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Picked up a Vendo 110 last weekend.  My plan is for the restoration of the machine.   So first challenge was getting the small coin door open.  Using the key I was not able to get it to open.   Bent the key with pliers trying to get it to open.  Finally gave up and took the advise given in several posts.  Drilled it out - took less than two minutes had the door open.   Spend two day playing with the lock and key before I gave it.   So will try and get some pics posted tomorrow.   Looking forward to my first restoration project.   

Before you start your restoration project and during the  process I suggest you take allot of pictures, they are great for reference when you are putting it back together sometimes months later.

Yes lots of pictures . Feel free to ask questions and post pictures on here as you go along, there is a wealth of knowlage on this board.

Welcome to the Site!

Depending on the condition of the machine you may consider just cleaning up the machine.  The restoration costs could easily outweigh the value. 

The 110's are great machines but I wouldn't suggest restoring for investment purposes.  They don't bring the prices like the 56's and 81's!!

Great solid machines..my first round top was a Vendo 110! 

" I was happier than a dog with two peeters! "

Finally got the door off and taken apart.   Yea I agree restoration cost will outweigh the value.   I enjoy the work and will most likely I will provide the machine to one of my kids when I am done.  Lot cheaper than working on old cars though.    So I cut the wiring to the coin box,   The wiring in the door was all that was with the machine when I got it, since it came without a refrig unit.   Does the coin box run off 110 volts.   Can I just plug the two leads into the wall to see if the coin mechanism works?

I believe the wires were to a heater strip to keep the mech from freezing up in the cold, the mech should be mechanical no power required.

Brian is correct.  Some of these machines had a small ceramic heater strip in the coin rejector that was designed to keep everything from freezing on machines that were in outdoor locations.  That should not be a necessary part on a machine that will be used in the home or garage.  If the strip is still there, it should be visible on the front of the rejector about half way down.  I would just remove that entirely.

I am getting ready to start a 110 restoration with my son so I will be watching for your pictures!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

You can use this machine as some inspiration. This machine is not mine and way overpriced but it is stunningly nice. Not sure who seller is but someone did a great job on this machine. I have no idea what a fully restored 110 would bring. On this one I'm guessing $4,000-$4,500 or is even that too high?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/atq/3611003204.html

Are you going to have it sand/bead blasted? Looking forward to the pictures.

Love the look of the inspiration machine!!   Looks GREAT..   Yes I will need to sand/bead blast.   Trying to decide if I'm doing myself or not.  Also what material to use:  Sand , glass, walnut shells.   Gor the door apart,  broke some bolts off, so have some more work to do..  Found the heated on the coin box.  I agree no need to have that on the machine anymore, its cracked so most likely just pull it off.   Machine has some pin holes in bottom of door so I will post some more pics of that when I take some more pics.   

I personally use glass or black beauty depending on the part.

I take mine to a local sandblaster. They use a 70 grit, glass bead.

Jared

I love the look of one that just came back from the sandblaster's, that new metal look.

Got the door completely disassembled.  I have four bolts I broke off that need to be fixed,  so thats my next step.   I was amazed at how the screws rusted so bad you could not even see the threads on them.   All the wood is bad and needs to be replaced.   Good news is, the wood is good enough to use as a template.  Think I may some issue with the bottom of the main door being rusted through in several places.  After I get the four bolts out, it will be time to buy a media blaster and some walnut shells.  Try and get some pics up tomorrow. 

I havn't gotten that far into min yet but I have been thinking that is the wood on mine is bad that I would use Trex or a similar synthetic product.  I would think it would work and then you would not have to worry about moisture or rot.  Just a thought.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Tim,

I'm not sure how well something like Trex would machine (anyone?).  It also isn't load-bearing.  The issue is there are MULTIPLE cuts required on several of the pieces...bevels, chamfers, indents etc.  Plus, the order of the cuts is important.  When I redid my 110, I had a master woodworker do the new wood.  He had to reverse-engineer everything, which made matters harder.  He said it wasn't easy figuring out stuff and was one of the hardest things he ever did.  Not trying to pee in anyone's Wheaties, just passing on my experience.

Wayne,

That is one of my favorite sayings--don't hear too many other people use it.  All good points!  I forgot about the load bearing issue and I wasn't aware that the cuts would be that complicated.  And don't worry about the Wheaties, I am eating Frosted Flakes.  They're Grrreeeeaaat! :biggrin: 8) :laugh:

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

I agree,  I have looked at the wood several times and the cuts required.  It looks simple at first, but the longer you look at it the more cuts you find you need to do.  I was thinking that I might cut two sets at the same time.  I agree that wood would be much better that Trex.  The wood peices are currently sitting downstairs on my table saw.   Best to use a hard wood, any wood or wolmanized wood?   Any thoughts

Cypress, Redwood, Red Cedar and Pressure treated all are good at resisting rot but not sure how they would work in this application. There are some bad chemicals in the Pressure treated wood that you may not want near anything being consumed.

I have read some previous posts and it sound like restoring the 110 doors is a nightmare!

   Looks like a nightmare, yes but not that bad.  I procrastinated for 6 months before I tackled this thing.

