Bypass/Disable coin washers and dryers?

[jgilbs]

Does anyone know how to bypass the coin mechanism on a commercial-grade washer and dryer? I can assure you this is LEGAL. I live in a frat house, and for some retarded reason, we have coin washers and dryers. I talked to the treasurer and president and no one knows where the money goes and who collects it, so I have been given the go-ahead to disable the devices so we can all have free laundry. I need a security torx bit(just happens to be the ONE size security torx i dont have ) so I'm going to order that, but once I get that, and I can remove the unit from the dryer, how do I bypass the mechanism so that the machines will run? is it just a simple one-wire splice? or is it more involved? I know I prob won't be able to get into the coin vault w/o a key(if I can, the pres of our house said I can keep it as my "fee" - theres prob AT LEAST $100 in quarters ) so I'm gonna ask the chief at the volly fire dept where i'm a firefighter if I can use the 12" rescue buzzsaw(not likely, but worth a shot) or, failing that, my 4" angle grinder with reinforced cutoff wheel to get into the coin vault. Has anyone ever done this before? Is this easy to do with power tools? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[huskyfan23]

I have no clue, but you can pop the "safe" open and just use coins out of it that way. Still free. On arcade games there are bypass switches that'll completely disable the need to insert coins. Maybe the washer has one of those?

 

[SVO]

so I'm gonna ask the chief at the volly fire dept where i'm a firefighter if I can use the 12" rescue buzzsaw Has anyone ever done this before? Is this easy to do with power tools? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Man I got that 12" gas powered chopsaw on lock down !!

 

[jgilbs]

Man I got that 12" gas powered chopsaw on lock down !!

thats what im talkin bout! although ours are a little bigger - either your blade is worn down or we have 16" Ours takes up the entire guard and it has like teeth instead of a continuous edge.

 

[RiverRat]

I talked to the treasurer and president and no one knows where the money goes and who collects it

Somebody, somewhere is gonna be PO'd

Could you possibly cut the fee the machine collects? Everyone will be happy and you can keep the proceeds.

Do this for a while and you can make some good coin!

 

[jgilbs]

naw - i dont think ppl would be too happy that im charging them to do their laundry. its only like $50, so its not that bad. its just the principal. why should we let someone take our money when they dont do anything to earn it. we pay electricity and water bills, and our money doesnt go towards that, so whats the point?

 

[Charlie's_93EB]

we have a old school cast iron pay phone from the 50's it takes $.05's, and my dad rigged a small leaver in the phone inself with some cardboard.

i would say open it up look inside put a .25 in and watch its path see what it hits or moves and fig it out from there with zip ties, glue, wire?


good luck


take pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[J. Kennedy]

Do you own the building? Whoever does probably has the contract with the coin-op people. They will pass on the cost of damaged machines to you.

For the $$ you kids spend on laundry, you could probably buy a couple of machines yourselves.

 

[Nate1]

Dude, pick the lock on the vault. I bet you with a decent lock picking set and about an hour of your time you'll have no problem getting it open.

 

[jgilbs]

my lock pick set is at home plus that would only let me in once - i want to make it so we have unlimited free use of the machines.

although our "house corp" TECHNICALLY owns the building, the president makes all the day to day decisions and contracts. so if its not approved by the pres, its not approved. period.

 

[EMG7895]

Just keep hitting it with a big hammer 'til it brakes off then figure it out from there.

 

[huskyfan23]

Just keep hitting it with a big hammer 'til it brakes off then figure it out from there.

I hear that. It can't be that hard to bypass. I think there's just a switch or something that gets hit when you feed it money. Take a 4 pound mini-sledge and kill that thing.

 

[Premier]

Yea, its probably like an arcade machine.. if you have ever seen the inside of one. There should be a small switch inside where the coins go, all you need to do is open it up, hit the switch with your finger a few times(depending on how many quarters need to go in) and it should work. Very simple.

 

[jgilbs]

well i dont want to destroy the machine while im at it...

 

[huskyfan23]

You can't destroy the machine. The coin part is just an add-on.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Well all ya gots ta do is snip da wa-er

 

[Charlie's_93EB]

Where the heck is Mac Gyever?

 

[Bashman]

I think Nate had the right idea. You don't even need a good lock pick set, everything you need to know is online, including how to make them even out of bicycle spokes. Once the lockbox is opened, remove it and never put it back in. Your coins will drop into the open area where you can grab them. Our washers and dryers are set up that way.

 

[Crankcase]

If you get it open..As a last resort,just remove the door and let the coins fall down, pick them up and feed them in again for free...