manual has a procedure to set the tension with the thinnest coin you count. Are you using the service manual? I have it saved in my files if you need it

That is not for the belt tension but for the tension under the pulleys and yes I adjusted both the infeed and outfeed. Today I talked to a guy at Lynde-Ordway for a while and he was puzzled at why it works great on dollars and not quarters. He didn't think it had anything to do with the belt but the coin thickness knob was out of adjustment. I'm convinced it is the lack of stickiness of the belt. He did give me a few things to look for. When I got to the wash today I started to fiddle with it and without any further adjustments it worked great. WTF? I'm betting it knew I was looking to replace it and it just couldn't stand the thought of that.

 

[MEP001]

I second the thickness knob. In your video, the quarters aren't even reaching the belt.

 

[OurTown]

I second the thickness knob. In your video, the quarters aren't even reaching the belt.

The video does not show a low enough angle to show that they are actually touching the belt when it jammed up.