SMC Discussion Areas

About a month ago I bought my first vending machine. It is a vendorlator VF-165 and I absolutly love it! Bought it off of craigslist for $150 and she runs great. When I first got it I think it was outside because there seemed to be an inch of dirt in the bottom and there are some dents that look like it has been shot with a BB gun but I got it all cleaned up and it looks like a different machine. Right now I have it in my dorm room and we have had a lot of people on our floor coming by to see it. It is a neat machine and it even has the can opener in the front (Which does not work with modern cans I found out it just ends up shooting pop all over the side of the machine and the floor :laugh:) Here are some pictures I took of it when I first got it and some before and after shots of it all cleaned up.

Vending things
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0754.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0754.jpg)
inside the front door
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0747.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0747.jpg)
wiring diagrams and can chute to the door
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0752.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0752.jpg)
Insides
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0751.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0751.jpg)
Before and after cleaning front shot
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_beforeandafter2.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=beforeandafter2.jpg)
Before and after cleaning side view
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_beforeandafter.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=beforeandafter.jpg)
Inside front door and can opener
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0748.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0748.jpg)
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/th_DSCF0745.jpg) (http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/?action=view&current=DSCF0745.jpg)

Looks great!!
Creighton

Thank you! Spent a few days cleaning that thing out. Discovered that some parts were a different color than I orgionally thought. lol

Good stuff!  Where do you go to school?

UNL in nebraska

Nice machine... Even nicer if it starts paying for itself...

Oh oh!!! Someone has the bug now! :biggrin:   Welcome to the "club" and I know this will just be a first of many.

I like how you call the machine "she" and "she" is in your dorm room! 

That is the perfect dormroom machine. In nice shape, retro look and indestructable. Have fun with it!

Have fun with it and make sure you set the price of beer :happydrinkers: high enough so you don't have to pay for your own!  I wish I would have had a machine in my dorm room.  I could have made a fortune!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Well first thing  Welcome to the site , this is a great site and a great bunch of guy's here to help out when you may need it.

  And that is a nice looking machine you did a great job of cleaning it up and like some of the guy's have already said make sure your covering the cost and maybe making a little extra :smile:.

 Pat

Thanks we are going to try to sell cans of pop for around 50 cents a can. I need to make some money to get a new coin mech. The one I got is giving me some problems. We did get the OK to sell pop on our floor from the people who are in charge of the floor just going to wait untill finals week is over and then we will post some signs and maybe get some business.

You should start making room for your next machine...it's going to be sooner than you expect.

find one of the soda signs that have a chalk board on it so you can post the prices of the sodas on it

Maybe your next machine should be a sandwich vendor?
And a popcorn machine.
And a .....

Terry

That is how I started. Had my 1st machine in the dorm at college. Sorry, you've got the bug now!

I do hope to get some more machines sometime but I will have to wait. I think one machine is enough to fit in the room and this is a great machine. The thing that sold me on it is the sign and the flavor selections. I really like the old logos and the whole 3D pepsi logo. I do like the simplicity of the inside of the machine. All there seems to be is some switches and some solenoids. It is also pretty strong. Someone tried to break into it before I got it and it looks like they used a crowbar on the door and the thing is still closed and seals like it should. I hope to start selling pop soon just got to get the word around that I am selling it.

Oh, word of the machine will get around, no worries there.  Probably having never seen an old machine like that will draw them in, and then to find out it's loaded  that will keep them coming back.  It has a lot more appeal and style than the bulky boxes sitting in front of the local Walmarts

It has gotten some people to stop and walk back just to see what it is and when they figure it out they think it is the coolest thing they have ever seen. I am thinking of putting up a sign in the elevator lobby that way people will see it when they are waiting for the elevator. Do you guys know if it would be cheaper to buy the pop from pepsi or if we just got the 24 packs from the grocery store?

buy it in bulk yourself from SAMS club, or COSCO. Don't bother with Pepsi, they'll just shove one of their machines in along side of it!  :tounge: & the local Pepsi distribution center could even claim that you're cutting into their territory  :biggrin:

Or not even deal with you. Johnie's right, go to Costco or Sam's or your local  big bulk vendor, and watch the weekly supermarket papers for sales.

Thanks for the info. I bet it would be a problem contacting them. I had a hard enough time asking them if they knew where I could find those flavor strips for the machine. I ended up getting a response saying contact some place that had nothing to do with what I was asking about. I will check the ads for 24 packs. Sometimes they have them for 5 or 6 dollars.

I have made a few calls to the Coca Cola distributors (company owned) in my area and they either are not willing to talk to you or will only sell to you if you want to buy a minimum of 25 cases.  I did find the one remaining independent Coca Cola distributor in my state and they will sell direct; however, they are about a 6 hour drive from me.  I stop in and buy the 8 oz. glass bottles when I am in their area but that is only a couple of times a year.

