I got a mid 80's Dixie Narco Coke machine which i think is a 440 from what i have been reading. One day it just stopped accepting coins nor will it vend anything. Checked the normal stuff, nothing jammed up and unplugged to reset (which always works before). Now it just wont accept anything in coins. just send them to the coin return. it does have change in the tubes. just bought a new vend relay (read where that might be the culprit) but nothing different. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Just to add there is power to the machine and it is cooling as normal. the light bulbs in the door are on. and there is one out light on which there is only 2 cans left in that slot.
If you look at your motors, you will see a colored plastic timing cam on the front of each motor. The wide columns motors have round red and white cams and the narrow column motors have either red-only or grey-only cams. Mounted next to each cam is the motor switch cluster consisting of three micro switches and two metal switch arms. The home position of any of these motors is when the short narrow switch arm is in a notch in the edge of the cam while the long wide switch arm is riding on the high side of the cam, not in a notch.
I suspect that you will find one motor that has both switch arms in one notch of the cam, indicating that the motor coasted past it's stopping point allowing the long arm to fall into the notch. This coasting can be caused by a gummed up motor brake, a broken brake actuator (hook end of the nylon brake that hooks and holds the motor armature), or a bad motor cluster switch.
Each motor brake consists of a metal arm that hugs the motor magnet, two pivot points under each magnet screw, a weak spring and the afore-mentioned nylon brake. When the motor energizes, the metal arm will be pulled against the magnet, releasing the brake and allowing the armature to turn. When the power is removed by the small switch arm falling into a notch of the motor cam, the magnetic field is immediately removed, the metal brake arm immediately rebounds away from the magnet due to the weak spring and this causes the nylon brake to engage and stop the armature from turning.
A properly operating brake will be loose at the pivot points, almost feeling too loose as you tap the metal arm. If yours is not this loose then you can spray glass cleaner (NO OIL) on the two pivot points and then tap the metal arm many times to work the liquid into the pivot point cleaning it up.
You might also have a magnetized motor which remains magnetized after power is turned off, holding the metal arm against the magnet. If this has happened you must replace the motor.
As mentioned before, also make sure the nylon brake does not have it's hook broken off at the armature.
If your brake assembly seems to work fine on a motor that is not at home then you may have a gummed up cluster switch assembly that must be replaced.
If you need parts for this you can send me a message.
Thanks a bunch. i will look at here in the next day or so and will reply back to this post if it works.
i checked the cams and switches and everything looked like it should. i did find one part that looked burnt which may be the culprit. i have attached pictures of the cams and of the burnt piece. Not sure what it is called. pic. 014 is the one that looks burnt.
that this is a DN348 if it's a 72" tall machine and that it's single price (you did say it had a vend relay). All of the motors look like they are at home with the short switch arm in the motor cam's notch and the longer arm on the high side of the cams. I can't really make out the switch arms on the far left motor though.
The "burned" part you mentioned, if it's in your last photo, is probably just corrosion on the common terminal of that front switch. Pull the connector off and see if that's all it is. I don't see any burning of the switch body so it's probably ok. If you do see burning then I can send you a replacement for it.
If all switches are at home and this is a single price machine then you might just have a bad coin mech. Have you tried a replacement yet?
You could also have a bad connection in the motor harness. There are multiple harness connections in the bottom of your door. Try pulling them apart and putting them together to see if that cleans up a corroded connection. Also look for wires that have pulled out of the coin mech socket or the relay socket. If you can see the metal tab on the end of a wire sticking out of either socket then it's a loose connection. Do that with power off because there is 110v in those wires.
If you end up needing a coin mech I can exchange that for you as well.
