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Here are some pics of my Cornelius chest cooler. It has been sitting for quite a while since I got it and decided to tackle it this summer.  I know they worth about a dollar fifty  :biggrin:, but it was el cheapo and I haven't had to put much money into it. Just wanted to see what it would end up like.  Here is what we started with. It had a Pepsi light on the back which I sold because I have a Coca Cola one to replace it.

Not much to it, so pretty easy to take apart. The base was not rusted, so it got cleaned up, primered and hammered. A new bottom to the chest was put on by a family friend.

New bottom of chest

A much cleaner and working system was donated

The inside of the chest had a paint that was almost like a plastic coating, so it got sprayed with a bedliner spray from a can and looks a lot better. The outside was pretty straight, so after some minor body work, priming and sanding it was painted. These pictures show the chest upside down. The front is red, back white. The plastic trim around the top will be red. The back of the cap catcher was hammered and the plastic front is now red. The lid has a new top piece covered in white vinyl. I have a stylestar light up sign to go on the back. I have the chest sitting on the base now, just need to attach everything. More pics to come when it is all together.

Very nice, Dan!

Looks great! I just picked up an almost identical machine and this thread will give me some good inspiration.

Lookin' good!  Nothing wrong with having a decent slider around.

Thanks. It is actually now all set up together, but I have to finish attaching everything. It is at my parents' house since they have the space, so when I get back to it I should be able to have final pics.

Did I give you the cooling system? I can't remember. I know I sent one to someone?

Pretty thorough work Dan ! ! !
Looks good! Be sure to show us when it's completed...

Yeah Josh! it still works great. You sent me that and all of it has been down at my parents' house about 4 hours away. Next trip down and I should be able to finish it up.

That is great news. That makes my day that those parts went to good use. I personally like the cornelius machines. I have had several and used them on a regular basis. They are very efficient and cost almost nothing to run. Everyone loved the one that I turned into a kegerator back in college. It was great for parties. but since the keg wouldn't fit inside you had to finish the keg in one day but that was never a problem  :drinking:  Are you keeping this as a user machine or will it be up for sale?

Oh yeah, we definitely needed it. Yours cooled well w/ a good tstat, but the base was shot. My chest was the opposite.  I'll just keep it. I really didn't put much into it, it just kept getting put off.

Here is a picture of the inside (ignore the screwdriver  :blush:).  The inside used to be an off white that had kind of a plastic coating paint.  I decided to use black bedliner spray, which I think will look really good behind a clean chrome slider rack and coin mech. Both small fans (the one for the compressor and the one that circulates the air in the chest) are running smooth and quiet. It is getting nice and cold and the thermostat seems to be working fine. Waiting to attach the lid since the red trim to the cooler is recently painted. Will post more pics...

  Dan,

                     S W E E T !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, getting closer to being finished. Here are some more pics as I know people like pictures.  Removed the old thin metal that was on the lid, cut a board, covered it in the white vinyl, and attached with screws through the bottom of the lid, so with the wood and vinyl that is higher than the original. Still need to put some weather stripping type material around the underside of the lid. I have the front "Drink Coca Cola" disc that goes on the front along with the cap catcher. I have a really nice "style star" light up sign that will attach to the back. You can see the holes on the front and back where these things go.

Can I pick your brains on whether or not anything should be added to the side in the white area? What ya think? I'll have the small disc on the front and light up behind the lid.  Thanks.

Looks great Dan!
I have a 7UP disc sign if you want it.
LMK

Hi!  New here.  Like the Cornelius pics.  I just bought one the other day at an auction for $20.  It is a Cornelius Compact 72.  Cleaned is up a little that evening and had it plugged in all day on Sunday.  Runs fine and stays cold.



I would like to redo mine as well and had a couple of questions.

With the woodgrain, did you sand or remove that or did you just primer and paint over it?  

I have a square Coke logo in the corner where your round one is, how does that come off?

This is my first project like this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

On mine, the disc sign on the front just popped off. The woodgrain was painted on. I had to do a little body work on a few small dings and just sanded it. You could probably just primer over it if the body is straight and rust free.

I need to post some new pics. The cabinet of the light on the back is going to get painted before it is attached.

Dan, the machine looks great.

Dan it looks great :tounge: Can't wait to see it done  :smile:.

I really haven't looked at the body of the cabinet too much yet.  The first couple of days I was more concerned with making sure that it was going to run and stay cold.

