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Author Topic: Progress on the VMC-44 cooling deck  (Read 21903 times)
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jholmgren
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« on: March 09, 2015, 09:01:51 pm »

Making some good progress on the cleanup of the VMC-44 cooling deck.  Got the base plate cleaned and painted, cleaned and painted the compressor, cleaned the condenser and evaporator and started polishing the copper lines.
Questions:
1) How do you clean the gunk between the fins on the condenser?  I used a toothbrush and shop vac but can't reach everything.  Should I take it outside and hit it with the hose?  I want to paint it but need to get it cleaned out first.
2) Polishing the copper - the single round tubes are no problem, a little sandpaper and steel wool.  There is a 'bonded' (excuse the incorrect term) line that is 2 lines in one - a small and a larger line (hi and low pressure?) there's a lot of gunk in the crevice between the larger and smaller tubes.  Any suggestions on how to get in there?  I'm thinking maybe my dremel with a buffing pad and some polishing compound?

Here are some quick before/after pics of what I've done so far:
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« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2015, 12:23:35 am »

What fun, typed up a detailed what to do. Gone.
Some sort of server error. PM phone # and a good time to call.
Creighton
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« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2015, 10:44:07 am »

Thanks Creighton - PM sent.
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« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2015, 07:21:41 pm »

Hey,Jim

Your doing such a great job I got a couple decks heading your way !!!   tounge  LOL

All is looking great Buddy !!!

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« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2015, 08:22:59 am »

Hey,Jim

Your doing such a great job I got a couple decks heading your way !!!   tounge  LOL

All is looking great Buddy !!!



Thanks Leonard - it is very satisfying work (to me) to take something rusty and ugly and make it look nice and new-ish again.  I don't have the specialty skills or tools to actually fix a cooling unit but I feel like I can tackle cleanup and re-wiring of one now.  Of course - I'm not under any customer deadline, so I can work on it as I have time.    smile

This weekend will be cleaning up the small fan and other assorted brackets and repainting them.  Both of the original fans turn smooth and seem to work fine during the few minutes it was plugged in but I'm ordering replacements from FunTronics just to be safe.  I'd hate to do all this and have to turn around and pull the whole thing again to replace a bad fan. 

Jim
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« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2015, 12:05:29 pm »

More progress this morning.  Decent weather here (windy and cool) so I got the deck outside to clean it up some more.   I mixed up a paste of flour, vinegar and salt to clean the copper.    Glopped it on and scrubbed it with an old toothbrush.  Let it sit for 30 minutes and hosed it off.  Pretty happy with the results.  It didn't get everything but its good enough for me.  I might have left it sit a little long since some of the pasted dried on.  I had to hit it with the toothbrush and garden hose to clear it all off.

Since I was hosing it, I hit the condenser and evap coils with the garden hose as well.  Flushed a lot of gunk out from the fins.   Once the condenser is dry, I'll hit it with a light coat of satin black paint.   Almost ready to start reassembly!

Here's some before, during and after shots:




« Last Edit: March 15, 2015, 12:07:12 pm by jholmgren » Logged

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« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2015, 12:42:32 pm »

wow Jim looking good, your giving me the confidence to try one of these myself one day
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« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2015, 02:02:30 pm »

        I think everyone who owns a machine should follow Jim's step by step directions, and do at least one.
        Not only is it a great learning experience, but it improves the safety, efficiency and looks of the machine.
        Fantastic job Jim
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« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2015, 06:57:24 pm »

Try using a little steel wool on the cooler will shine up nicely!!

Here is a picture of w cooling deck out a Vendo 23 just started cleaning it, not done by any means. . .
« Last Edit: March 15, 2015, 06:59:25 pm by Slapshot42 » Logged
Jared
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« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2015, 07:56:20 pm »

great job guys
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« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2015, 08:11:21 pm »

Looking good Jim, when I polish my copper lamps I use 00 steel wool, followed by 0000, then some Flitz on a rag, makes for a great shiny finish.  Though you can only really do so much polishing on something that only you're going to see when you open the machine to stock it.  Though it is satisfying to see it when you do!
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« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2015, 11:50:04 am »

Looking good Jim, when I polish my copper lamps I use 00 steel wool, followed by 0000, then some Flitz on a rag, makes for a great shiny finish.  Though you can only really do so much polishing on something that only you're going to see when you open the machine to stock it.  Though it is satisfying to see it when you do!

You make a good point Tom.  I'm at the point now where the copper is "good enough" for me and I've removed or neutralized any rust on the unit.  I'm not planning at this point to do a full restoration on the cabinet, it is a nice survivor, so it makes little sense to go really over the top with the cooling deck.  The copper is mostly shiny but still has tarnish in some of the crevices.  I hit it with 000 steel wool first to get most of the really bad oxidation off it then used the vinegar/flour/salt paste to get it a little better.

Next stop - grinding away all the old rust in the bottom of the cabinet.  A nice clean cooling unit needs a clean home.    I'm going to have to cut and drill out the blobs of rust that used to be the feet for this thing.

Jim
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« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2015, 12:31:47 pm »

I would replace the thread inserts for the leg levelers a very simple since you have the compressor out!

http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,16896.0.html
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« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2015, 12:48:39 pm »

I would replace the thread inserts for the leg levelers a very simple since you have the compressor out!

        You would Jared because you have a neighbor with a welder!  laugh I don't think Jim is up to that.

        His aren't nearly as bad, pretty typical actually. Soak with PB blaster and whack the bottom with a hammer.
   
