Markito's vendo 56 (ha56b) restoration

O.k., so many of you know that I bought a Vendo 56 (HA56B) on eBay for a good price. I didn't have the money to pay for freight, so I planned on driving down to Iowa to pick it up.

Well it ended up being just over 9 hours of driving (round trip) yesterday, from Saint Paul, MN to Hazleton, Iowa and back, but I got it home.

I drove all 9 hours in a row, because after the 4 1/2 hours I pulled up, put the machine in my van and then drove back the other 4 1/2 hours. Actually, the drive didn't even feel that long because I had "The DaVinci Code" unabridged audio book on my iPod, so the time flew by.

Anyway, when I got there, it was less attractive than I thought it would be, but with a facelift, it will end up just fine.

First off, I just had to take and show you this photo, I passed this sign on the country roads on my long drive to pick up the Vendo 56:

First I was disappointed that the sign on the front was metal and not lighted (it looked lighted to be in the auction photos) and the sign is quite faded.

But after I got it home and removed the sign, I saw that they actually make them so that you can swap the metal sign with a lighted one. There was even electrical to plug into and a hole to get it to behind the sign. So now I am looking for a lightable sign that is the right size.

Anyway, here is how it looked when I got it home and down in the basement:

[Posted twice. Jim, can you please delete this one? Thanks.]

Here's the bottle door. Doesn't look too bad. Those are a few of my Mexican Cokes in there:

Here's the coin door. The bad spraypaint job even extended inside the coin door area for some reason:

Here's the interior. At least all of the shelves are there:

Here's a close up of the sad, faded metal sign:

So now for the paint job. At some point, someone had spray painted black paint over the wood grain decals. Didn't take too well and looked even worse than wood grain!

I had planned to rent a heat gun and peel it off like that, but I got out my razor blade and just couldn't help starting to scrape right away. Here it is mid-way through:

Here's a close up:

Then I just couldn't stop. It was very late at night and there I was scraping away. Here it is when I finally quit. I plan to rent a heat gun today and finish that panel up as well as the two small panels at the bottom. Then sand those panels and sand any rust spots on the machine's exterior. Then I'm gonna bring it to Maaco. They said they could paint it for me.
Please note the pile of paint and wg decal shavings on the floor:

Here's another close up:

[BrianB]

I totally dig that road sign, I would take that as an omen! The machine looks ok though, just needs some TLC. When it comes to not "being able to control myself", I get caught up in that predicament all of the time! I go out into the garage with the door shut and don't wear a watch.........And before you know it...Well, you know the rest!! '>

Here is the extra electrical for converting the metal sign to a much more favorable lighted one:

And here is the hole that goes from behind the coin door to behind the sign, for running electrical wires. I am so glad that I can make it a lighted sign:

Well that's it for pics now. But I will keep updating. I also need to get a new lock.

Oh, and I plugged it in for just a second and it seems to cool immediately. I did do a test vend of one of my Mexican Coke bottles and I had to pull very hard. Ideally, should it pull out easily? Or is it a hard tug regardless? I haven't used one of these machines since I was a little kid, so I don't remember.

I assume I have to lubricate all of the bottle rack's moving parts. What lube do you all use? Also, should I find some food safe oil (like for food concession parts) so that if any rubs off on the bottles it will be no biggie for my guests?

Thanks.

Quote (VMC117BMB @ Mar. 02 2005,9:44)

I totally dig that road sign, I would take that as an omen! The machine looks ok though, just needs some TLC. When it comes to not "being able to control myself", I get caught up in that predicament all of the time! I go out into the garage with the door shut and don't wear a watch.........And before you know it...Well, you know the rest!! '>

Thanks Brian. When I drove past the sign, I couldn't believe my eyes and then drove backward to it to take a pic of it because I knew that you all would get a kick out of it.

Here's another picture of the sign:

[Eric]

Nice straight look'n machine.... after a paint job you'll forget
all that mess! Congrats! (Also got the DVD last night and watched! Very cool)
I need a square top now! Gonna burn a copy for myself and you an extra to pass around!
Thanks!
Eric

Hi Kito,
you said the machine will be painted by Maaco. I asked around and searched the Internet. It seems to be that nobody is really lucky with the Maaco paint jobs. Does anyone have experiences with Maaco? I know they are really inexpensive but are their paintjobs really good? I dont know. '>
Lars

loman4ec or somebody (sorry I don't recall who) here gave me the idea for Maaco.
What did you hear was bad?
Anybody here have a better suggestion?

