There’s one last part we’re going to remove before taking out the main operating fork, and it’s a little hard to see. I’d recommend leaving the adjustment screw in place for now, particularly if your machine was in generally working condition when you started disassembly. Anyway, to remove the timing lever link assembly, remove the cotter pin under the adjustment screw on the left of the part, then swing the part out to get to the other cotter pin pictured below. Optimally, the fingers will release halfway between the stop of the third reel and the point at which the payout slides are released. On later Mills machines (like this one) there is an adjustment screw that allows you to vary the timing of the payout fingers’ release. The timing lever link assembly provides an interface between the timing lever (that we just removed) and the clock assembly. Next up (or more appropriately off) is the timing lever link assembly. It’s held in place by a cotter pin and a spring that is attached to a lever on the clock assembly.
The timing lever’s job is to trigger the vertical payout fingers so that they travel forward and detect any winning combinations on the reels at the end of the mech’s cycle.
The next part of our antique slot machine restoration is the removal of the timing lever, pictured below.
