ASVG Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Ok, so I picked up a DN 501E and have some issues. I have all 20oz bottles in the machine and supposidly they company I bought it from set it up for all 20oz bottles but I am not sure because I am not familiar with how to use the machine. I had to move the back slider to shorten the rows to fit only 2 rows and I loaded all the rows up to the top. I have Gatoraide, monster, full throttle, vitamin water, water, poweraide, pepsi, coke, and mountain dew. The machine is at a moving company and has been doing ok. I used to work for the company so I mainly did it to help them out. First week brought $25 and supposidly they are buying more and more. But my main concern is this. My wife works for the company still and she said a worker came up to her this morning and said they put money in and the machine didn;t vend. She then put money in just to test the machine out and it double vended the 20oz poweraides. Is this a common problem or possibly just a jam? Like I said I am not familiar with this machine but should I pull the product in that row out and take a look maybe they were caught up or jammed a bit? Or something I should look for? I'd prefer to try to fix myself instead of having someone come out and fix and I'll be out more money. Or maybe this is nothing to be worried about. The machines on my route I don't think I've ever had this problem so not sure if this is just what I should expect from this machine. My one final question if I can add it in there, row one looks a lot wider than the other rows and Im not sure if I need shims or maybe im missing a piece on the side. But I can only load 4 bottles in that row. If I load more the bottle will jam because 2 bottle can fit side to side. Any help would be greatly appreciated or in the general direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Wow... please use paragraphs in the future . Firstly, this problem is not unheard of with many machines, especially DN(Dixie Narcos). As far as I know, DNs typically rely on the sold-out switch to make sure that a vend happened properly. Other machines use a drop-sensor instead. This is why DNs will be "sold out" even with a few bottles still in the bottom, whereas a Vendo or USI may vend every bottle until no bottle will trip the drop sensor and finally give a "sold out" The good part with DNs design is that you have cold product still in the selection when you reload more. As for the product not falling and then dropping 2 bottles, this sounds like a common homing issue. The easiest way to *potentially* fix this problem is by performing a homing command on the machine. This should put every motor into home position. Now, to keep a few things in mind here, when you load the columns, you should have at last a half of an inch between the top bottles and the ceiling of the machine. NEVER load the bottles so high up that they are nearly touching the ceiling of the machine. Why? Because as the motors turn, it will actually slightly raise the column of bottles and add unnecessary pressure to the motors. This could cause some issues. That tip aside, if you aren't familiar with vending machines, it may be worth it for you to call a company and have them fix it. A local place here usually charges about $100 for the first hour and $50/hour after that. They could probably get this resolved or tell you what you need to do within an hour or so. Now... you may be thinking that this costs way more than what the machine puts out.. but that is the moment in which you need to consider placing the machine somewhere else OR simply taking a slow-moving product out of a good selection and put a good-selling product into that working selection. Also, about the double columns, all DN 501Es have 1 double column and 8 single columns (which adds up to about 10 cases of 20oz soda or about 501 12oz cans (hence the 501). This machine, if set up properly, should have no problems vending 2 cases of 20oz bottles in the double row. This is as long as (assuming everything is functioning properly and there is nothing bent or malfunctioning) 1) there is no shim in the double column which is meant for cans or smaller size bottles and 2) the back spacer is back far enough!!! And with that said, I have a sneaking suspicion that your rear spacers aren't back far enough and your product is getting stuck. Your problem may be fixed simply by homing all of the motors and/or moving the back spacers back far enough to leave about 1/2" between the bottles and the sold-out switch. Remember, the sold-out switch sticks out a little and your bottles might be in there too tight. If this doesn't work, then there may be some physical setting issues. I always recommend starting with the easy stuff first (homing motors + making sure there are no shims in the way + making sure the back spacer is far enough back). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Also check the cams on the motors. If you are goin two deep there should be two valleys on the cam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcron Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 I had similar situations with mine in the past...I think you may have the wrong shims in place. There should be a sticker inside the inner door which will specify which shims are needed for the type of can/bottle you are vending. Generally speaking the bottles require a metal shim and the cans require a plastic shim (sometimes two on each side of the column.) You have a mixture of bottles and cans in there so you will end up with a mixture of metal/plastic shims. I'm betting if you get the shims correct and the cams set correctly, the problem will be corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparta_Automation Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 I vote for the Cam on the Motors..... Travis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASVG Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Thanks all. So far the problem hasn't happend again and I sure hope it won't. I am thinking the problem was that I loaded the bottles up to the top of the machine. But possibly not. I'll have to check the cams and back plate because I know I did not leave a whole lot of space between bottles. So I'll have to make the adjustment of about 1/2" space between the bottles and front and back. Now it makes sense of using 2 rows of bottles in row 1 on the machine. That is good to know so I can put my best selling product in the row. I guess over time I will learn each machine and master them so I won't have issues like this in the future. And I think I'll stick to one make of machines to simplify everything, especially for repairs. Thanks for all the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendors Tech Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 One thing I noticed in your post, you said you shortened your rows to 2 deep. Were they 3 deep before that? That could cause problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Dixie is 2 deep on bottles 3 on cans. This is why the cams were mentioned though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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