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New Member, Old Dixe Narco DN 240


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Hey all.. 

  I skipped the new member area and went right to the juicy stuff. I picked up an old Dixie-Narco DN240-5. It seems to be in real good shape cosmetically and works with some bypass wiring to circumvent the coin-ops mechanism. I cleaned it out really well and removed the can drop guide to scrub the entire inside before I rinsed it out with water. In doing that I seemed to have jammed the Temperature Sensor and it wont shut off (water leaked in?). The cans load down a fun little zig-zagging can rollercoaster rail that ends up at the bottom. I haven't seen anything like it while searching the last couple months

 

  So, I have a few questions. First off, what year was this machine made? Was this a conversion of an earlier machine from DN? Because it looks as if is had a bottle opener on the wood panel front. How difficult is it to change out the Temp Sensor? I see an exposed cooper wire fixed/welded to the Sensor that goes all the way to the back. 

 

  Anyway, it dispenses cans and lights up and looks great in the garage. I look forward to hearing some feedback on this beauty. Thanks!20190506_205326.thumb.jpg.43846c1d2c4b855d869efd6d6045ec91.jpg

Edited by NotYourKind
Grammar
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That's a DN door but I've never seen a cabinet with those vend mechs from DN before in person or in a manual.  What does the plate on the left side of the cabinet say?  The temp control needs to be replaced.  The copper line is the capillary tube that senses the temperature.  See where it ends inside the cabinet so that you can put the new one there as well.  

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1 hour ago, lacanteen said:

Let me warn you that you will be banned if you ask how to put a card reader on this heap. ;D

😂😂😂

 

Lacatneen, how did you know it was from 77', is there a way to tell from the serial? What are the tell tale signs? I already took out the Thermostat and used a blow dryer to at least get it to stop shorting out. Something inside that sensor (water?) was causing the fuse in the subpanel (garage) to keep tripping until I manually dried out the temp sensor. Now the sensor just keeps cooling until temps are 15°F inside, so I think I'll be ordering a new one. Thanks for the info!

Edited by NotYourKind
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4 hours ago, AZVendor said:

That's a DN door but I've never seen a cabinet with those vend mechs from DN before in person or in a manual.  What does the plate on the left side of the cabinet say?  The temp control needs to be replaced.  The copper line is the capillary tube that senses the temperature.  See where it ends inside the cabinet so that you can put the new one there as well.  

Thanks for the reply, AZ.. honestly I consider myself a well rounded researcher and cannot find a unit that matches the guts of mine either. It appears to be a wide angle can loading receiver, and the cans ride a zigzag rail all the way down to the bottom. The most similar mechanism I was able to find was inside of an old Cornelius machine from the 70's. I think I saw a Vendo machine with the folding type rails as well, but no DN machine have it. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to, to retrofit that rail delivery system into a DN machine.

 

Here is the serial tag from the side of my machine as well

Screenshot_20190507-103642_Gallery.jpg

Resized_20190507_104908_002.jpeg

Edited by NotYourKind
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That must have been one of their very first machines.  Since I've never seen one or a manual for one they must not have made many of them.  Back in the day before stacker machines the serpentine design like yours was the rage.  After the glass door bottle machines came the serpentine machines from Vendolator, Cornelius, and newcomers like Rockola and apparently DN.  The solenoid can probably still be found at Grainger and switches may be commonplace but don't count on finding too many other parts.  One drawback to serpentine machines is that if the cold control fails and causes the cans to freeze they will swell in the rack and become very hard to remove.

Edited by AZVendor
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3 hours ago, AZVendor said:

"That must have been one of their very first machines.  Since I've never seen one or a manual for one they must not have made many of them.."

 

"One drawback to serpentine machines is that if the cold control fails and causes the cans to freeze they will swell in the rack and become very hard to remove"

Good point, thank you. I guess it is fun knowing I have a rare machine, but tough to know that parts will be difficult to come by. It's a good thing USA products were built to last back then because everything still works as it should. This DN 240-5 is exactly my age, 42, and still runs excellent. Thermostat is nice and cheap, so that will be replaced soon.

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Was also wondering how much lead, if any, should be considered while owning a machine this old. I saw a listing on Ebay for a similar DN 260 that stated it was "Known by the state of California to contain lead and other harmful etc...". Although I've become accustomed to everything being toxic according to the state of California, was wondering if it held any truth. I have kids who love smashing the "Coke" buttons for an ice cold soda, not trying to get them sick.

 

It looks like the inside is lined with galvanized sheet metal, which would only be steel if I'm not mistaken

 

.

Edited by NotYourKind
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15 hours ago, orsd said:

Just don't lick the paint, and youll be fine.

I think some ancient vending machine dust got into my mouth when I was huffing and puffing, moving my 'body positive' Dixie around and climbing all around her.. she's a heavy lady 🙃

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  • 2 years later...

Well...either they made a special machine between the 60's and 70's or you have what I was going to make. The outside cabinet and door look like a dixie narco ddd8-250-5 or at least that's what I have, and the inside looks like a rockola ccc5 which I also have. I was considering combining the two  because i love the look of the rockola, but the dixie narco actually functions. I was gonna do a swap in the opposite direction, slam the guts of the DN into the rockola. 

Edited by Heissbro
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  • 1 month later...

I just picked up a dn240-5 and a dn310-5. My dn240 has the same inside. It seems almost impossible to get some good information on them. They are no where near as hard as my cavalier  C6-252. That machine is impossible.

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