Evans Races Restoration
During disassembly, I made the comment that disassembly was the reverse of assembly. It is nicer to look at clean parts when taking a game apart for restoration. So you should start at the bottom of the page and work towards the top if you are disassembling the game.
The bare board is sanded and repainted. Here the wiring harness and some of the relays that are connected to the wiring are installed first.
The center casting is bolted to the board. It contains the pump and the connecting rods as well as the row of seven horse actuators. The far casting is also bolted to the board and currently it contains only the pneumatic break that stops all horses from advancing after the first horse has reached the finish line. The near casting which is part of the frame has not been bolted on and is just leaning on the board.
The frame is now complete, with the near casting bolted to the board and the cross pieces that tie the side pieces together are attached. The reset bar and the shuttle are also attached.
The crank shaft and sprocket are added and the connecting rods to the pump bellows are connected to the crankshaft.
The piano roll mechanism is added to the board. Above it the finish line mechanism, which detects which horse reaches the end first and actuates the vacuum break, is also added..
The chain driving the piano roll mechanism and the clutch are added. The reversing bellows, the black bellows and levers connected to the gears that drive the piano roll are also added. The valve box, sitting on the ornate casting which supports the bellows is also added.
This is a typical layout of an assembly, in this case, the motor. I take similar pictures during disassembly, with all parts in sequence and nuts and bolts pointing to the point of attachment. The motor has been bead blasted and the case repainted. New cork gaskets have been cut and new brushes sourced.
The motor is attached to the shock mounts and a new ladder chain cut to the correct length.
The tubing is run from the tracker bar, hidden partially by the paper roll, to the breaker box and then to the valve box. I worried I might not remember how to route the tubing, but it was actually very easy, with each tube having a logical connection.
The horses, the ratchet bar that moves the horse, and the Musser Brake are added. The brass chain that drives the reset shuttle and piano roll mechanism is also added. Note the vacuum gauge partially visible on the right, which is used to test the pump and for leaks. The motor has been removed in order to stop some oil leaks.
The assembly of the horse mechanism is complete. The game will actually operate continuously, racing the horse to the finish line and resetting them to the start. The piano roll will sense the end and will reverse direction. The winning horse will cause the race to stop and will cause the reset bar to reset all the horses to the start line. See the video on the front page to see it operate. There is a coin conveyer belt and a button assembly still to be installed.