Converting Dixie Narco 522 to 16.9 oz bottles...

[Vendingnewbie]

If anyone could break it down for me I would greatly appreciate it.  I'm at my wits end.

I have a Dixie Narco 522 built in 1996.  Coke landscape, six selection machine.

Here is what I have...I have 8 black plastic waffle shims that as I understand go into the wide column.  Also I have 8 metal shims, and 8 metal rods.  Why do I have so many for only a six selection machine?

I understand that the rods go into the back of the cams but how do I see those holes?  Also, what do the rods stick into on the other end of the column?

Are there slots in the columns that the shims go into?  Do they just set in the column loosely?  

Will I need to change the cams?  Previous owner was told that the shim kit was all he needed by D&S Vending.

I'm looking to learn as much as possible here.

[Corvus Corax]

Rods go in the middle hole on the rotator cups at the bottom of the single stacks.  Turn the cups till the are in a c shaped position with a gap to the right. Slide up the narrow shims and replace with the wide shims in the kit. Make sure they are seated all the way down.  Hand turn the cups to make sure the clear the shim bottom.

To hand turn the cups hold down the cup switch and pinch the bottom of the motor bake with one hand, and turn the cup with the other. Its fiddly til you get the technique down.

PS set the back space before installing the can/wide shims if possible. 

PSS the kits are designed for 501Es, hence 8 rods and shims

[Vendingnewbie]

Corvus, thank you for breaking it down for me like that.  For the first time, I finally can see some light on the subject. 

Do I use only one shim per column on the narrow columns?  I understand the black plastic ones are for the wide columns and I think they go two deep on each side.

I can see what the rods are for now, you mention that they go in the middle hole on the narrow columns.  Do I still need to install them in the rotator cups of the wide columns as well?

Also, do I need to change any settings on my cams?  

Do I need to power down the machine?

[Vendingnewbie]

@AZVendor Do you still have parts for sell?  I need rear wall spacers for my Dixie Narco 522 six selection machine.  For some reason it only has one right now, I need five.

[AZVendor]

No, I don't.  You'll need to find someone locally who can look at your machine and see which style of rear spacers you need.  They will probably have to come out of an old machine depending on the style because Dixie may not have them any more.  The manual shows that old style of rear spacer so you'll need to get them from a parted-out machine.  No rods go into the wide columns because they use oscillator bars, not rotors.

[Corvus Corax]

Rods only go in narrow columns.

[Vendingnewbie]

Okay, @Corvus Corax and @AZVendor, I went to the machine today to take some pics and try to install the shims.  As a six selection machine, it appears that all columns have the oscillator bars, does that mean they're all wide columns?  I took some pics of the oscillators and the columns stacks. 

If they are all technically wide columns, do I use the metal shims or the black plastic waffle shims?

Also my cams, as I think there's something missing from them, lol.  Shouldn't they have an adjustment plate on top of them?

[AZVendor]

Yes, all wide columns so you will need to put green and gold cams on the motors after removing the white ones.  Then you need black can shims (2 I believe) on each side of each column, then you need to remove the bottle neck supports from the center of the oscillator bar so you don't cut your cans.   You also need adjustable rear spacers for each column as well.  Are you sure you want to invest all of that into this machine just to vend 6 selections?  Sell it instead to someone who wants to sell bottles and then get yourself a can machine such as a DN501T or E model or even a DN368 single price.  Those at least give you 8 selections, 9 with the E model.  You also need solid plastic shims or twice the number of waffle shims as solid shims.

[Vendingnewbie]

I agree with what you're saying @AZVendor but I only paid $400 for the machine, I can get the cams and shims through D&S Vending for roughly $70 (I already have enough black plastic shims for two of the columns), and the cams are going for $1.25 a piece.  

Now the hard part is finding the rear wall spacer, but I have to think that a wide column rear wall spacer for a newer machine would work just as well?  Can you think of any that might match?  

[AZVendor]

Your machine probably used the non-wire type spacers so you'd need to get those out of old used machines.  Those style spacers aren't interchangeable with newer style spacers.  Several years ago I was able to get one old-style spacer I needed from DN but they had to manufacture it from their old drawings and they said they would no longer do that.  And that was before Crane bought DN with the seeming intent on ruining it.  Again, have a local repair tech look at your machine to see what style it needs and go from there.

[Joe101us]

If that’s a 522E I run about 10 of them I love them you need 3 shims on each side for 16.9. 2 shims for 20 oZ 

[Joe101us]

Take a pic of the back wall you have i may have the parts needed. If that’s a 522E I run about 10 of them I love them you need 3 shims on each side for 16.9. 2 shims for 20 oZ 

[Vendingnewbie]

Hi @Joe101us, it is a 522 but I think it's a T model.  I'm not sure.  It is only six selection and all the column sizes appear to be the same.

Here is a pic of my oscillator and back wall, the guy I bought it off of said it was selling 20 oz without any shims, but he gave me the kit to convert it to 16.9 oz or cans, however, I'm learning that kit is actually for a 501.  The kit came with 8 plastic black waffle shims, which apparently wide columns need two on each side so that will only do two columns.  The kit also came with 8 metal shims and rods, but those are for narrow columns which this machine doesn't have.

If you do have the rear wall spacers that will work, I need five of them, thankfully it came with at least one.  Let me know what you think and your price....

 

 

[AZVendor]

If it came with one rear spacer then remove it from the machine and show it so we can see what style it is. 

[Vendingnewbie]

Here you go...

[AZVendor]

Those are the late model rear spacers so you can probably still get those from DN or any other distributor.

[Vendingnewbie]

Okay, I have the shims in, but I'm trying to load 16.9 oz bottles and something is clearly wrong.  See pic below, the second bottle is supposed to lay cap to cap with the caps slightly over each other.  But this machine doesn't look deep enough to load two of these bottles, and that's without a rear wall spacer.  The second bottle is at quite an angle with the cap up in the air.  

Can anyone point out what I'm doing wrong?

Also, I have a pic of my new cams, I'm trying to do 16.9 oz bottles, how many ridges/valleys should be showing on my cam?  4 or 5?

 

[AngryChris]

The T models don't hold bottles 2-deep.  They only hold bottles 1-deep so you'll have to change your cam to have 2 notches.  However, it looks like those cams only do 4 or 6 notches (2-deep or 3-deep for cans).  The white cams had 4 notches do you'd just need the right cap to go on it to make it 2 notches... then set your back spacer all the way forward and you should be vending bottles 1-deep out of all 6 selections, for a grand total of maybe 25 bottles per column.  I couldn't tell you what cap to put on those cams though.  The yellow one might work over the white ones though.

This is the importance of knowing whether the model is a T model or an E model (it's generally one or the other in terms of depth).  The E model is slightly deeper and holds standard length bottles 2-deep.  And bottle caps should all be facing the back.  Cap-to-cap can cause jams.  If the machine tells you anything different, it's based off of old-style bottles.

[Vendingnewbie]

Thank you @AngryChrisI appreciate the information.  I will look at the cams and see if the yellow will work over the white.