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-   -   Vending Machines (http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=267627)

MIPS 08-28-2016 11:15 PM

Vending Machines
 
I've unintentionally doscovered there are people out there who collect vending machines while I was deciding that I should buy a beer fridge.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/IMG_5686.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/IMG_5693.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/IMG_5695.jpg

So far it has cleaned up nicely with a pressure wash but it's still got a way to go. The coin acceptor is missing. A bearing on vend column 4 is really stiff, the white opaque paint on the sign has turned to powder and fallen off, the columns literally only dispense half the time because they aren't fully setup right, someone has swiped the bottle opener and ignoring the large number of dents and scratches someone has taken the column shims. I discovered while refilling it that these shims change the width of each column. If they are too wide some cans like to jam up against eachother and regular plastic soda bottles are too large. Also is there something special about 7Up cans? Everything else I've put in the machine so far has dispensed somewhat reliably but 7Up either kept jamming or rupturing and making a sticky mess everywhere.

Also is there a source for new button labels or even a template? I need to make some new ones for the beer I've added. :banana:

CoogarXR 08-29-2016 07:02 AM

Nothing helpful to add, but I notice that the price is labeled "$1.00". I wonder if that machine was in use not that long ago. That's a modern price, heh.

MIPS 08-29-2016 09:16 AM

Also, does anyone here know their refrigerants?
I have a number of older devices including this machine that use the now banned R22 but after 30 or 40 years their charge levels are getting pretty low. You can still find small cans to recharge appliances but it's really, really expensive. The modern substitute is RS-44/R424A. It can be added to purged or partially filled R22 systems and you don't have to retrofit anything to use the equipment again.

Problem is that while I can find most other refrigerants and small can form for one or two use recharging I can only find RS-44 in the giant tank format which is really expensive and I'd never need that much refrigerant.

baursam 08-30-2016 12:01 AM

Looks like southern Okanagan, Penticton to Osoyoos area?

MIPS 08-31-2016 07:56 PM

Close. Kamloops.

Eric H 08-31-2016 08:57 PM

That looks like the same model machine as in this article.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mystery-soda-machine

Dude111 09-01-2016 11:14 PM

Good luck getting her going buddy :)

MIPS 09-01-2016 11:44 PM

At this point it's running fine. I turned up the thermostat and the refrigeration cycles well enough that it's not using too much energy, the fans are quiet, the lights all work and I've rigged a switch to the coin return so for now I don't need a coin acceptor but it's those damn shims. I need photographs of what the real shims looked like. The ones I made are just too unreliable.

Electronic M 09-02-2016 08:39 AM

It looks like a 7UP machine I know of in a certain educational institutions' basement.

electronjohn 09-25-2016 10:47 AM

That looks like a Vendo...some parts may still be available from the mfr. Or...contact your local Pepsi distributor & see what they may have in the junk pile.

MIPS 11-13-2016 08:05 PM

Pepsi had nothing. Turns out I was better off sourcing parts from ebay. The columns are no longer jamming anywhere near as bad and I've figured out the adjustments so each column now dispenses one can each time. A replacement Coinco acceptor was found for $120 which isn't bad seeing how everyone else is offering rebuilt units for $400 and up. The lock has turned out to also be a fairly easy to source radial lock plug. A new one with two keys cost $20. What I do not however have is the rest of the lock. I'll have to take a piece of 1/4" steel plate and have something cut.

MIPS 11-22-2016 07:17 PM

And the 2016 Bad Packing award goes to....

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/IMG_6466.jpg


Mr. Hands.
Good thing it survived. :thmbsp:

Electronic M 11-23-2016 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIPS (Post 3173654)
And the 2016 Bad Packing award goes to....

Mr. Hands.
Good thing it survived. :thmbsp:

Hold the phone! I know of a worse packaging job this year....A friend bought a Blonder Tongue modulator off the net and it arrived "packed" in nothing more than the shipping label that was applied to the outside of the modulator it's self...Yes it shipped naked with a label pasted onto it.

MadMan 01-21-2017 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIPS (Post 3169053)
Also, does anyone here know their refrigerants?
I have a number of older devices including this machine that use the now banned R22 but after 30 or 40 years their charge levels are getting pretty low. You can still find small cans to recharge appliances but it's really, really expensive. The modern substitute is RS-44/R424A. It can be added to purged or partially filled R22 systems and you don't have to retrofit anything to use the equipment again.

Problem is that while I can find most other refrigerants and small can form for one or two use recharging I can only find RS-44 in the giant tank format which is really expensive and I'd never need that much refrigerant.

I kindof know my refrigerants. Are you in Cali? R22 isn't banned in Illinois, or a lot of states. At any rate, it's still a fairly small system, you could just recharge it with R134A. It's cheap and plentiful. It might not work 100%, but better than nothing. You could also use propane, or 'R12 substitute' (aka propane). Again, it'll work. And no, it is not dangerous.

There's a lot of BS about compatibility issues between R22 and R134, and obviously you don't want to mix them, but a good long vacuum will leech the remaining old refrigerant out of the oil in the system.

Once, like a dumbass, I punctured the line on a window AC unit I was cleaning. It used R22. I had some R22, but I didn't feel like hooking it up to the machine. So I researched this stuff, and then just charged the thing with R134. Still going strong 3 years later.

Although, I should mention, aren't vending machine refrigeration systems sealed systems? You know, like modern postwar refrigerators? They almost never leak (not even after 40 years) unless they've been damaged. If they are sealed, any performance issues are most likely gonna be either a filthy condenser or a just-plain-worn-out compressor. Or maybe a fan or something.

But yeah, R134 or propane. Or just buy some R22 somewhere else. (It's a little pricey though.)

bgadow 03-12-2017 09:30 PM

Pepsi used to have a machine at our shop that seemed to date from the late 70's, judging by the color/design. (It had been refreshed with new paint but I could tell under the peeling finish that it used to be that baby blue shade.) It was a Dixie Narco; once, it stopped cooling & to my surprise the cooling unit was modular, it just sort of sits in the bottom. The tech had it changed out in something like 10 minutes. I guess quite a lot of machines must use the same basic unit (the replacement did look different).

We were always having trouble with it not taking coins, probably due to it being in a very dusty environment. I finally complained enough & instead of swapping out the mechanism they brought me a late model machine. I've often wondered what became of the old one.


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