Vendo 81 - stocking and fixing?

After several months of looking, literally tripped into a nice Vendo 81 that a coworker had stashed in a basement and wanted to sell.  Talk about devine providence.  But that leads to one of those idiot questions that distinguish us newbies from the rest of the world...

All of the shelving in the machine is there (talk about luck), but from what it appears to me (plus what reasearch I've done), this is a bottle machine only.  I've read several posts through the site about the scarceness of glass bottles these days, and sure haven't seen any in stores.  What (non-beer) beverages do you stock, and where do you get them?  Does the plastic bottles you see in convenience stores work in these machines?  (I'm doubting it, but I'm a newbie - might as well ask).  

Would love to just order authentic glass bottle beverages from the internet sites that list them.  But with a 12- and 14 year old, that could be cost prohibitive.  

At this point, I haven't picked up the machine but am trying to think ahead so when my wife asks the inevitable (you got this to hold water and soda's, right?), I'll have my answers down pat.

Thanks!

Mike

[dr galaga]

Nice find.  Going to show us a pic?

Here's a topic for a little while ago about what people stock in their machines: http://soda-machines.com/cgi-loc....;t=1871
I'm kind of lucky, the grocery store that I go to has the 8 oz Coke bottles along with some other glass bottles that will fit in my V63 - like Stewarts, IBC, Boylans, Jones and a couple of others that I can't think of off hand.  I am going to the Chicagoland jukebox show this weekend and am going to pick up some more Mt. Dew (made with pure cane sugar) from Retro Soda http://www.retrosoda.com/ (I bought my Vendo from one of the owners).

Hope that helps.  Ooops, I hear my machine calling me now for a nice cold one!  

[Creighton]

Hi Mike,
Welcome to the board. This can be tricky. Limiting factors are the diameter of the plastic bottle and the length. Narrow short water bottles work fine. Other types of plastic soda you just need to try and see what happens. If to wide they will just bind and catch. If too long (16oz) won't fit the shelf rack. I just saw at Safeway plastic 12oz coke in what looked to be the same size as the old 8oz. bottle size. Don't care for coke and my box is still in can config so didn't drag any home, but I could if anyone is curious.
Creighton

I've done some more digging, and found out the local CocaCola plant here in Wichita KS does 8oz bottles of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Dr. Pepper.  Wish could get a few more, but hey, it's a start.

Pictures will be forthcoming.  Still haven't got the puppy home, but have been busily shopping for the service manual, looking for a replacement wiring harness, etc.  I'm really looking forward to getting it up and running.  fixing the rust inside the refrigerated compartment, replacing seals, etc.  I'm sure I'll be back a fair amount with questions to be sure I don't hose anything up too badly.

More later!  Mike

[Creighton]

Hey Mike,
You are off to a great start! How be things in Wichita? Grew up (almost) in Salina, the folks are still there. Looking forward to the pics. With 12 an 14yr.olds could be a good family project to do some home bottling of fruit drinks and such.
Creighton

Finally got the puppy home.  Here's some pictures of the newest resident of our garage.  I know that it's a tradition to stack things on top of new purchases, but all I had available was moving blankets.

[KreKol]

Hey, I am in El Dorado, Ks.  I know where the Coke plant is.  Where do they sell the bottles at and how much?  Salina, go there on Vacation, leave on Probation.     '>

I'm having difficulty uploading the other two pictures I took, one of the inside and one of the inside of the coin door showing the changer.

Anyone have any suggestions how to upload successfully?

Anyhow, the machine looks pretty complete on the inside.  I'm missing one shelf, otherwise there's some spring loaded pushers on some shelves but they're missing on others.  But I saw where I can order reproduction shelves, so not the end of the world as we know it.

Main issues I see so far:

 - wiring - brittle, brittle, brittle.  The folks I purchased from plugged it in and it kept blowing circuits.  I was showing my son some places where the wiring had been taped, and the wire broke in another place.  Think Daddy's going to be an electrician first out the block.  Figure I'll replace the wiring block and harness and see where that gets me.

 - Rust - the bottom of the inside is moderately rusty.  The condenser is jiggly, suspect the area around the screws is rusted.  Not a major surprise.

 - Rubber gaskets - all of them seem to be pretty gooey / sticky.  Figured out where to order on the internet, although it looks like the inside door seal gasket comes in a roll, so I'll be asking later how to join corners successfully.  After I accidently electrocute myself.  The inner plastic (?) cover of the main door is intact, but the edge is chipped in several places behind the door gasket seal.  The seal appears to be held in place with screws with fender washers - not sure how original that method of securing trim really was.  There also appears to be signs of a gasket on the machine (non-door side) around the border of the bottle case, unsure if that's original trim, or someone's later addition to compensate for the main gasket being past it's prime.

 - Compressor - it's a mystery.  Thank goodness it's a simple system.  And I've bookmarked Global Compressor on my pc just in case...

 - Getting the coin mechanism to work.  Don't want to think about it.  

Suffice to say, I've gone from giddy excitement to the "what was I thinking" stage and back a few times.  

One mystery to ponder...  Inside the front coin door, there's a wire that sticks out from the inner door under the coin changer, that just ends.  Someone in the past stuck a length of plastic hose (from a fountain hose?) over the stub.  Any ideas what it was intended to be?  I thought it might be for the light inside the door, but then there's a pushbutton switch at the top of the bottle stack which I suspect is the light switch.  So I'm confused.

Be interested in any insights into this plan of attack.  Think I'm going in the right direction here, or are there other things that I should be worrying about first?

More to come -

pps - KreKol - got the info on the bottles from a price list that Coke circulates to their commercial accounts.  They list Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Dr. Pepper as available in bottles.  Not sure where retail it's available, although I've seen it served in a few places locally, like "Ted's Montana Grill" in lieu of fountain sodas.  Neat touch, even though it allows them to charge for refills unlike most places.  I'll update you if I learn more on that front, but suspect it'll be a while before stocking the machine shows up on the radar.

Whoops - update on the local Coke plant... the list didn't have prices, but listed what could be ordered.  Just spotted that after posting.  Yikes, I'm losing my mind already.

[dr galaga]

Quote (MikeM @ April 13 2005,9:32)

I'm having difficulty uploading the other two pictures I took, one of the inside and one of the inside of the coin door showing the changer. Anyone have any suggestions how to upload successfully?

Attaching photos to your post?  Try making the pictures smaller.  I usually have to do this before I can post them.

[Jim]

Mike,

Nice looking machine!
Don't forget to get the hinges lined up before you get to far into taking things apart... I can see the cabinet door is sagging a little...
It's nice to see a V-81B; there are so many large door machines... I have a small door 81 that needs to be restored still...
 '>

[Creighton]

Mike,
Great looking machine, congrats!! Reads like you have your parts research down pat. Guessing the cut wire is for the heater in the coin mech. If the box isn't outdoors in Jan. this won't matter.
Creighton

Quote (MikeM @ April 13 2005,7:53)

I know that it's a tradition to stack things on top of new purchases, but all I had available was moving blankets.

Heh heh!!!! A moving blanket is the perfect (soft) thing to have on top of a soda machine!  '>

Jim -

You just stepped into something I was worrying about... how do you line up the hinges to deal with a sagging door?  I just see the two bolt holes, are there shims or something I should use?  That'd go a long ways to solving the gasket issue I'm seeing now that I think some other soul tried to fix with camper foam tape 15 years ago or so...