Minit Pop popcorn machine

[Jeffmon]

Well I was going to wait till it was scrubbed down before starting this post so I could include some pics but more I disassemble this thing more I realise that it is nothing like a soda machine, it looks like I might need a lil help along the way for even something as simple as cleaning it lol 

First question... At the bottom of the oil vat canister/heater, there's a piece at the very bottom that looks to be Transite, can it be removed and if not is it ok to get it wet and clean it with a detergent ?
Secondly  ... What do you guys use to get the two porcelain knobs white again, I've tried everything but can't seem to get them clean...
Also, I'm assuming that a food grade grease has to be used for all the gearing, do you guys recommend anything specific ? And last but not least, are all these machines keyed alike ? There are no numbers on either lock so I'm assuming they were, I am missing both keys so if that is the case, would anyone be willing to sell me a copy of their keys ?  The door lock isn't a big deal as I can replace it, but I can't do anything with the dam coin box till I have a key to open it ! 

Thanks in advance for the spoon feeding 

Jeff !

[PopcornShop]

  Well Jeff it looks like your off to a good start.. Ive seen some use grease and some use oil to lubricate the gear mech below.. But as far as food grade im not sure on that one.. I just use a light weight oil for electric motors.. Oil that is used for that type of thing.. oil the gear mech below with oil as well at all the key points.. Maybe Matt can also chime in on what he uses.. But if you want to call me that would be fine... I could give you a few ideas to try to clean things up   

[MCarter]

I used Food grade motor oil. Comes in a little can. What are the knobs off of?  I washed mine in the dishwasher when it was disassembled. As for anything else just ask and we can walk you thru it.  Do you got a manual?

[MCarter]

As for the key I would just drill the lock. None of the machines I had, none of them never had any numbers on them. You will need a fork key and the 2 new locks.

[PopcornShop]

  Matt,   those knob things are the insulators to the heating element that sits below the cooking basket..  What is the brand of oil you use as far as food grade is concerned?

[Jeffmon]

Thanks guys, no Matt i don't have a manual, I searched around for one on the net but all i found was one on ebay that a guy put together himself, but nothing in way of an actual service manual, would definitely be great to have one!  do either of you know the answer to my first question  ? And yes the two porcelain knobs are the insulators for the heating element that sites at the bottom on that cement board which i'm assuming is Transite or some other form of asbestos, that's the peice I was asking about in my first question  ! Anyhow thanks for the help, I'm sure i will have a million more questions by the time I'm done so hope you guys dont mind, the help is greatly appreciated  !

Jeff  !

[BrianB]

I use this on all small gearing systems and electric motors and have used it exclusively on Popperettes, U-Pop-It's & Minit-Pop's:

[BrianB]

Also, as far as cleaning the ceramic knobs (steatite/alumina) goes, if they are just discolored due to heat you can try some 000 or 0000 steel wool and soapy water. The water and soap acts more as a lubricant and means to flow the resulting debris from the ceramic surface. Other than that, I wouldn't try anything more agressive. As far as I know, the knobs aren't currently reproduced so please be careful!

Locks - Drill 'em and install new!

[MCarter]

The guy selling the manual is me. I made a copy of a original manual I had and some notes and other useful things that could help.

[Jeffmon]

Thanks Brian, I will look for it on my home tonight, now that isn't food grade right ? Does it not have to be ?
I'm really enjoying this, I'm finding that due to all the cooking oil used over the years  covering the inside, nothing is corroded  or rusted ,not  to mention  almost everything  is stainless  or aluminum , it's a nice change from soda machines ! I will post some before and after pics when I'm done, this thing was horribly dirty, I think the counter is at 63000 and probably never cleaned  since the day it was put into service  lol  anyhow thanks again guys, I will keep you updated on my progress !

Jeff !

[Jeffmon]

Oh ok perfect then Matt, I will definitely get a copy, I was a bit apprehensive at first because I bought a so called " Vendo 39 restoration " manual years ago from eBay when I first started collecting and it turned out be nothing more then a few pages from the service manual along with a few crappy pictures lol

Jeff !

[BrianB]

The moving parts that are lubricated don't come in contact with any surface that touches the popcorn kernels or the popped corn at the end of the cycle. But, if it makes anybody feel better, they could use a "food safe oil/lubricant". The only definite exception is the motor itself, a good 20W non-detergent oil like the blue bottled 3-in-1 brand oil is perfect. There are only a few electric motor oil's that I would use: 3-in-1, Zoomspout & Royal Purple. All are excellent for older & new electric motors.