Good luck.
it is not 6 ft tall for sure. It does have 6 slots (couple of slots are bigger. There are no model numbers on this machine. i looked everywhere. it does say something like D903, 816, 330, 21 but that is all i found. No dollar changer. can you add a picture of a coin mech to see if it looks like mine??
also to add. i added a pic of what my coin mech looks like. it will not dispense coins when i hit the red,white, or blue. it did before this happened. Well the dime one and quarter one. the nickel one never did work since i got it. So this just might be the coin mech then,
and from the issues you say you've had from the beginning you probably need to replace it with a rebuilt unit. What you last described is that you have no power to the coin mech or it just isn't powering up. It does sound like you will need a new mech. If you will click the Send Email button in this response I will get back to you with information on a replacement. If you'd like to add a bill acceptor to this also then let me know that too. By the way, if your machine is taller than 72" then, with your column configuration, you have a DN414.
coke machine is 56-1/2" tall
Thanks to Randy B @ AZ Vendors on solving my problem. it was the coin mechanism. Got another one from him and swapped them out and worked like a charm. If anyone needs parts hook up with Randy on all your needs.
thanks again AZ Vendors
Hello, I have a question for you AZ Vendor - I just recently purchased this older model soda machine and it seems to be off in cam timing or something. There are 8 selections total with 3 being wide for cans and 5 narrow for bottles. From the loading position in each narrow column, 16.9 fl. oz bottles are placed in, each 2 deep. I make sure to put at least 5 in each time i test each column just to keep the sold out switch pressed in. Well my problem is that when I put money in and vend, the "half moon shaped loading tray" turns just about upside down to vend 1 bottle. There are spacers or some type of bracket in place inside each column(to the right side of each column) to let only 1 bottle fall at a time. Then i do a second vend on the same column, which slightly just barely turns the "half moon tray" again to allow for the bottle in the back of the machine to fall out which seems logical. But then when i go for a 3rd vend, the "half moon tray" assumes the loading position and no bottles come out after that. To sum things up, it will vend twice then on the third vend nothing comes out. Thanks in advance for any information!!
Hello, I have a question for you AZ Vendor - I just recently purchased this older model soda machine and it seems to be off in cam timing or something. There are 8 selections total with 3 being wide for cans and 5 narrow for bottles. From the loading position in each narrow column, 16.9 fl. oz bottles are placed in, each 2 deep. I make sure to put at least 5 in each time i test each column just to keep the sold out switch pressed in. Well my problem is that when I put money in and vend, the "half moon shaped loading tray" turns just about upside down to vend 1 bottle. There are spacers or some type of bracket in place inside each column(to the right side of each column) to let only 1 bottle fall at a time. Then i do a second vend on the same column, which slightly just barely turns the "half moon tray" again to allow for the bottle in the back of the machine to fall out which seems logical. But then when i go for a 3rd vend, the "half moon tray" assumes the loading position and no bottles come out after that. To sum things up, it will vend twice then on the third vend nothing comes out. Thanks in advance for any information!!
three cans instead of for two bottles. The timing cam must be set to a number of visible notches on the edge of the cam that matches the number of products deep in the column. When you vend 12 oz cans three deep, your cam must be set with three notches visible for the motor switch to fall into. This would allow three vends within one rotation of the vend rotor. When using any product that fills the columns two deep, then the motor cam must be adjusted to only show two notches so that two vends will occur per one full revolution of the vend rotor.
The motor cams on a narrow column in your machine are brown and you will see that the front cam is adjustable while the rear cam is stationary and that the front cam has square alignment holes in it with numbers faintly printed next to each hole. You will want to adjust the front cam by flexing it away from the rear cam so that you can turn it to align hole number 4 with the nub protruding from the rear cam. This should then give you only two notches showing on the edge of the cam for the motor switch to fall into. Test the selection and see if it now vends properly.
Thank you very much AZ Vendor, that solved it!! I played with the cams a bit and boom, I've got them right where I want them and also have the knowledge to set them for future changes in cycles, thanks to you! You are the best by far, and the only person I've seen on the internet providing tech support!
Glad you got both issues working for you. Yes, please keep me in mind if you ever need any parts or other tech support. I'm happy to help operators.