Candy machine - please help

Hi all. Curtis from Memory Lane (super-helpful and all around nice guy) recommended this great site. What I have is Universal Vendors Inc. Philadelphia 3, PA - Model M8 - candy machine. What I'm in search of is any info. on this machine and most importantly if anyone knows where I might be able to purchase some knobs for it. The knobs that are on the machine are plastic and not bakelite.

Thanks for your time,
Michael

[Creighton]

Welcome to the board Michael! Sorry I can't help. Would like to see a picture.
Creighton

[Eric]

Please post an image of the machine so we can get an idea of what they look like
so we can be on the lookout for you!
Welcome to the site!

Hi again. How do I post pictures?
Thanks,
Michael

[Creighton]

Michael,
You can click on the "Help" button to get instructions on usage of the boards features. Let us know if you have trouble.
Creighton

[bcharlton]

I may be helpful once the picture is posted.  
Welcome aboard.

Brian C

[www.memorylanerestorations.com]

Welcome Michael. I'm glade to see you made it. I'll post your photos for you. I hope someone will be able to help. Brian always finds some cool things in Buffalo, help him out Brian. Thanks Curtis Kauffman Memory Lane Restorations

[www.memorylanerestorations.com]

Two more.

[bcharlton]

Michael:

It looks like a mid 1960s candy machine.  Because I doubt it is at all unique, I probuble would not put the time and money in doing a full blown restoration.  If the machine has some other value such as sentimantal, then go to town on it.  Stoner candy machines from the 40s and 50s have a much better appearence.  I would look into replacing the knobs altogether.  

Good luck.  Of you have some pictures of the inside I may be able to give you some ideas as well.

Brian C

[Eric]

Here's where a neat look'n 60s retro character decal or graphics could do wonders though.
Let's see the whole machine...
I agree Stoners are nice... alot of shape and style... Don't need much... but this could look
cool with the right era decals and color...

Many thanks to all who have replied! If I were to replace all the knobs what kind might I use? What sort of decals might I add?

With this machine I guess you'd have to say that "bland" is beautiful!

Thanks again,
Michael    '>

[BrianB]

Michael -

First off, welcome to the boards!! Great to have you around. As you can see Soda Pop isn't our only obsession, I mean, hobby  '>

When I restored my Stoner Junior, A couple of my knobs were in poor shap. The worst had almost half of the knob missing and a few of the others had bad stress cracks and major pitting. They were the original marbleized orange and white Bakelite that was really common for the period. I decided that I didn't want to go with metal reproduction knobs and that I wasn't going to wait a year snooping around on Ebay to find a set of six knobs in mint condition and end up paying more for pull knobs then I did on the machine to begin with!

So, I ended up asking a few of my engineer co-workers for any ideas. We did a little brainstorming and on of my friends who is also a Lionel Train freak had been having great success repairing Lionel transformers which also happen to be made out of Bakelite. He used a substance that we in the electronics world use for molding and modeling small components. It's a rubbery material that melts at a relatively low temperature.

I was able to take one of my good knobs, create a mold, and then use that mold to cast a repair section for my broken knob using fiberglass resin. Basically after you cast the good part, let it cool and then you pull the good knob out of the impression and insert the bad one. You will notice an empty portion inside the impression where the fiberglass resin will be injected via syringe to affect the repair.

I waited about 12 hours after injecting to remove the repaired knob from the mold. I then lightly sanded down any imperfections and then primed and painted it.

Here's a few before and after pictures, they aren't the best but they show how bad the knobs were. Hope this helps.

[BrianB]

One more pic, this picture wa taken before all of the small details were taken care of but the knobs are complete.

[Eric]

Great job...
there's a guy in the phone club world that does the same thing with a complete phone he makes rubber molds of the orginal phone bodies and parts then uses big surenges and injects the pastic
into the molds.... it sets in a few minutes.... then he has a vintage phone in about any color
including transparent. and a marble look (injecting two colors at the same time)
 his ebay seller name is klenex or kleenex.... anyway you'll be able to see his
work on ebay.... has sold some of his phonesin the past near $1000.00.... awesome work....
contacting him would be a way to go.... heck getting someone like him to repro Stoner handles
and other plastic pieces (Have a Coke Lens) would be great!

[Kevin C]

Hey

Check out my Lance Machine


Kevin

[sodaworks]

Kevin,
  The lance looks great!! '>

[sodaworks]

Welcome aboard thatcanbe,
  Another option is to have a machine shop turn some out of billet aluminum. Then have the knobs polished out.  '>

Many thanks for all the wonderful replies! Try as I might I still can't seem to post a picture of the insides of the machine - the pic is on my desktop (Mac) and after I've choosen the file (jpeg) and previewed - nothing - any suggestions?

Thanks for all,
Michael

[Creighton]

Michael,
Just type your message and then attach the picture. Then click on send on "Add Reply". Skip the preview step.
Kevin, great looking Lance.
Creighton

You are all so very welcoming and have some great machines to boot! Thanks again. Short of making my own knobs, are there any knob types that might work here as replacements for the existing ones? and how would you get the old knobs off?

Thanks!
Michael