Introducing myself.

[Witchboard]

Hello all.  I'm new to the site and a new owner of a Cavalier CSS-64.  My only soda machine.  It's in pretty good condition from what I can tell and cools well.  There's a couple of things I need to fix, but I'll post those in their respective areas in the forum.  I've already got some longnecks in there from making sure it would hold my favorite beverages. 

I'm an arcade collector at heart, but I really wanted a bottle vending machine for fun.  Glad to be here.

[Jim]

Welcome to SMC ! ! !
As you frequent, you'll soon learn that photos are a VERY important part of participating here...
As far as questions, I'm sure we'll do our best to aid in your new hobby...

[Eric]

This is a great group here... any question you may have for your machine... these
guys (and a few gals) can answer.

[Pat Pixley]

Welcome to the machine  (A little Pink Floyd )  Like Eric & Jim said we can help
this is a great board  there alot of good people here.

  And as Jim said a photo is worth a million words, So if you get a chance
post one.

   Oh yeah  This is your first machine  But not your last  you will get more. 

   Pat

[Witchboard]

As requested.  I have not started cleaning it up yet, other than vacuum the leaves out of the bottom.  It was stored outside under a patio, so there doesn't seem to be much sun fading.

[loman4ec]

You have a cavalier CSS-64G. They are nice machines. They really are great working and functional machines. There are a lot of us here that own these or have in the past. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

[coke_and_stuff]

Welcome aboard great machine I have several 64s right now, I can tell you one thing they are heavy and built like tanks.

Joey

[Witchboard]

What makes it a "G" or an "S"?  The wood grain?  Yes, they are heavy.  A friend and I had to load it in the back of his truck.  I'm glad the guy I bought it from had some scrap carpet.  It made sliding into the bed and moving it around easier.

[Marvin]

Welcome aboard!!  It won't be long and you will have a whole house of soda machines...


As for those Cav 64 models.  They are heavy for sure.  I loaded one by myself not to long ago to take to Joey.  It is not something I want to to again any time soon.


Marvin

[Witchboard]

By yourself?  No thanks.  I prefer my guts on the inside. 

[collecture]

How heavy are these little guys?
I think V110's are pretty heavy (400lbs.), but I move them around OK.
Now that ChoiceVend 150 I got not too long ago is HEAVY - I can't even get it tilted back onto a dolly!

[coke_and_stuff]

They have to be pushing 400lbs they are VERY heavy I hate moving them. I had to move two tonight.

Joey

[loman4ec]

The G model is much different than the others. The G model has a different coin door and coin bezel, the front was painted black, the bottle door has a different handle and they went to the red "wave" sign. These were much later than the other models. Cavalier started production of the 64 series machines in the early 1960's and ran until the late 1970's. Your machine is approximately 1974-1979.

[SquareTopCollector]

welcome to the community. Here is a great tip I learned here. Take a blow dryer and heat up the wood grain sticker to peel it off. Your machine will look much better and more retro.

[Witchboard]

The G model is much different than the others. The G model has a different coin door and coin bezel, the front was painted black, the bottle door has a different handle and they went to the red "wave" sign. These were much later than the other models. Cavalier started production of the 64 series machines in the early 1960's and ran until the late 1970's. Your machine is approximately 1974-1979.

Ah.  Good to know.  Thanks for the clarification.

welcome to the community. Here is a great tip I learned here. Take a blow dryer and heat up the wood grain sticker to peel it off. Your machine will look much better and more retro.

I'm won't be making any modifications to the machine at this point.  I'm going to leave it as is, but clean it up & fix the few things that I've noticed is wrong with it.  If at a later time I get adventurous, then I might think about modifying it.

Thanks all for the welcome. 

[johnieG]

welcome to the site!

[loman4ec]

You have a nice looking machine. i think I would leave it the way it is. The woodgrain seems to grow on you. I used to hate it but now it isn't too bad.

[Witchboard]

Agreed.  It seems to be in good condition, so I'm just going to clean it up.  If it was already starting to peel or somebody had tried to tear it off, I would remove it, but it's good the way it is.

To do list:

• Fix the coin mech.  It won't accept anything, except for a dime... and now I can't find the dime!  Probably cleaning it up will fix this.  The previous owner said that the change function didn't work.  I'll tackle that after I get it to accept money.
• The door does not sit flush.  It has a gap at the top where the bottom does not.  It doesn't seem to leak that I can feel, but I can hear the fan running louder than when I push the door against the body of the machine.
• After I let it run for a week to make sure it's not going to die on me, I'll probably remove everything from the cold area and clean it out.
• Replace bulb in the sign.  Original owner says that it keeps blowing.  This might indicate a bad ballast.
• Clean up the outside, set the temp to a frosty 34 degrees, if it's possible and load it with beverage.  I've only seen it get down to 40 degrees, but I haven't cranked the thermostat all the way down either.

If I'm missed anything obvious, please let me know.  After all, I am new at this. 

[coke_and_stuff]

Make sure that the drain tube is not clogged up.

Joey

[MoonDawg]

      Your slug rejector is dirty. Throw it in a bucket of hot soapy water.

      A new ballast costs the same as a new bulb, so save money by installing the ballast first.

      I just sold one of these with that 70's looking woodgrain.........for $800.00. This is a
real nice first machine.

     

[Witchboard]

Make sure that the drain tube is not clogged up.

I found a black tube in the bottom of the machine by the compressor.  I'm presuming this is the drain tube and it goes from a connector and drips into the removable pan?  There's this rusty thing hanging down from the top of the compressor area, I would presume, due to the rust, that this is where the water would be coming from, plus it's over the pan.  I haven't seen anything drip from there the last few days I've had it running.  I'll check that out today.