On two of the Minit-Pop/U-Pop-It machines that I have restored, one of them definitely benefited from never/infrequently being cleaned. The other machine, not so much. Somebody decided that it was a great idea to leave the Oil Tank half full of nasty old, partially solidified cooking oil. It would have been ok but when you ship the machine laying down and the oil drains out all over the entire interior compartment it goes from dirty to nasty and almost impossible to clean. Matt knows exactly what I'm talking about!

You'll be amazed at the difference between dirty and cleaned. Especially the gearing and shafts, they look awesome all clean and polished!

[Jeffmon]

Wow that looks great Brian, what a difference, see now that the machine is 90% disassembled, I'm debating if it's not just better to restor it now, I was planing on using it till this winter then restoring it over  the winter, the kids and I are really eager to watch it pop, but now that it's apart, it might just be easier to do it while it's apart, didn't realise how big of a job just cleaning this thing would be !
Luckily for me, even though the machine had probably never been cleaned since  the day it was put into service, the oil reservoir was clean as a whistle, almost looks like it was never used, it was the first thing I noticed, thought it had been replaced at  first but it is original ! Anyhow, thanks again for the great advice, can't wait to get back at her tonight  !

Jeff !

[PopcornShop]

  Jeff,  If you have your machine all apart I would restore it.. Give it a bit of freshening up! New paint, decals, chrome.. If its in your budget I would do it.. Does the machine have any rust issues?


Brian...that 3n1 oil you use is the same as I do..seems to work really good..

[Jeffmon]

I'm thinking the same thing, it's to bad because after cleaning half of the inside parts, they are mint, the stainless doesn't even need to be weel polished, just maybe a quick hand polish, same with all the aluminium, it looks great, even the inside of the machine is like new because of all the grease, but unfortunately the outside is a bit ruff, the bottom chrome feet definitely need re-chroming and the garbage hardly has any paint left on it, but if it wasn't for those two major things, I would just leave it as is till next winter so we can enjoy it for a bit, a full restoration is probably not in the budget right now seeing I bought a few other machines these past few weeks so it would probably be a 5 to 6 week project... By the way I bought that 3n1 oil, thanks Brian, I also bought some premium Mobile food grade grease for the gears, I could always just paint the cabinet and chrome the 4 pieces but if I'm going to do it, might as well do it right ! Full restoration !

Here I'll just post pics of it when I picked it up, it's dirty but you guys can still get a good idea of condition, let me know what you guys think !

[Jeffmon]

Few more pics, look at the counter lol 

[Jeffmon]

I forgot to ask, does anyone know where I would be able to find the upper left power box cover ? Seems to be the only thing missing on the entire machine, it even has the original 5 gallon square pale in the back bottom, didn't realise it belonged to the machine till I noticed the bottom brackets that it fits into... Kinda cool !

[BrianB]

From the pictures you provided, all major components seem to be in place (other than the junction box cover). That's great!

As far as I know, nobody advertises that they reproduce any of the three junction box covers. But, all of them are relatively easy to make using the proper gauge steel a hand brake or pan/box brake and notcher or shears. Any metal fabrication shop should be able to do it for you for fairly cheap.

[mznb1u]

Looking good Jeff!

  Tim

[Jeffmon]

Thanks Tim, and yeah I figured as much Brian,  I can probably fab one myself, I was more curious to see if anyone had an extra original kicking around lol I'm figuring there are probably not to many extra of parts for these machines kickig around, and one would most likely wanna keep any spare parts for future projects, it's not like soda machines parts that come up all the time right, actually does anyone here know exactly how many of the 1948 Minit Pop machines were produced ? Would be interesting to know !

[Jeffmon]

Does anyone know if these side handles are original to this machine or where they a later addition ? And if original do most of you make way with them when restoring ?

[BrianB]

I personally have never seen those before on a U-Pop-It/Minit-Pop. Where was/is it located?

[Cokemachinesandmore]

have never seen them on one either.

[MCarter]

Those are usually on the trash can.

[PopcornShop]

   Hey Jeff,  After looking more at your pics I think you did very well on this machine...you got a very good deal..  Im glad to hear everything is looking good after you cleaned it.. If you want to use it before restoring it I would now say go for it..  The chrome feet on these machines always seem to need to be rechromed..  I made a set of feet for one of my machines out of stainless and then polished the heck out of them... Never again will they rust or pit ha ha .. But I was going to ask you about the trash can inside of the machine in the bottom back...Does your machine have this?  Plus the relay covers are easy to make.. I might have one but I would have to check..