Any idea where I can get parts for it?  Maybe new trim on the lid and top of cabinet and a sign?  Also, there are some small pieces of hardware missing for the coin mech. Screws that hold a couple of corner pieces in and nothing for the coin mech to lock into.  The coin box is gone as well.

Your best bet for parts is to just keep an eye out for one that has the parts you need. They are around and can usually be had for almost nothing (unless they think it is worth hundreds because it has Coke on it). The signs do show up on eBay. I got rid of the Pepsi one that was on mine and picked up the Coca Cola one on eBay.

It is a lighted sign, correct?

Yes. It looks similar to the ones on the machines shown in the "machines" section of this site.

Found this on craigslist.  Don't know if it would fit.  I emailed asking about the dimensions and how far apart the mounting brackets are.  I guess it is a start.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/clt/1384085184.html



And I think this guy is asking just a little too much for this slider.
http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=5456996&keywords=coke+machine   :jawdrop:

There's a machine near me for $35.00.

I didn't put much thought into it until after seeing how your cooler turned out.

For me or Dan?

The first lighted sign you posted is from a vendo 56 decorator. It will not work on your machine unless you get creative with the mounting brackets. As it is the lid will hit the sign. The original sign sets back away from the machine. I will look for some pictures if I have them of what the correct sign looks like.

You're right.  I do remember the sigh sitting back and being kind of angled up. 
I just saw a sign and thought 'oohhhh, that might work.'

Still a nice sign though if anyone needs one.

I took the lid and hinges off my slider today and got it up on sawhorses so I can start working on it.  

The base has some rust on it and the underside of the base looks like it is in about the same shape as Dan's was.
The body has some minor dents and dings in it, but nothing too bad.  Nothing that a little Bondo can't fix.

The gasket that is under the cooling unit that sits inside the chest looks like it is shot and needs to be replaced.  Any idea where I can get one of those?

Also, Dan, when you painted the trim on top of the chest, did you take that off and how?  And did you replace the gasket on the lid and with what?

Thanks

I'll try and get some pics before too long and document my progress.

After looking at things some more today, I am a bit discouraged with what I saw.  :down: I won't let it get me down though.

I had the unit upside down and went to remove the black vent on back (the evaporator coil I think, I don't know all the parts yet  :upside: )

I saw a bad rust spot on the bottom and got looking even more and it looks like the bottom of the unit needs replaced.

And there is a crack or seam in the trim on the lid that is starting to separate.

The good news is that the underside of the lid is not in that bad of shape.

I didn't take the plastic trim off, just taped it off and painted it with plastic primer first and then paint. I is in good shape. The gasket that was in the groove of the lid was pretty worthless at this point, so it has been pulled out. I am thinking of replacing it with some thicker, wider weatherstripping.

If you can don't take the plastic trim off. It is only secured by the expansion foam insulation and is very hard to get back on and secure it. Here is a picture of one I did with the correct light.

Josh,  your machine turned out great, much better than original.

Thank you. I know I have posted this before but this is my favorite cornelius that I did. It was a great Kegerator! Sorry for the small pics. Its all I have.

Cool Kegerater.

I also like the look of the red Coke Cornelius. I have never seen one restored in red and the results, well, it simply looks great.

Hat's off to the both of you and your excellent restorations.

How hard is it to take the cooling unit out?  Does it come out all in 1 piece?  And what should I use to replace the gasket/seal under the cooling unit?  Would a piece of rubber work or is there a certain seal that needs to be used?

Does anyone know, will the compressor fit through the hole in the bottom of the chest?  Or will I have to pull it our from the bottom?

You will have to feed what is inside the chest down through the hole in the bottom of the chest. That's what I did and then fed it all back up through again at the end.

Well, I got the cooling unit out when I got home this evening and got a good look at the bottom of the chest.  It is in worse shape than I thought.  The rust was just falling apart when I would touch it, so I went ahead and knocked off a lot of the loose stuff.  Looks like a new bottom of the chest is in the works.  :down:

There is a hole under the rust where insulation used to be.  I think some spray form insulation should work for that though.

These pics are before I knocked off a lot of the loose rust.

As plentiful as these machines are why don't you use yours for parts and look for another one to restore.

Haven't seen any others near by.  I have seen 1 on CL in the Cincy/N KY area for $125 and doesn't look any better than mine.

