Uturn 50 cent coin mech

[Bobwords]

Hey everybody! My kids have been running a lemonade stand and saved up money to buy a vending machine to toss into my bar and a couple buddies. Found a dude on facebook selling 8 spot Uturn machines for $50/ea, so have parts for ~4 of them. Kids want to do the 1" toy things, but everything I got only came with $.25. I wanted to get either .50 or $1 ones, but to my surprise, it seems like there aren't any for sale. So my actual question here:

Are there different denomination's for Uturn coin mechs I can buy somewhere I just can't find? Or - is there a different companies coin mechs that will fit Uturns?

Thanks for whatever help you can offer!

[RoadDogAmusements]

I would say the problem is the UTurn machines. they are bulk only I thought? Do they have gumball wheels or capsule wheels for them?

Keep the Uturn I guess for serving candies... but get a different machine for capsules imo. If you want to do 1" capsules you can do a beaver rb16 or a northwestern super 60. If you go that route you can get any accessory you need really...

[Bobwords]

The ones I got came with a ton of 1" gumball wheels that I think will also fit capsules? Or do they not fit capsules? 

[gumball guy]

On 6/24/2021 at 9:11 PM, Bobwords said:

Hey everybody! My kids have been running a lemonade stand and saved up money to buy a vending machine to toss into my bar and a couple buddies. Found a dude on facebook selling 8 spot Uturn machines for $50/ea, so have parts for ~4 of them. Kids want to do the 1" toy things, but everything I got only came with $.25. I wanted to get either .50 or $1 ones, but to my surprise, it seems like there aren't any for sale. So my actual question here:

Are there different denomination's for Uturn coin mechs I can buy somewhere I just can't find? Or - is there a different companies coin mechs that will fit Uturns?

Thanks for whatever help you can offer!

U-turns are generally considered to be a less than desired machine but by the sound of your last post you have already bought it so lets go from there. I haven't had one of those machines in years but if memory and research serves you can vend 1" acorn capsules using the gumball wheel and removing the riser underneath it. I would stop the financial bleeding and stick with 25 cent coin mechs. You can buy generic capsule mixes with a total cost of 8-10 cents per capsule at multiple wholesalers online so you can still make some money if you go that route. Honestly, capsuled toys are for kids so don't be surprised if you don't sell a bunch in a bar. I would encourage you to sell pan candies such as Skittles, Mike & Ikes, Hot Tamales etc... . You will need candy wheels to vend those items. The hard truth is that most locations don't need 8 selections for bulk vending. To the vending novice 8 selections in one small footprint seems like a no brainer but that just isn't the case. At the end of the day be prepared for the reality that the kids won't make a bundle off of this endeavor and will likely tire of the it quickly when they see the disappointing returns.

[PerformaVending]

U-Turn was/is a "business opportunity" styled enterprise where I feel corners were definitely cut to move units. These machines are notoriously unreliable, difficult to service, and thanks to unusual proprietary parts (doggedly protected by Uturn's lawyers) the used market for parts is wildly more expensive than for other machines of the era.

Some key failings on the Uturn machines include the vending mechanism (they are made of plastic, and once broken are very hard to repair), the cannisters (cracks are a common problem), and the coin mechanisms themselves. There are scores of videos on YouTube of people purposefully breaking Uturn mechs so that they freely spin and pour all the candy out. Even without deliberate interference, the Uturn mechanisms can be broken by something like a washer or a stack of coins jammed in and spun hard. Once a mechanism is broken, they are incredibly difficult to repair, and even then they are never quite right again.

Now for the subject, the legendary "50 cent mechanism." If you look up past posts (like 2013 or so) this was a hot topic as these mechanisms were already fairly rare back then. Today I don't even know how one might go about getting any- unless Uturn has suddenly made a new crop of them in the last few years, I'd put them next to unicorn tears and Half Life 3 in terms of availability.

In short, a vending machine business is a fun, inexpensive business for kids to get into, and I applaud your efforts to make that possible. That said, I would implore you to consider the deeper cost of the machine you are looking at. Many machines are more expensive up front, but cost very little in the long run with reliable components that aren't likely to break, and can be readily and inexpensively swapped if they ever do, while other machines may cost a lot less up front, but then cost exponentially more in the long run in repair costs, your time and effort to maintain them, and finally the lost sales from machinery that doesn't work properly all the time.

If you do go forward with the Uturn, we'll be happy to help you however we can- just know what you're potentially getting yourself into.

As always, good luck!