      Your slug rejector is dirty. Throw it in a bucket of hot soapy water.

      A new ballast costs the same as a new bulb, so save money by installing the ballast first.

      I just sold one of these with that 70's looking woodgrain.........for $800.00. This is a
real nice first machine.

I'll have to figure out how to tear down the coin acceptor.  I'm afraid of breaking it, or not remember where things go.  Is the ballast located where the bulb is behind the sign?  I'm presuming you access it by removing the two screws on the bottom of the sign?

$800?  That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that I got a good deal. I picked this up for $150.

[SquareTopCollector]

how did you get $800.00 for a uss-8-64??

[MoonDawg]

how did you get $800.00 for a uss-8-64??

     A guy falls for this restored V-81 but $6000. is out of his budget!

     Also a Vendo 110 is too pricey at $2500.

     So I offer him Cavalier 64's for $800.each.    Still too much $$ 

     My final offer, a complete working Coke machine for $400. (Now the guy is all ears)!

     I point up to the tall V-126 in the corner.............and his smile dropped.

     He then realized that $800.00 is reasonable for a small decent looking machine that
     has been serviced and tested and is ready for home use today!

     

[coke_and_stuff]

Im waiting for a new cooling unit to be completed its going in a super nice original Vendo 63 Price will be $850.00. And will soon be working on a Cav 64, Vendo 56, and 63 new paint, cooling units the works at $1,800.00 EACH Square top prices go up daily as they get harder to find and the roundtops dry up.

Joey

[SquareTopCollector]

     A guy falls for this restored V-81 but $6000. is out of his budget!

     Also a Vendo 110 is too pricey at $2500.

     So I offer him Cavalier 64's for $800.each.    Still too much $$ 

     My final offer, a complete working Coke machine for $400. (Now the guy is all ears)!

     I point up to the tall V-126 in the corner.............and his smile dropped.

     He then realized that $800.00 is reasonable for a small decent looking machine that
     has been serviced and tested and is ready for home use today!

     

Nice job Moondawg

[Witchboard]

I got some drips in the pan when I checked today.  I guess this hose didn't go to it.  It looks like an upside down bell.  I can see a cotter-pin like it's removable.

As for cleaning the slug rejector, where exactly would that be?  Also, how to I perform a manual payout?

[Creighton]

The bell shaped item is the drain tube on some Cav's. It fills with water and dumps it to the drip pan. Just make sure it moves freely and isn't clogged and all should be well.

Slug rejector is the assembly above the blue sticker in your photo. Should be held in place by clips or screws.

Let us know if you have any questions.
Creighton

[collecture]

See pic -

Rejector can be removed by lifting the two (one on each side) spring loaded levers at the top and flipping it out.

Usually the payout switch is located on the bottom right, but I am not quite sure on your model changer.

[Witchboard]

The bell on the drain tube didn't seem to move.  I pushed up on what looked to be a counter weight and it finally broke free.  It now pivots freely on the cotter pin.  I'm presuming that is the correct way it should be working.  Thanks for the tip.

I was playing around with the coin mech, and I flipped the microswitch under the slug rejector a couple of times and the "Exact Change Only" light went out and the mech started humming.  I wasn't sure what it was doing.  I thought it may have activated the gate where I could pull a bottle.  Nope, that wasn't working.  The humming was getting louder, so I unplugged my machine and disconnected the mech thinking I was going to burn something up.  I then removed the slug rejector.

The slug rejector seems to pass quarters, but not nickels when removed from the mech.  When inserted back into the mech both are rejected.  I'll do a search on the forums on how to clean this thing up and we'll see if it makes a difference.  Thanks all for the help.

[collecture]

The slug rejector seems to pass quarters, but not nickels when removed from the mech.  When inserted back into the mech both are rejected.  I'll do a search on the forums on how to clean this thing up and we'll see if it makes a difference.

The rejector will reject quarters until there are enough nickels in the change tube to give change.
Soak the rejector in some hot soapy water, flipping open the gate and cleaning hard to reach areas with an old toothbrush or whatever. Also make sure all screws are tight.

[Witchboard]

Ah, that's so obvious, it's painful.    I'll get the rejector cleaned up tonight and see what I'm dealing with.  Any ideas on what I did by flipping the microswitch and start the humming?

[MoonDawg]

       You have already spent too much time on that obsolete coin
mechanism. Place an order for a Coinco for $35 to $50 bucks, and
spend your time on more important issues of this machine. You will
find yourself ahead in the long run!

[Gumbo]

Welcome! Lots of help here!

[Witchboard]

       You have already spent too much time on that obsolete coin
mechanism. Place an order for a Coinco for $35 to $50 bucks, and
spend your time on more important issues of this machine. You will
find yourself ahead in the long run!

I may do that in the end, but I wouldn't want to rob myself of a learning experience.  I also have more time than money at the moment.   Thanks for the suggestion though, I will keep it in mind.

[SquareTopCollector]

if you are using this machine for home use I would do away with the coin mech all together and make a free play switch. You will soon get tired of looking for coins to get to your beverages. 

[Witchboard]

I don't want it on free vend, so the kids don't empty it. 

[Pat Pixley]

JohnieG Does a bang up job on rebuilding coin mech. for a fair price
I think he is still charging $25 and shipping  .
There clean inside and out repaired and set to the price you want.
  You may want to get ahold of him.
   Pat

[Witchboard]

Thanks Pat.  That's good info.  I'll keep him in mind.  I'll probably give it a shot myself first.  Can't learn anything if other people do it for you.  If I jack it up beyond repair, then I'll probably take MoonDawg's advice and buy a Coinco replacement.