Johnie and Kilroy are correct!  Being that your machine is a can machine, Sam's Club or Costco will be your best bet although Costco has yet to resolve their issue with Coke!  :darn:  The discount warehouses typically sell in cases of 32 rather than 24.  Although, I would also watch the sale ads at the local grocer and Target as they often have deals at $5.00 for a 24 pack.  At my local Costco, a 32 pack of Pepsi product costs around $8.00 or $0.25 a can.  You should be able to pay for a new coin mech and the entire machine pretty quickly it at $0.50 a can and that will still be a lot cheaper than anywhere else.  If you have a can deposit in your area, make sure to add that to the price!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

We (my office ) use to buy direct from the coke distributer as the employess liked the 16 oz plastic bottles...
I just went along with it, as I didn't see the bills as it was set up before I came on board.. foudn out they where paying something like 22.00 dollars a case or something rediculous...
We obviously stopped that immediately and now buy cans in bulk when they go on sale at Sams Club or walmart for 5-6 dollars a case...

I actually found some pop that I would like to stock my machine with. You guys ever had that throwback stuff from pepsi? They just use real sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup and in my opinion it tastes a little bit better and I love them using the old logos on the cans. They got the hillbilly on the mountain dew cans and the pepsi cans have a logo that is similar to what I have on my machine. I thought it was pretty neat.

I had thought the throwbacks were a limiited run, it's been off the shelves here in Detroit since end of summer.

They still have them here in Indiana at WalMart and Kmart. "Heritage" Dr. Pepper, Throwback Mountain Dew and Throwback Pepsi. I bought some of the Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper last weekend and stocked my garage can machine with some. The Dr. Pepper definitely tastes better, haven't tried the Dew yet!

Brian what part of Indiana, they stopped selling it in Chicago.

Never tried Heritage Dr. Pepper before. Where do you get that from? Sounds like it would be good. Also why did they start using the corn syrup in pop anyway? The throwback stuff here was no more expensive than regular mountain dew and there was not much of a difference in the nutritional stuff either. I think the throwback had something like 1 gram of sugar less than the regular stuff.

High fructose corn syrup is much cheaper than sugar, so the soda companies make more $$ per serving.

I just saw it in Florida when visiting my parents this week.

Dan,

Where were you visiting in Florida...?

Spring Hill...maybe an hour north of Tampa.

The MD, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper cans were at Target today here in VA. I picked up the Dr. Pepper.

a candy close by has the Dr Pepper in the small bottles with the original look to them and I think the near original taste as well

I am getting excited now. I go back to school in a few days and I have not seen my machine for maybe 3 or 4 weeks. Starting to miss it. lol!

Got my machine stocked now. got 3 different types of mountain dew including the throwback and I got some pepsi throwback in there too. I also got the bottle caps for the labels and now the pop displayed is actually what is in the section. (Thanks Creighton!) Now I just need to get a new coinmech and my machine should be running perfectly.

I was in Costco in Brighton, MI and they have the 18 packs of the throwback Pepsi and Mountain Dew.  Kinda took a second look when I saw the Pepsi in the old 70's can.  I forgot to take note of the price but I don't think it was too expensive.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

I did some more work on my machine sunday. The pepsi logo on the pepsi selection had the red part so faded that there was no trace of paint left and someone took the logo and put it in upside down so I took on the task to fix it. Amazing how much you have to do to take out a part that is only the size of a credit card. I was also lucky that my roommate bought some "Clear red" model paint that was just sort of translucent (Model Masters Clear Red if anyone needs some). Not good for brake lights like he wanted but works great for light up signs. Anyway I painted the red part and put it all back together. Looks great. Let me know what you think.

Here is what I had to do this to get...
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/DSCF0865.jpg)
This part out
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/DSCF0867.jpg)

Here is the final product.
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/DSCF0870.jpg)
and here it is all lit up.
(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/DSCF0872.jpg)

Nice job...

Thanks!

Ok today I figured out why there was rust in the bottom. The drain tube was plugged all this time and I never knew it. Luckely I had a drinking straw and the thing just opened right up.

I should be getting a new coin mech soon so I will not have to unplug the coin mech everytime I get something out of it and I am starting to make some money with the machine. My roommate has been buying pop from it like nobodies business. lol

I got the new coin mech a little while back and it is working great. Just today I got some unused caps from the Dublin Dr. Pepper people so that I can have an old style cap for Dr. Pepper. They are really neat looking.

After doing some more reasearch I have an estimate for the earliest age of my machine. From what I found is that the logo on the sides of the machine was brought out in 1965 according to a document from pepsi and in that same document it said that full production of canned pepsi started in that same year so the oldest my machine can be is about 45 years old and since it has the can opener I am going to guess that it was made within a few years of 1965. Does that sound about right?

Your logic is sound, and I'd also be guessing 1965, give or take a few months

Sweet!  :biggrin:

Rememeber to show it some respect,  it's probably older than you dad..... LOL

lol! Actually hes got it beat by a few years. :laugh:

I'm going to look for the garden hose to sic on you punk kids