SMC Discussion Areas

Just thought I'd share a video of my Popperette in action. I took a video of it from start to finish and if you never seen one work, it is something to see.
the video is on my website at www.popmachineshop.com click on the Popperette Popcorn link on the top right and scroll down.
I'll probably reshoot it with better lighting, but was my first time uploading video.
Still pretty cool.

       Wow that is too cool John! Now I wonder why I have a craving for popcorn tonight..
(microwave as usual)  :darn

       Great website   :happydrinkers:

So cool! I need a popper machine. I can almost smell it with that video.

Excellent!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Now that is pretty slick, thanks for sharing.  Wish I had one of these.

Hey John,
That was very nice. Thanks for taking the time to post!!
Creighton

Thats really cool. I have a few questions.


The liquid you hear pour is that oil? What happens to the old oil or is it reused? AFter the pop corn has popped there is still some left that didn't go into the chute. What happens to that? Do you just get stale popcorn at the bottom of your cup?

Thank you for taking the time to post this. This is now at the top of my must have someday list. How practical is it to use on a regular basis? Are there reproduction parts available as I am sure the heating elements go bad regularly.

Josh,

The the cooking oil sits inside a small cup which houses the heating element. Once the machine starts a cycle, the pump begins to do it's job and move oil from the oil tank that sits in the very bottom of the machine. It pumps it from the tank into the small cup. As the cup fills it is designed to overflow back into the oil tank by means of a "downspout" or very rudimentary drain system.

All of the oil actually ends up on the lid of the oil tank. The tank lid is creased to form a downward angle that leads into a hole in the top of the tank lid.

Suprisingly, there isn't much popped/unpopped popcorn left behind. Whatever is left behind will end up in the next "cutomers" bag. The OEM actually designed-in enough adjustments so that the operator can fine tune the machine fairly well. You can adjust the thermostat as well as the amount of oil used to cook the corn by adjusting two thumbscrews that hold the oil cup in place under/around the heating element.

Parts? Not many available. John probably had the largest known amount of parts at one time.

The high failure items such as the motor, oil pump and, heating element are not reproduced. As Larry has mentioned before, he knows of some owners that have had some success modifying a new motor to fit. As far as the oil pump and the heating element goes I don't know of anybody that reproduces a good original.

If your element ceramic body is still in good shape, you can just re-wrap it with nichrome 60 resistance wire. Both Larry and I have done that. We took our old wire and measured the resistance per foot and found a suitable replacement that matched the proper wire gauge which translates into proper ohm's per foot. If you ceramic body is cracked, there is unfortunately no way to repair it.

I have had one prototype ceramic body made out of a material that I researched and it worked ok. I have since switched from the original material in favor of another and am in the process of having another prototype made for testing. I'll keep you all updated.

Surprisingly, the elements are pretty tough to kill. The most effective way is to run the machine dry with no oil or run the machine with the oil in a solidified state which is the most common way that people destroy them. Not only will you more than likely damage the heating element you will also damage/destroy the oil pump and put alot of undue stress on the motor which will lead to a burnt winding and a dead motor.

I've attached a picture of my element from my machine. A previous owner/operator ran this machine the wrong way and I ended up paying for it! It was already cracked by the time it got to me. I'm confident that the man that I bought it from didn't know either and that the damage was fairly old. The only thing that was holding it together was the wire!

Hey John,

Cool video.

The heaters crack from not being submerged in the oil.  Why the heaters never short out in the oil, is beyond my knowledge.

A few ways the heater can crack.  MY top ten list, sort of.

#1 you forgot to add any oil at all, moron.

#2 Your oil pump, or tube is clogged.  Both could be clogged by solid coconut oil, or the bottom (suction) tube could have a piece or corn (kernal, husk, popped corn) in it.  I use a screened tube and give my oil time to melt.

#3 The pumps piston looses it's screw.

#4 The motor is not working, but neither are your cams so that shouldn't phase you.

#5 You forget to replenish oil and continuosly make popcorn.

#6  Your popcorn pops but not enough to make the umbrella switch, and you t-stat fails while you decided to make a bag of popcorn and then left the room long enough for your oil to boil away.  Your house should be filled with smoke by now.

#7  If you trust the low oil safety merc switch, your float fell off or your rod jammed and your oil level eventually drops.

#8  You loosened your screws too much in the small pan to the point that the heater is below the oil.

#9  The umbrella switch goes bad and your motor never comes on and you and your heater stays on, hope that tstat works!!

#10  My friend did this.  You decided to redesign your discharge pump tube.  You increased the length so the flow of the oil will push out any residual corn in the bottom of the cooking pan.  It works great, but you didn't realize that when your machine was off.  Your oil decided to Siphon back into the bottom reservoir pan.  Then your nieces come over, insert dime, say "Wow, look at that pretty orange glow" and then say, "What was that cracking noise?"

BONUS #11  You decide to clean your heater and drop it, dumb a**. 

Thanks for the comments, yes, the are a pretty cool machine to see working... I have cheated the system and i took out the original pan as it makes quite a mess, and plus I use COcanut oil which is solid below 72 degrees or some thing like that. SO I preheat the oil in the resevoir first ,then I preheat the pump area and oil cooking pan with a heat gun for about 5 minutes just to make sure there is no solidified oil in the tube.  I usually do this well in advance of me knowing i'm going to use the machine for a party or something , as the oil stays liquid for quite a while especially if run ever once in a while. I have thought about switching oils, but the cleanup on the cocanut oil is easiest from what I've heard.

Brian pretty much answered all the questions but if you have more, please ask.. I plan on reshoooting the video or maybe taking some additional ones just of the inside to show all the motion that goes on with better light.. just gotta find time to do it..

Later
John

Nice job! I saw one in Sioux City Ia about 5 years ago at antique shop but it needed a lot of work.

What would that machine cost if it was for sale somewhere?

Do you do all the work on your machines by yourself?