Ten days ago [url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]BrickFair VA 2012[/url] finally came and went.
[u][b]The sad news:[/b][/u] The candy machines were a flop by any measure. Upon setting up I sadly discovered that one of my 1" machines had a $1 coin mech; it should have been only $.50. So right away I left that machine filled, but put a sign on it that it was out of order. Not the end of the world, but disappointing.
By Saturday night my brother noticed ([i]from behind; the machines bordered o
In my living room, the closest-to-complete setup yet. The 2 left-most machines have 2" caps filled with "LEGO candy" for $1. The 4th machine is 2" caps filled with LEGO arches, bricks and slopes, as you can see from my Photoshopped sign which is hanging in the machine. Machines #3 and #5 are set for 1" caps at $.50, which I'm still stuffing.
The bill changer is at my bro's shop, where I'm still building a deeper red box to accommodate it.
These machines are bolted to the box tops [i](yo
I've been quiet for a while. Progress has felt slow as I've been building my road cases (and awaiting parts to continue that phase).
Last Friday my brother let me know that 3 more Beavers arrived at his house. Those will complete my planned setup for this August - five NBs + my two cranes.
Also last Friday the bill changer finally arrived (thank you Gumball.com) on my doorstep. This, after two previous companies rejected my orders placed via their websites because they "no longer carry"
The only task on my calendar today was to drive 4-1/2 hours to Pennsylvania to pick up a Treasure Chest crane. After the disappointment of my first purchase - a very beaten up old clunker - I was super excited to win ($800) a new, unused machine. The pics looked great.
[i]And boy, was I pleased![/i] The eBay listing was honest. The machine's plexi and mirror back still had plastic protective coating on it from the factory. And the crane mech itself was still zip-tied on the track from th
At last, one box is done.
There were some disappointments, but it works. Due to a miscalculation (I forgot to consider wall-thickness in one of my drawings), I had to dramatically change plans. There is no room inside the box for a 3rd half-lid, so I'm leaving it with just two lids This leaves a few holds in the lid visible for the mounting brackets. And really, the whole double-half-lid design is now pointless. It may as well be one solid lid.
Also, I did not incorporate the intended
I am excited to have completed the [i]outside[/i] of the box. I still need to pad the interior. Alas, one measurement was off, and all items will not nestle inside the box as planned. [color=#0000cd][i]Oh man is that ever disappointing.[/i][/color] But to fix it, correctly, with padding around everything, would require the entire box to be built 2-1/2" bigger in all directions. I really, really do not want to do that.
As can (barely) be seen in this photo, I'm centering the mounting plat
I stormed my brother's shop and cleaned enough space for me to work. I was so ridiculously eager that I was racing along and, sadly, making mistakes. But ultimately, it's looking good so far.
Here is the bottom half of the first Beaver Box. Next to it, you may recognize from an earlier post, is my drawing of this box. I must say, [i]the bright red is so sweet looking! I cannot wait to see the green Beavers on top of this.[/i]
This has 2 latches on each side, because it will have 2 hal
I had planned to storm my brother's shop tomorrow and get working on the all-important Beaver cases.
But last night I won this [i]Treasure Chest ("100% working")[/i] on eBay. It's in New Jersey, 4 hours away from me. I will spend the day tomorrow picking it up. I probably should have calculated the gas cost before bidding on it. [color=#008000]I paid $205[/color].
And I am [u]kicking, kicking, kicking[/u] myself for missing the [u]other one[/u]. [color=#0000cd][i]Argh![/i][/color] Th
Trying to envision my setup. What started as a simple idea (of vending LEGO from a candy machine) is growing. As the weeks count down to August, I'm truly out of time. So this is turning into a "master plan" for future years. I'll just get done what I can for this August.
I was mainly interested in how all items would fit together - what would tower too tall, what would be too small. This is a fairly accurate depiction - but I had to scale the people a bit [size=3](ps: don't google for i
[size=4]Received the text from my brother: "[color=#0000CD][i]You got boxes here.[/i][/color]" Woo hoo! My very first vend machines![/size]
[size=4]They arrived the same day as the box parts I ordered - locking latches, padding, etc. Now I'm all set to build the first box. And [i]this[/i] is where I learn if I shall regret posting this blog, because my box design is impossible, or if I'm as brilliant as I like to imagine.[/size]
[size=4]Now just waiting a few more days for my bro to cl
The idle time waiting for my first machines to arrive from Beaver is tough. Everywhere I go now, I look for gum ball machines and toy machines, to see the variety of setups.
While standing around the movie theater lobby I spied this unit. I was struck by the variety and quantity of merchandise crammed into a small setup. Those are Beaver machines, so I presumed them to be the same dimensions as what I ordered - 11"x11"x30" tall (mine are to be 26" tall).
