VMC 33 bottles getting stuck

[jholmgren]

Has anyone had issues with the 8oz Coke bottles getting jammed in their VMC 27/33 ?   Mine seems to have trouble with the bottle on the top at around the 11 o'clock position, just to the left of the single bottle at 12:00. 

Stupid question I guess, but you do load them open-end first, right?   

Thanks,
Jim

[bcharlton]

Is the new shape of the 8oz coke bottles to blame?  They went through a change about 5 years ago and I remember having some trouble in some of my machines as well.  I thought the Vendo and VMC 44 struggled with the bottles new shape. 

I know there are more expert opinions abut this on the board.

BC

[collecture]

I usually buy the 12 oz Mexican Cokes at Costco and use my 81, so haven't had much experience with small bottle solutions.
You do load the bottles crown first on the 27/33. There is a bottle separator that is mounted in the 13th slot and extends up and into the delivery/14th slot of the drum. Is it bent too high or low thus jamming the bottle?
You can also adjust the angle of the stainless steel delivery chute. Maybe the issue as well?
I'd open the main door, mock a vend (be sure to catch the bottle) and see if you can ID what is causing the issue. If it does not happan with the door open, I'd say it is the SS chute.

[jholmgren]

I usually buy the 12 oz Mexican Cokes at Costco and use my 81, so haven't had much experience with small bottle solutions.
You do load the bottles crown first on the 27/33. There is a bottle separator that is mounted in the 13th slot and extends up and into the delivery/14th slot of the drum. Is it bent too high or low thus jamming the bottle?
You can also adjust the angle of the stainless steel delivery chute. Maybe the issue as well?
I'd open the main door, mock a vend (be sure to catch the bottle) and see if you can ID what is causing the issue. If it does not happan with the door open, I'd say it is the SS chute.

Beautiful - thanks Tom.  I think it is the bottle separator (the little sideways L shaped arm that lifts the bottle up into the single bottle position) that is causing the problem.  I opened the door and could easily see the bottle was jammed hard against 'something'.  I loaded it with the old-school 6.5 oz bottles (empties) and it vends all day long without a problem.

I didn't want to go bending the separator without double-checking with you guys first.  I'll try playing with that a little bit and see if I can get it dialed in better for the skinnier bottles.  I've been meaning to mock-vend it anyway, just to watch it work.   

BC - On my V-80, I had to install shims to vend the newer 8 oz bottles.  They wouldn't sit correctly in the stack.

[bcharlton]

Thanks Jim,

I thought the slight change in shape wrecked some havoc in some  earliar machines.