Wampdawg,

Before putting too much effort into your machine, you might put your own ad on Craigslist.  I would like to pick up a Corny Compact myself just to mess around with.  So I put a wanted to buy ad online.  I posted a pic of a Cornelious and asked if anyone had one for sale.  I got two responses in a week.  One from a guy who must of thought his was going to morph into a V81 based on the price he wanted and one from a lady who just wanted to get it out of her garage.  I picked it up for $30.  Once I got it home it turned out to have major rust  issues with the cabinet, but the chrome rack, coin mech, and evaporator mounts were in good shape, so I pulled them out and hauled the rest to the recycle place.  I spread the word and already have a line on a Cornelious 150 that has always been inside and looks like a brand new machine.  Its in an office building and if they decide to get rid of it I can have it for the effort of hauling it off for them.  My point being that they are fairly plentiful and Craigslist can be your friend.  I will probably wait a couple of weeks and post again to see if I can dig up another one.  Also, many thanks to Loman for his response to an earlier message.

I have put an ad on Craigslist with a pic of the machine.  No hits on it yet.  I may put one in the local paper as well.  I know Dan put a new bottom on his but do not know how hard that would be to do it.  I only gave $20 for it at an auction, so I don't have too much invested in it yet.  And I only have a few hours of my time invested in it so far, just been something to do when I get home from work for about an hour or so.

Maybe just seal the rust with POR15 and fill the hole woth jbweld or something like that and spray the inside with truckbed liner like someone else on here did. That will probably work. Or even just lay down some fiberglass in the bottom then use the bedliner. it would be hard to see the work you did in the bottom once the bedliner is sprayed in. Its not a valuable machine so just make it functional and that is all you need.

I haven't put too much money into mine. My dad's cousin did the bottom of that chest at no cost to me.

What did he use for it?

I'm not sure what "grade" steel he used for it, but it is riveted on and you can see it in the thrid posting of this thread.

It is not super thick then is it?

It is pretty thick. You can't bend it. He has a machine shop in which he cut it and did the rivots. I am guessing it is 8 gauge, maybe 10?

Here is where it stands now. I still have to replace the gasket for the underside of the lid, put the rack and coin mech in, and finish the light for the back. I got some brass feet off of my parents old stove to replace the rusted ones that came off of this one. They look the same. It runs quiet and cools nicely. The thermostat works well too.

Now, your opinions please: Should I decal the sides or leave them as they are? There is going to be a style star light up sign on the back.

I would add the style star sign and leave it at that!  But I am not a big fan of all the decals and such.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

The sides seem to be missing something,  Add the decals

I say find some off flavor round signs (like the CC on the front). I've seen them in 7UP and DP (Chevron logo) - I have an extra 7UP somewhere if you want it. I think centered (off-center) at the top in the white would look cool.

looks great, looks much better than the original style.

This was the look I was going for.  Here are also pictures with the light added now.

Looking great!!
Like the fishtail. The pinstrip not so much.
Creighton

Thanks.
I am leaning towards leaving the sides blank for now. I haven't seen a fishtail decal that small. No worries, no pinstriping.

Did you do anything special to the cap catcher when you painted it?  I know you said that you hammered the back, but i am wanting to know about the plastic portion of it.

This is the back, primered and then hammered.
I used a plastic primer first on the front.

I found a light on Craigslist!  :biggrin:  Just the pics in the email today and it is definitely from a Cornelius machine.  Jusst have to get a payment worked out(check, MO, paypal) and it is mine.  Made my day.

Here's one with the decal on the side I found on Nashville Craigslist...looks pretty good with the graphics on it!  Just for ideas...

Cornelius (http://nashville.craigslist.org/atq/1423168465.html)

I have seen 2 Compact 50's for sale in the last week.  Both with no sign.  1 near Philly for $450 on ebay (didn't sell) and 1 on CL for $250 in Hamilton, OH.

Both look to be in pretty good shape, but I am not going to spend that much on another one right now.

Don't spend that much on another one any time.

Well, I got a sign on CL and got it a week or so ago.  Plugged it in and it works.   :biggrin:  Now i just need to get working on my chest.  Was sick ffor a week and just have not done too much to it for the last couple of weeks.  I do have a question though.  How does the compressor detach from the base?  It looks like you have to squeeze a couple of tabs together on each foot of the compressor but not sure.

Some updated pics. I wanted to see what the rack and coin mech looked like when inside. There is some pitting on each and they could probably use rechroming (don't know if I would spend the $), but I cleaned them up as good as I could. The coin mech works fine on a dime or two nickels.

Looks great!! What did you decide on side graphics?
Creighton

Right now, I have just left it as you see in the above pic. If I added anything, I think it might be the Things Go Better to the white on the side. We'll see.

Dan,

Looks great!  Nice work!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking: