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I am moving my "chrome" topic to a new post as I start the restoration process.  I will post updates on my progress as I go along.

First off, this is the 2nd Coke machine I've owned, but the first I have tried to restore.

It's in decent condition to start with, but not a show piece.  Just enough scratches, dings, etc, to make you want to bring it back to its former glory.  From running a case of soda and beer through it, its seems to be in perfect working order, so I should only have to worry about the cosmetic side of things.

At this point, I've removed everything from the inside (bottle rack, vend mech, and compressor deck).  Next step is to remove the liner and send the body off to be sandblasted.  While that's being done, I have to decide how I want to address the minor dings and dents.  I'm thinking of using filler, but do you do that before or after you prime? Any tips?  

A second question for the experts out there:

I am going to hammertone the liner and bottle rack, which are galvanized.  If you read Rustoleum's hammertone tech data sheet, it says "do not apply to galvanized surfaces".  Hammerite's website says you need to use a special primer on galvanized surfaces.  I've read through several post on the hammertone finish and everyone says they spray it right onto the galvanized liner, etc.  Am I missing a step, or does it work fine directly on galvanized surfaces?

I've sanded the galvanized before and sprayed. Another trick you can do to neutralize the galvanize is to wash it with vinegar. The vinegar will neutralize it.
 After blasting is when I added any fill, before primer. This way after I figure I had the fill smooth enough, then prime. When you sand the primer and the fill looks good and smooth (hard to distinguish it's there, or block sand) you are ready for paint,

Maybe we should offer this advice on ebay for $35 LOL

Seriously tho, good luck and ask away.
P.S. this is just my opinion on how I do it for what it's worth.

Mark

You can epoxy prime it after you have it sandblasted and do your body work over that .

I am currently redoing the little brother (WB-60). I plan on breaking the vend mech and compressor assembly down sometime in the next month or so. From looking at it - some parts I will zinc plate, some will be nickel plated and some parts I will send with the bottle stack and liner to be powdercoated, but every part from the whole machine will be sent at one time for each process as it is usually a lot charge. Thickness of the coating will play a major role in what is done to each piece - especially concerning the vend mech where things need to move freely! After I get into breaking the vend mech down, I'll have a better idea of what can be done to each piece.

I usually wash the galvanizing down with steel-wool & TSP (REAL tri-sodium phosphate, not the crappy "eco-friendly" version) which really cleans any loose dirt & zinc/dust off & coats the metal with a coat of zinc-phosphate (it acts like a primer, although you can see it with your eyes, it's there at a chemical level) the hammertone will stick nicely to it, the Vinegar treatment will work too, it acid-etches the zinc & steel to allow better paint adhesion. but doesn't phosphate coat the metal.

Hammer-tonesprimer is an self-etching primer & cant be found around here, but there are plenty of other brands available if you want to go that route.