Brian..

[Jeffmon]

Thanks Brian, I don't know much about these, specially when it comes to prices but I mostly see them for around 2500$ in worse condition so I figured as long as it was complete, I was doing ok... As far as using it before restoring it, after staring at it completely disasembled for the past week,  I decided to just go ahead with the restoration, the feet and two bezels are already sent out for charming, it's going to be a slow restoration but at least it will look great for the first bag of popcorn lol... Yes the machine still has the original small square bin in the back, I think I posted something about it a few posts back, from what I've read these are rarely found in the machines so it's kinda cool that mine still has it... If you do have a spare cover and wouldn't mind parting with it I would be very grateful, I know they are easy to make but I'm a big fan of original parts... Let me know if you find one and we can work something out as far as pricing, thanks again !

Jeff !

[Jeffmon]

Do you guys normally completely restore the coin  mechs as well ? And I also have some bad news, I chipped the corner of the salt box, it's very minimal and barely noticeable and its a bottom corner but I know it's going to drive me nuts if I don't repair it or replace it, and based on reading I've done on the machine, they are not being reproduced at this time yet so I'll most likely be fixing it !  I've gotten pretty good at repairing bakelite so we'll have to see !

[PopcornShop]

  Hey Jeff,  Ive repaired chipped salt boxes before..its not to bad at all...  But I used panel bond to repair them... the color matches real well..and if it still doesn't look good enough I then used trim paint in a flat type appearance... If the machine has been outside in the elements you will find the salt boxes to be more brittle... When I get time I will look for a relay cover for you..  All the best...Brian...

[BrianB]

Sorry to hear about your salt box. But, if you already have experience repairing bakelite coupled with the other suggestion to use panel bond you should have it fixed in a jiff. As far as the coin mech goes, I send the rejector portion to Tom Barnes (Collecture) for restoration and I restore the rejector housing, wiring/plug, and I also verify the operation of the CREM.

[Jeffmon]

That looks great Brian, I actually already sent mine to Tom, I was just curious if most of you guys restored the coin mech on these things or if I might of been a bit over doing it lol... As far as the salt box, I've never tried repairing bakelite with panel bond, I use a method I got from a bakelite phone repair guy a few years back, it works great and is not noticeable once polished... Unfortunately you can never get the original shine back on bakelite, to bad they didn't make these out of Catalin instead... I would imagine that's why I see most of them just painted on restored machines, mine still has a nice enough shine to it though so I should be able to save the finish and leave it original... Anyhow thanks again Brian ! Will keep you guys posted on my progress, however slow it may be lol

[BrianB]

"Over do it"? No way! 

For the amount payed for Tom to work his magic coupled with the few hours of work it might take to complete restoration of the housing and associated wiring, I'd say it's definitely worth it and looks great to boot!

I learned bakelite repair from the antique radio & antique phone community as well. I've seen some really bad damage repaired that most would throw away.

[Jeffmon]

Wow has it really been that long, the last time I posted and worked on the Minit Pop was almost a year ago ! So much for that 3 month restoration lol

So the chrome looks amazing the coin mech looks awesome thanks to Tom, paint is almost finished and parts should be back from the powder coating shop any day now, I do however have a huge dilemma, in the midst of all the chaos, parts going to 10 different shops, working on to many projects at the same time but mostly my own absent mindedness,  somehow the red plastic coin return knob got lost I'm assuming these aren't reproduced so I was wondering if anyone has a spare ? lol,  as well do any of you guys know where I can get the decal for the coin entry bezel ? I also " misplaced " the old one so can't have one made up ! I remeber reading somewhere on here a while back that one of the members reproduces the front glass vinyl decal, I would definitely be interested in one...

so despite the few setbacks (salt box and knob) I'm exited and look foreward to reassembly,  if everything goes well and there are no other issues I should have it completed and running in say, 3 month 

[MCarter]

I have a knob. Decals are painted on except the glass popcorn boy. I make those. Reach out to me if you need help

[Jeffmon]

Thank you Matt, I will definitely be in touch ! As for the decals, my coin entry bezel had one of those aluminum stick on decals that sat in a recessed area, similar to the ones used on a vendo round top entry bezel ! Looked to be original... Is there a few variations of the coin entry bezels for the Minit Pop ?