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Hey Guys,

I have picked up a craigslist find for $50 bucks.  I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, however my buddy is coming over monday and we plan on plugging it in and checking all the electronics and checking to make sure the cooling works!!  I was able to determine that the machine is a Vendorlator VF 128, however I have searched the internet high and low and can't seem to find any information on it or pictures of what it originally looked like.  I would eventually like to restore it back to original as someone has tried to paint it all black and put on vinal stickers.  Was hoping you guys could give me some information on what I have and where to look to get info and parts.  I need a new key/lock as the one that is on it will not turn.  Thanks for all your help and look forward to hearing what you guys think.

Thanks,

Shawn

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/148563_496276674739_681649739_7165338_4184113_n.jpg)

Hi and welcome,

I personally like the newer square top soda machine, Since I own one myself a Cavalier (USS-12-96), some here are die-hard round top only collectors but I say to each there own.  You may not find your exact model, but check some of the older models Vendorlator,  the mechanics may be similar. Good luck!


Here's a link to a pdf manual for a older 128 & more documents that may be helpful

http://www.vendoco.com/Documents/Serpentine%20128,%20192,%20256,%20384.pdf

http://www.vendoco.com/Documents.aspx?ID=14

Ray  

congrats, looks like a nice smaller machine.

      I believe your machine has the original paint scheme.

Moondawg its similar, but u can actually see the original colors underneath the black paint. It has the red, white, and light blue scheme under the black.

Rayg, thanks for the info. I actually wanted one of the Dixie baffled with the different size buttons, but 50 bucks was hard to pass up. I like the square machines, I am 30 so they remind me of when I was a kid!!!!

I will know more about my machines condition once I see what happens on Monday when we plug it in!!!

Welcome aboard!!  I've only been a member of this site for a short few months and these guys have been a plethera of information and expertise.  Congrats on the new find.  As many on here will tell you and as I have experienced myself, once you catch this bug, it's difficult to slow down.  Before you know it, you'll have 2 or 3 machines!

Where are you located?

Ken

I already have the bug.....unfortunately(or maybe for my wife fortunately) I don't have room in my current house for anymore big items.  Trust me though, once we move into a bigger house it is on like donkey kong!!!  I live in Florida, clearwater/tampa area!!

I suppose I've always had the "bug", but being the military I was never able to really get one as it was too difficult to keep moving around.  Now that I'm retired, I've now added 3 machines to the house, one of which I've just sold, but will get another one soon I'm sure.

Tampa, huh?  That's cool.  What sort of issues do you run into with rust?  If you're buying machines in your area, I would think that would be a big concern being on the coast and all.  I bet you can still find lots of cool machines there though!  I'm located in Austin, TX area, so if you need anything from this area, drop me a line!  Have fun and happy hunting.

Ken

I live in the east coast in Stuart... I was just over in Clearwater last month...

Ken you don't live far from my sister and brother in law. They live in the Round Rock area. In fact he is one of the new round rock park rangers. I will let u know if i ever need ya to check something out for me.

Jim when ya coming back this way? I am a complete newb, would love to have ya come school me on all things vending machine!!!!!!

Cool.  Yeah, I spend a lot of time in Round Rock, that's the nearest Sam's and they're the ones with all the Coke bottles!  Haha.  That's pretty cool.  Small world.

So anyone live in Florida that would be willing to come over and look over my machine and be here when I plug it in for the first time?? Not really sure what all to look for and dont wanna do damage to machine or the house when I plug it in for the first time.  Might be over worrying but hey bettersafe than sorry. Besides it would be nice to meet some people from the forum.

Anyone???

If you can wait until next April ish.... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I might be heading that way...

Have you visually checked all the wiring etc? Is it brittle? If it all looks okay and all leads are connected etc  I'd go ahead and plug the baby in. Perhaps use a circuit breaker if your
house circuit doesn't have one.

You'd be surprised how these old girls just kick up and start running.

Make sure there are no bare wires exposed or brittle/broken wires and plug it in; you may be surprised to find the unit still works!

All the wires appear to be in good shape.  Checked the fuse panel that the plug I wanna plug it into is on and it is a 20 amp fuse.  I haven't had a chance to look super close at all the wires and make sure they are in perfect shape.  The main reason I am nervous is the guy who I bought it from said that when he plugged it in it blew his whole fuse panel, but when I got there to look at it he wasn't home and his son (who was in his 20's) said that it had worked fine and they just didn't want it anymore.  I did notice when I got there that they had it connect to a extension cord so I am wondering if that was their problem????  Guess I will just have to plug her in and see what happens???  Worse case.....my Father-in-law is an electrician!!

Can you post a pic of the wiring? I am in AZ, which is a little far to pop over.
What I'm getting at is maybe we can tell whether the wiring looks original or slopped together.
One of our members (johnnieG) wrote up a check list.
Here is what I can remember -
BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN:
1. Unplug the coin mech
2. Turn the thermostat off
3. Make sure both of the fan blades turn freely
4. Check for any bare or exposed wires

If you log in on the main page, you'll have access to the Downloads Area. There you can view/download any number of manuals, but the Vendorlator 56/63/90/126/154 will probably have similar wiring diagrams to your machine.
Good luck!

collecture.....thanks for the info......any idea where I can find johnieG's write up???  Tried searching for it several different ways with no luck.

Thanks,
Shawn

He is one of the moderators here at SMC.

Here is the thread I was referring to:
http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,13717.msg105569.html

Scroll down until you see his post....

Thank you Sir!!!  I shall go home and follow those steps and see what I have!!!!  Hopefully everything is  8) and I won't be  :darn:

Shawn, 
You might want to us a power strip with 15 amp breaker and switch as precaution to kill the power fast at the 1st sign of trouble (smoke, loud noises, sparks etc).   

Ray