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« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2015, 01:00:42 pm »

Well crap!!   biggrin  Mine looked like they were at sea for 50 years!!
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« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2015, 01:32:05 pm »

They've been soaking overnight in PBBlaster.  I'll whack 'em with a BFH when I get home tonight to see if I can encourage them to come out.  Otherwise I'll take my angle grinder to them with a cutoff wheel and see if I can make progress with that.

Those leg levelers are sweet Jared.  I may need to do that.  I have a few sources with welders that might be able to help me out.
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« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2015, 05:28:46 pm »

Made some good progress this weekend.  Sanded and painted a few bits, got those old rusted-on legs cut off with my angle grinder and sanded the bottom and inside of the compressor area.


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« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2015, 05:30:18 pm »

Also got the liner pulled out and removed all the old insulation.  The insulation wasn't quite as nasty as I feared.
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« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2015, 05:35:17 pm »

Looking Great Jim!

Looks like you are learning lots about the Vendo 44!!!
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« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2015, 06:23:03 pm »

Thanks Jared - yeah, this machine is a lot of fun.  It's so small that everything can easily be done by one person.  After I removed the liner it was easy to carry it outside for the grinding and sanding.  When I finished I had to get dinner started so I just carried it over and put it in the garage until next weekend when I can hand-sand the smaller areas of the bottom and prime/paint it.  Since I now have all the shrouds and other miscellaneous bits painted I will start putting the compressor back together as time permits after work this week.

Jim
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« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2015, 07:13:13 pm »

It's a great project glad to see you are going slow and not rushing the process!
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« Reply #21 on: March 22, 2015, 07:30:21 pm »

Yep - taking it slow, it is for me so I'm not on the clock.  Gives me a nice distraction from the usual stresses of life.

Jim
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« Reply #22 on: March 22, 2015, 08:06:30 pm »

 Looking good.. the inside of the cabinet doesn't look too bad.. no serious rust.... enjoy threads like this...
Thanks for sharing with us and letting us watch the progress.  happydrinkers
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« Reply #23 on: March 22, 2015, 08:22:45 pm »

Great job Jim. Keep up the good work and thanks for posting as you go along. It's nice to see the process and how good it looks before and after. Keep up the good work.
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« Reply #24 on: March 22, 2015, 08:48:55 pm »

looks great jim
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« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2015, 09:41:54 pm »

Reassembly on the cooling unit is almost completed!  I need to finish dressing and connecting up the new wiring but it is pretty much done.

Sorry for the poor lighting in the pics but it's getting late and we had a really busy day so I'll try to get some better pics next weekend.

Jim




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« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2015, 08:07:23 pm »

It's ALIVE!!!!

I finished up the wiring on the cooling unit tonight so I thought I'd take it for a spin while on the stand.

I plugged it into a surge protector (just in case something awesome happened) - turned the thermostat off and then flipped on the power for the surge protector.  The evaporator fan kicked right on and when I moved the thermostat the condenser fan and compressor started right up!  10 minutes later and the evaporator coil was down from 72* to the low 50's at the furthest part from where the copper tubing enters it with parts of it already in the 30's.  I'm stoked!

I just need to install the wiring clips to tidy it up a bit and it's ready to go back in the machine... when I finish that part of the project. 

Just for grins - here's a before and after shot and a close-up of the new wiring.  The "after" shot is a still from a video of it running, so it's a bit blurry.

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« Reply #27 on: April 04, 2015, 06:51:52 am »

Fantastic job Jim...Appreciate seeing the progress step-by-step. Great thread!
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« Reply #28 on: April 05, 2015, 08:36:17 pm »

Here's a short video (:22) I took last night during the very first 'startup' of the cooling system.  The observant among you may notice that I have the evap fan on upside down.  I did fix that afterwards.   Cool

The click you hear in the beginning of the video is me flipping the power switch on the surge protector to kick everything on.

https://vimeo.com/124172498

Jim
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« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2015, 01:59:16 pm »

Base of the cabinet is all cleaned up with a fresh coat of gloss red.  It's starting to all come together!

Before / During / After

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« Reply #30 on: April 12, 2015, 09:46:12 am »

As a V44 owner...please keep the progress and pics coming! As big as possible too! Pretty please!!
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« Reply #31 on: April 12, 2015, 10:42:36 am »

As a V44 owner...please keep the progress and pics coming! As big as possible too! Pretty please!!
More coming today - should have the tub and bottle-stack complete and (fingers crossed) back in the machine.  Couple of things on the honey-do list to complete before I can get back at it.

I have a Gallery page on my website with the pics I've taken so far, minus the bottle-stack pics - I haven't uploaded those yet as I'm still working on it.

Full-size pics are here - clicking on the thumbnail once will get you a bigger version, click it again and you will get you the full monte:
http://www.littlebluespitfire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9846

Jim
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« Reply #32 on: April 14, 2015, 02:41:33 am »

You rock! Thanks for the link! And my wife actually leaves me her list a few times a week and even titles it "Honey Do" so I feel ya!!
Thanks again!!
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« Reply #33 on: April 15, 2015, 07:08:14 pm »


Jim

It's looking great !!!! Keep up the hard work  tounge
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« Reply #34 on: April 16, 2015, 12:00:26 pm »

Thanks Leonard,

Sorry for the lack of current pics, I'm at the point where I am cleaning up all the little bits and pieces and my time is limited at the moment.  15 minutes here and there as time permits.   

I hope to finish up the last of the cleaning/painting this week and get started putting everything back together into the cabinet very soon. 

Jim
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