There's 8 machines on this one w
I received my order of [u]33 lbs of LEGO-shaped candy[/u] Yikes! The boxes were surprisingly small for the quantity. Everything's new, and a surprise, when you're seeing it for the first time.
Spoke to the manufacturer today, but they do not sell direct. They suggested A&A, but I did not find this item on their site. Anywho, I've got this 33 lbs to start with. If successful, I'll call A&A for this item next time.
I have [i]no plan[/i] whatsoever what to do with this candy.
I have ordered my first two units - Beaver NB26s. A 1" capsule machine for $.50 and a 2" capsule for $1.00.
I'm rather eager to see them. When they arrive I can get to building their first road case - see how [i]that[/i] works out. The road case is really the big variable right now.
My brother said to me, "[color=#0000cd][i]Look. Before you go spending all this money buying $300 candy machines, building $600 boxes, and all that, just buy a thousand of those little capsules,[/i][/color]" he sounded almost angry. "[color=#0000cd][i]And see how you enjoy filling those things.[/i][/color]"
So I purchased one box - [color=#ff0000]2,500[/color] one-inch capsules. When they arrived, I was excited. This was supposed to be a feasibility test, but I was actually giddy.
I si
MS Excel spreadsheet of my costs. It's pretty dismal.
My friend Michelle is constantly telling me, "[color=#0000cd][i]You need to stop coming up with ideas that are just "cool" and work on ideas that will make you more money.[/i][/color]"
It's true. I really enjoy growing the event in a "fun" way, and not so concerned about profits. It's a personal issue, and I'm working on it. Considering [url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]BrickFair[/url] attracts [b]~20,000[/b] people each year, I'm tak
Settled: I want the best, most trustworthy machines, large capacity for both coins and product, so they will [size=2](hopefully)[/size] run all day without servicing during our busy event. We're getting [b]Northern Beavers[/b].
With NB20 in mind, I sat down to draw my dream box.
The [i][b]Shipping Crate[/b][/i], drawn in blue, has removable [size=2](not hinged)[/size] lids. Each lid has a back-edge of 1/2 male and 1/2 female tongue-and-groove tongue, so when paired together, they form a
By complete happenstance, as I was dreaming of this bulk vending LEGO idea, I was also in an arduous box-building task.
My convention has a lot of materials to ship back and forth, and we've suffered some losses in transit. The most recent broke my heart with the damages, and the time and money wasted. I was determined to improve our shipping situation before the next event in August.
I [b][i]knew[/i][/b] the type of box I wanted for our custom 8x8x8' display units. They're the boxes ro
I was so lost in the warm fuzzy bliss of imagining and researching that I forgot to seriouly envision the real-world workings of my setup.
Suddenly it occurred to me, [color=#0000ff][i]Will kids have any quarters on them?[/i][/color]
Initially I assumed I would collect the change from kids' pockets as they left the vendor area, having spent cash at other vendors. But most vendors at these shows wisely price their items rounded off to the nearest dollar. So there may not be as much change
My problem - in my unique situation - with multiple vending units - is, [color=#0000ff][i]How to rack them?[/i][/color]
[url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]BrickFair[/url] has a lot of material to move, and we fill up a 53' tractor trailer. This bulk vending idea will be yet one more thing added to the full truck. If I simply toss the rack atop other things in the truck, it runs this risk of falling between large, heavy pallets and getting crushed as the truck jostles along the highway. I've s
Having no experience with vending machines, my mind was a vacuum - a black void that needed to be filled. [color=#0000ff][i]How big are these machines? How much space do they take up? What rack systems are available? Are they freestanding? Are they heavy?[/i][/color]
I have - of course - walked past gumball machines thousands of times. But I never paid them much attention. I hadn't put money into one in decades (except for my recent test purchase - and even then I paid little attention
I wondered, [i][color=#0000cd]Exactly which LEGO pieces would I sell in these capsules?[/color][/i]
The answer was obvious: [u]minifigs[/u]. Figs are among the most valuable LEGO parts. The cheapest, most common fig sells for $5 at these shows. Online Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the like sell for $10 to $20 per fig.
[url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]BrickFair[/url] already has vendors selling minifigures. One vendor has his own "build-a-fig" system, where kids pick the head, hair, torso
I own and operate BrickFair ([url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]www.BrickFair.com[/url]), an annual LEGO fan convention held each August in Virginia, just outside Washington DC.
Each year I try to add a little something new and fun for the public. I recently realized I had no such thing this year. I do have a long list of tasks, things to buy, things to build, web pages to create, and debug. But none of this will be noticed by the public; it's all to help me pack faster, ship more safely, etc