         Besides the rotten wood on the bottom, the door on this machine sagged way more than most 110's.

         I didn't make all new wood, just the support piece AND added a piece of angle.
When the wood rotted, there was no more lower support and the door was "floating".
I have no idea why Vendo did not manufacture this machine with lower horizontal angle just below the wood, like shown in the picture

Welcome to the site. Arcadia is a great town.
Creighton

Huh?

I think we need to stop this thread before it gets out of hand.
I think a new member with 2 posts under his/her belt with a comment like that is one that this board does NOT need.

Lets keep the thread on topic.

Agreed, this is no place for comments like that

I too thought the comment was out of line but did not want to throw any gas on the fire!  I suspect that the poster was trying to be funny but you can take comments like that to Yahoo because there is no place for them here.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

I've deleted the posts, keep it civil folks, or out you go.   :Oo:

Well I missed that one but glad it was handled  :smile: .

Got it, lets move on! Please keep in mind that the members on this site is are as widely diverse as the machines we collect. We all share a common interest, I would like to think the same interest brought you here. So lets leave that junk at the door and get back to discussing & enjoying our ever so addicting hobby  :biggrin:

Going over to a Tech Shop today to see if I can scan the wood into a 3D modeling program and then produce the wood members from a CNC machine.  Way over my head at this time,  but I  liked the idea so if another member needed a set they would be easy to produce.   Learning new technology is always fun.. 

I used to work at a place that had a VERY cool CMM machine, back in the late 90's. 

I had a little training on it, you could basically put just about anything in it and it had a probe that would work its way around the part and measure everything down to extremely tight tolerances.  We used it for quality control, to make sure the parts coming off the line were within tolerance.

Very neat tool, had a ruby tipped probe with X and Y axis arms, so it could go down 'inside' a part and measure hole diameters, etc.  You just had to give it basic parameters so it would know how far to move the head before slowing down and expecting to 'hit' the part and take a measurement.   

I do remember the guy who ran it missing a decimal point once - crashed the probe head into a steal bearing housing at full speed.... HARD.  That was an expensive decimal point.   :down:

Jim

I would certainly be interested in a set so please let me know what you find out and cost. Even though I think the wood in mine is good, I am going to replace it when I tear it down.

Thanks!

Tim

I'm sure you'd have a market for many sets if you get around to making them..
I'll be restoring one in the near future as well..

I would take a set depending on the price.

Thanks!

Maybe we could save the trees by having them machined out of aircraft aluminum bar stock!  :laugh: 8) :biggrin:

Yeah, that would work!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

I'd most likely be in for 2-3 sets if reasonably priced.

3/7/2012:   I visited TechShop last night after work. They suggested the way to go is a 2D cut on a CNC machine using CorelDraw software.   I started drawing out the wood last night in CorelDraw and was concerned about a couple items:   How critical is the tolerance on these pieces?  Do the pieces vary from machine to machine or will my one sample work.   I assume it will since I believe all the sheet metal was stamped.     I also was concerned about drilling the holes for the screws in the wood.  I believe it would be best to not drill those to allow for slight variations.  Thoughts on these items would be appreciated.   
Which brings me to the final question; sense I do not know the answer.  What would the group consider a “reasonable price”?   I have not even thought about that yet.    Does the large door 110’s have the same wood pieces as the small door models?    Should there be one kit or two kits; one for door wood pieces and one for body wood pieces?       

I agree about not pre drilling the holes as there are always slight differences in each machine with screw holes, not much but some... (for example, replacment door liners, they never line up perfec)..
as far as a fair price... it's hard to say since where not the one making them.. but just like anything before you embark on a project you have to get your costs in order..
I'd say the best way to calcuate it is add up your hard expenses for material and CNC time, plus a small markup for your time you put into this project and divide into number of peices produced = Fair Price.

and with everything I'm assuming the more you make you might get the price down a bit... and I do believe if your project comes out to be a very good replacment for anyone restoring a Vendo 110.. you should be able to have PLENTY of buyers.... Maybe even talk to the suppliers and if the product is good enough maybe they contract you to make a bunch for them to sell on their sites?  (not to put ideas into anyones heads , but possible)..

Good Luck.. look forward to your progress.. and estimates on what you think they'll cost..

Fox Creek
  If you need pictures of the inside of a large door 110 let me know, I have mine apart right now.
TFJ

Never even thought about the SD/LD potential differences.  Mine is an SD for the record.  Agree with Signguy on not pre-drilling and method for pricing.

Thanks for working on this.

Tim

PS-Good luck, we are all counting on you! :-)

Huge project. Thanks Fox Creek for taking a try.
Good chance money could be made. Hope it goes well.
Creighton
 

Yes would love to see some inside door pics on the large door.   Signed up for one of the computer classes I need for tomorrow.   This class should allow me to get started on creating the files I need.    So far I have the door wood apart and was working with that.  I also need to spend some time with the bottle door wood that holds the glass.  I haven't done anything with that yet.    Thanks for any pics you can provide.   

Fox Creek

    Nice of you to attempt .i would also more then likely by a set to .and I don't own a Vendo 110 at present time but the Future is still out there . But just in case :)