minedelta
3 of a Kind
Hi all, Looking to create a one stop shop for everything Deckmate 1 related. The last few months since I joined PCF has led me to somehow buy a Broken Deckmate off of eBay before anything else and fixing it.
Deckmate 1 was created.....
Better yet here is the wiki if you are interested
To sum it all up Deckmate is now owned and operated by a company called Light and Wonder. They also do a lot of the popular casino slot machines running the digital games in Vegas now. Which means they strictly only deal with casino and companies, who have contracts with them. I have tried to get through their customer service lines several times and I am always turned away.
Parts for the DM1
Luckily I was able to find a company who would set me up with a parts order as long as I had the parts #. The company is called Patriot Gaming who has a contract with L&W to purchase from them. There is a gentleman by the name of Jim who was very helpful in almost getting an order through for me but I was able to source a part through other means before the quote would finish. If you have no other means of getting a part this is the best method in doing so.
Where to buy a DM1?
As far as purchasing a Deckmate if it was me and I was starting over knowing what/who I know now I would purchase one from this eBay user gk0187 who was slow to respond sometimes but still came through for me with parts (200-500 dollars PPFF). His number is in one of the pictures of his eBay ad please tell him Mike from Texas sent you as he is offering deckmate 1s in great shape for $4500 outside of eBay and as low as $3500-$4000 for a deckmate with a little more wear on it but still runs fine. Remember buying through PPFF you are at your own risk. I'm sure if you just want that extra level of comfort you can do regular paypal and cover the fee cost, make sure you save all of you communications as proof of the agreements. There might be a pending sale soon from a PCF member and if that goes through I will update you of the outcome. (The one pictured at the top is one of his for sale)
The cost of a used deckmate is a steep price to pay and to have that uncertain or unknown possibility you might lose money on a machine that could be broken or have errors is what I am trying to curb here regardless of where you purchase from, having an understanding of the machine inside and out should give you the confidence that on a rare unicorn chance you find an inoperable one on Facebook market place selling for cheap to take the leap.
Service manual
I found this using a quick google search and it led me to here https://casinosuppliesandservices.com/user-guides
The deckmate specific one is Here Absolutely free!
If you would like to purchase a copy visit Rye Park and pay $48 for the same PDF. I wonder if he charges shipping via email?
True or False?
As a deckmate owner now I see why it's worth so much which I will run through some of the components as we move along this guide. This is an industrial card shuffler that is a beast of a machine. There is this negative connotation that these things always break down at the casinos but unless my home games start picking up a 40 hour/week game I don't foresee any major breakdowns aside from a once in a while maintenance of wiping the rollers with alcohol wipes.
How does the deckmate work?
The deckmate works by assigning a random seed number then randomly generating a number sequence giving a random 1-52 for each individual card assembling a deck together by this method. Which if you really think about it, the machine does not shuffle, it places cards in a random order until all 52 cards are together.
Another common misconception is the deckmate 1 can sort a deck for cheating. This is entirely untrue as it does not have a camera inside to read the cards.
Can a deckmate 1 be hacked?
Yes, but it would be an overhaul on parts and you have to add a camera inside to read the cards. I have nothing to hide and would be willing to open my deckmate to any of my players if asked.
PCF Success (got lucky) stories
If anyone purchases a DM1 from anywhere regardless of where you got it please post or message about it. I am interested in all things DM1.
Aside from My own success story
A member here named @Buge purchased a broken one for $600 dollars from a really sketchy guy. He said he poured in about 1k in parts and got it working. One of the parts was a sensor worth $90 from the manufacture but Rye Park charged $300. Still all in all $1600 for a deckmate is a heck of a deal!
Another PCF member @LowerBama1714 got one from a member who found an eBay listing for $4k OBO and was able to walk away with it for $3800. Come to find out, it had an error that would occur with the door opening and closing randomly before a shuffle. After we put our heads together we were able fix it by changing out a 7 dollar harness wire.
I find these stories are near and far from reality of finding a damage or broken one that requires simple repairs to get it up and running. If you have a basic understanding of the insides of a computer these things are fun to work on.
Starting from the top
The Deckmate logo is actually etched into the metal top. I always thought it was a sticker going off of pictures I saw online but you can run your fingers over it and fill the grooves. Some deckmates depending on who is reconditioning the machine will be painted over as this is a way mask the wear but add a clean even look to it. This sort of add a layer over the logo but you still may have that etched feel. This is all cosmetic and have no affect on the machine overall.
The VFD yes, I said that correctly it's not an LCD. VFD stands for Vacuum Fluorescent Display. You might of seen these in your old car stereos, microwaves, or a point of sale register back in the day. They are not as popular as they used to be but the advantages of this display is the brightness and ability to see the display clearly from a lot of angles. The company that makes this particular one is called Noritake. They are a Japanese company that have multiple locations across the globe. Finding a replacement was nearly impossible as it's been decades since they had a line production of this model. I tried getting a programmer from Pakistan to read the display port cable using a PI4 and running scripts but no luck. Then I tried finding different displays that could be a plug and play options but that did not work. At the same time I finally made progress with emails to a manager from Noritake in Japanese (thanks google). It took a few weeks but he did eventually get back to me and found the part at their UK Noritake. It was a lot of work to find documentations/spec guide of the screen as it was listed nowhere but he was able to provide it, as well as informing me to use a third party vendor to order the part from. I elected to use Mouser which is where I found other parts for the DM1. There was a 2 month wait time to get it in stock but eventually it shipped and I got a brand new VFD. Lucky for you I did all the leg work if you need one, they have it in stock now.
