I have a location that i service 2X a week and i consider this location as one of the rare good money $ generating source to pay my bills.
Since this place is public and is open 24 / 7 and lots of people walking on a very busy street day and night. Im always praying that when i visit this location no one is trying to vandalize this location.
The location is been very good to me and to the building residents for a long time, until yesterday when one of the Selection Button is literally punched hard and broken the plastic supports that is activating the switch selection to deliver the pop.
Below is the picture in front of the selection button
The picture above looks fine but when you press it, the switch does not work anymore and it does not bounce back like a switch with springs behind.
The picture below shows the button when i opened the Pop Machine where you will notice that the supports are totally broken.
It is a good thing that i found the spring that means i can fix it for FREE.
Normally You need to buy a replacement button which i cannot find it at eBAY or Amazon. If you buy it from Coke then another $100 will drain your wallet quickly plus the fact the Coke is like far drive like 30 to 45 minutes plus the fact that COVID restrictions and hassle on getting in the parts and have to pay for it.
Easy fix will be to attach a metal hook and it will be working great again.
In the moment of writing this article, I have not yet been to the location, so I have to update this article when it is done with pictures and instructions and how to Do It Yourself For almost nothing and FREE.
I will update this POST as soon as Im done fixing it with Pictures!
Note : this summer is very frustrating for a lot of vendors: minor vandalism, pop selection SOLD OUT and they put Out OF Order Signs and do not know how to read if product SOLD OUT then no product comes out. They will put Out Of Order Sign Instead of SOLD OUT Signs.
Beware this summer there is a lot of vandalism everywhere, not only vending machines, ATM, but also along my place of residence where there are a lot of CAR Breakins!
========================================
Actually I just swapped the selection button with a working one but today when i visited the location I noticed I had another 2 selection buttons that was punched very hard and broken.
I had a big headache on how to fix this Selection Button.
I went to search online but there is no one selling this Selection Button only.
How to Fix the Broken Soda Pop Selection by Using a Small Blow Torch to Mend the Plastic Selection
If you have a broken selection Coke button it will cost you around $100 + shipping from Online but there is no one selling this at eBAY or Amazon or Vending Machine Parts suppliers everywhere!
It is my first time to get a tremendous headache today after watching the 2 broken Coke selection buttons to be vandalized.
There are numerous occasions that I wanted to give up the vending machine business, there are intangible losses:
- Time spent on repair ( delayed the whole schedule to move to another location )
- Customers swearing on losing $1 and calls you at 1 am to 2 am ( now i turn my phone off at night )
- Van being vandalized ( right i unload all stuff at night and load everything in the morning )
There was one sunday morning when I was about to buy supplies in Costco and Wholesale Club found that my Van was vandalized and everything was stolen, see pictures below
Sometimes if there is not enough charge inside the vending machine especially quarters, it will just take your coins without dispensing anything.
Like i Said i visit this location 2X a week since it is performing quite well.
People here constantly get mad and my guess was the person who lost the money tried to smack the Soda Coke Selection Button and damaged the internals, i have my phone clearly on all my machines and should have called me.
I successfully resued the old soda pop selection button by using a small blow torch.
I mended the plastic part together from the inside.
Here are the proper steps:
- Turn Power Off to avoid accidentally disconnecting MDB devices inside machine
- Remove the microswitch inside the soda pop machine
- Remove Screws by using small screwdriver and socket wrench
- Use an adjustable wrench and position it in a way that you can use blow torch to mend the broken plastic
- It may look ugly from the inside but it is perfectly working again
The small blow torch is just $4 which is a very important tool for mending plastic parts that are broken inside the vending machine!
Reason why did not use Expoxy because it may a temporary solution and will break when people bang the soda pop selection button again!
See the You tube video that everything is working great!