[Bob K]

I think what someone said was that if you do all the prep work yourself, then have Maaco just paint it, you should be ok.  Do not let them do the prep work.  Have it ready to shoot when you bring it in.

Yes, most of the people say Maaco do bad or no prepwork.
But I have no experience with Maaco so I can`t judge it.
May I ask how much your paint job will be? I think if You do the prepwork well and they are really cheap Maaco is okay.
A good prepwork is the most important presupposition for a great paintjob.
Lars

[MoonDawg]

Remove any faceplates or bezels, so you can sand and paint underneath. If anything still needs to be masked off, do it yourself. You will be much more particular than them.
       Plus, the more you do yourself, the bodyshop's time is reduced and hopefully their charges

I have found this in a car forum

I use to work at maaco, and for all of you, your wrong. way way off on how it works there. you get what you pay for. and you pay for what you choose. theres a giant idiot board on the wall that you can pick and choose your package from.. and YES, they do prep and sand and primer and all that other good stuff. but of course, since it is a production shop, there might be some flaws, mainly overspray, but thats where the detailer comes in, so if id does have probas like that, its the detailers fault, i worked every position there. true though, most of their paint jobs dont last long, since, they are limited to a set amount of paint per car, so they have just enough paint to cover the car, 1 piss coat, and one final coat to cover, not to mention they are single stage paints, so of course it'll chip a little easier than base/clear, which they also do, but for not a very cheap price. like i said before, you get what you pay for, so dont gothere expecting to get a $3000 job for only the pocket change that you give them. But go there and look at some of their other work, it all depends on how much pride the employess take in their work.

[loman4ec]

I used them once on my first car (well truck). I did the body work and they painted. It turned out great. Their problem is that their body work is bad. They don't tape and will paint over grease or anything. They even will agree that if you prep it it is better. Also they use Dupont NASON paint which is what I have always used and it is good stuff. I wouldn't suggest it for an outside machine since it fades but for a coke machine that will be in a game room it should be fine. I am going to have them paint my GE fridge.

Thanks everyone for your views.
I plan on doing all the prep work myself.
I think I'm going to take it there for the paint job since I can barely afford their low prices as it is and I can't leave my machine looking like it does.
Thanks.

Quote (Markito @ Mar. 02 2005,9:50)

1) I did do a test vend of one of my Mexican Coke bottles and I had to pull very hard. Ideally, should it pull out easily? Or is it a hard tug regardless? I haven't used one of these machines since I was a little kid, so I don't remember. 2) I assume I have to lubricate all of the bottle rack's moving parts. What lube do you all use? Also, should I find some "food safe" type oil (like for food concession parts) so that if any rubs off on the bottles it will be no biggie for my guests?

Hi guys, no one answered the questions (quoted above) that I posted in this thread about a week ago. Could you all please comment? Thanks so much.

[Creighton]

Hey Kito,

Somewhere along the line missed your questions, sorry. Here's my shot in the dark:-) Wiser souls please chime in.

1) Your bottle should pull out without too much effort. Course that is if the bottle is not to big around. Not sure what box of yours we are talking about. Looking at the box "face on" with main door open, to the lower right of each bottle vend hole. You may see three holes with a rod that sets the shelf "height". Go with lower left. This has worked for me with water/beer bottles (attached pic). If the bottle is too big a problem can occur if the "roller cam" can't go "up" far enough and cause binding. Try a normal beer bottle and compare against the mexican bottle and you should be able to see what is going on.

2) Racks do work better with some friction reducer. Don't need much though. I like to use a cotten swap with a little 3 in 1 oil on it for pivot/points, cams and slider plates. Just a dab will do ya.
I'd be surprised if any small oiling of these parts would migrate over and poision the guests :-) No matter what you use it will build up dust and dirt and need cleaning every now and again. No big thing just part of the hobby.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best, Creighton

Creighton,
Thanks so much for the photo and advice. Since I am brand new to glass door machines, I hadn't ven noticed the three adjusting holes yet. Hopefully that will help. Q-tip application is a good idea. Thanks.

Any other folks that can chime in?

[BryanH]

'Kito - Depending how long the machine has sat it just might need some stretching exercises to loosen up again.  Take your bottles out and work with the door open.  Trigger a vend cycle (coins of free vend) and then push one of the roller cams forward by hand.  Do this for each of the cams and several times each.  If the problem you are having is just lack of use, you'll notice that each cam gets easire to move after 5 or 6 vends.