VFDs can fade eventually dim very low then burn out.
Model number of the VFD and Link
GU144X16D-K610A2
The next items should be the Red and Green Push buttons next to the VFD. I found that the green button just feels less tactile then the red which I am guessing it's because it's the single button used to operate the machine and so for the last 20 years it's been pushed a few times (total shot in the dark). These are made from a company called EAO here is the manufacture part number and link Green Switch 84-8511.5640 If you are looking for the red switch or the whole housing then use this link to the EAO 84 Halo CS
Poker Door is this fine contraption that opens and closes when the cards are presented to you. This is one of my favorite features and gets me excited every time when that door pops opens and cards come out and then it automatically closes. Well in order to function this way there are a few important things to help make it close automatically. That is the torsion springs that are left and right specific don't ask me for dimensions as I'm still trying to figure this out. I found some cheap ones on amazon that work for now but will need to replace them soon. There is also a bushing which I can't remember if I got it from Grainger or somewhere but here is the Bushing dimension, 1/8 ID, 1/4 OD, 1/4 LG It's a real pain to line the springs up with the door but you really shouldn't ever have to take the top off when doing regular maintenance or getting into the machine.
Thanks @Buge for the pictures.
Inside the door lays a magnet that trips our first sensor on the DM1. This sensor is called a Hall Switch (open and closes the circuit based on the proximity of a magnetic pull) which tells the machine when it's open or closed. There is also a Green/Red LED that flashed the corresponding color depending on if the sensor is open or closed(mine is missing that in the picture). My switch was damaged and this was the same for @Buge who warns to be super careful when removing the lid. I was able to rig a wire to trick the machine when the door opened and close when I was trying to source this part. This is a shufflemaster specific part so the only means of getting this is through Jim who quoted me $90 dollars. I tried aftermarket parts but was unsuccessful with this.
Rolling right along to the inside we can see a bunch of rollers. This might be a good way to describe what rollers should look like.
In this first picture you can see my rollers from my DM1 (remanufactured in 2018) seem to have a bright white color.
The next picture is from google and seem to have a yellowish tint which either could be a different manufactured roller or just aged.
The third picture is also from google but shows the rollers as a cherry red tint to them indicating time for roller change. I think this could be either the paint of the red and black cards rubbing and absorbing into the rollers after so many shuffles. I don't think I will ever see this in my lifetime of my machine but something to take notice when buying a used DM1.
There is a total of 14 rollers
The purple arrow shows the rear black rollers that really just move freely and I believe are made of aluminum so they never wear down.
The blue arrow points to hump like piece that is actually used adjust the downward tension onto the cards thickness so that only one card passes through the rollers at a time.
The Green arrow is kind of a piece I don't fully understand it just has long strands of string on the end that either brush the cards or maybe anti static.
Removing the blue and green arrowed parts you expose all of the rollers like in my picture of my DM1.
The blue arrowed part looks like this below which I may refer to as hump roller.
The hump roller is actually suppose to be a aluminum brake roller but for some reason mine was not. The roller I have here is still a brake roller just the regular rubber or silicone? Referring back to my picture the line of 3 1inch rollers is incorrect. There should be a aluminum brake roller there which I did eventually replace.
A brake roller is just like how it sounds. In one direction it moves freely and then the opposite direction it brakes or stops. So the orientation is very important as it took me a few tries to get it right. Initially I through I wanted all the rollers to move inwards towards the elevator freely but brake if it tried to go backwards. This was wrong.
The blue hump piece roller should be oriented to roll backwards freely into the card hopper and brake forwards towards the elevator. This is how the DM1 isn't fed more than one card at a time.
The Red Arrow points to a set of rollers that have holes in them that lock the rollers onto the bar. Which is where the motor moves a belt that drives the bar and the roller forwards and backwards. 1 1inch roller and 2 1/4 inch roller. All 7 "1/4inch" rollers are all holed rollers and locked to the bars. Not sure on the measurements of the smaller rollers that was just a guess.
The Orange arrow are a set of guide bars that serve a few purposes. They hold the bars for all the rollers and help cards not fall in-between the rollers. The orientation has been known to confused a lot of the rookie technicians who work for L&W which in my case it was upside down. Another reason why I think a casino retired my machine.
Initially this is how it sat in the machine with this hump end downwards under the green/blue area. However this is completely wrong and needs to be faced upwards. This solved most of my jams in the machine in the beginning when I first got it working.
The rollers often get changed out for different models and some rollers become obsolete. I think the best approach if you need a whole set is to buy a roller kit if you have the money. They cost as much as a Shuffle Tech shuffler. I was quoted 700ish by Jim but it's a whole roller kit including bearings as well.
Wow I just noticed something when adding this part number it says "160,000 CYC" I guess we know now how long these rollers are suppose to last.
Roller should last about 6500 shuffles before a cleaning is needed. Use isopropylol to clean off the rollers. The machine has a cleaning mode which will run the rollers in either directions continuously so you can wipe the rollers by just holding what ever rag or cloth against the rollers. Refer to the manual for how to activate the cleaning mode.
KIT,ROLLER/BEARING,DM,10010
1 - 104652,(160000 CYC)
Continued Part 2
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