MrPenn Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Finally finished my Snackshop 500 machine running on Arduino & a Raspberry Pi. The program I wrote has the ability to control the whole machine etc. motors, coin mech, bill validator, lights, and even allows me to check inventory and cash at any location. Everything is original including the keypad. I added an LCD panel also to know when a button is clicked and just other stuff. Took a couple weeks but upgrading this older machine is completely possible and can probably have more functionality than newer machines. Cost me a total of 300$. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Why would you put even one penny into such an old machine that you can't even get parts for? Yea for you for making it work, but to what end when the motors crap out on you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post MrPenn Posted April 2, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 2, 2023 Spare parts for??? It has a brand new coin mech, brand new bill validator, would never need to replace the motherboard because it was gutted. The only part that could possibly ever need to be replaced is the motor. I re-wired every motor, and cleaned them completely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 It doesn't matter. The motors do fail. You can't get the door handle, shelf fronts, spirals, door trim, coin chute, front buttons, coin return cup or linkage, shelf or cabinet harnesses, power supply, basically whatever you could imagine, you can't get because the machine is 40 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 That’s awesome! I have a boatload of spare parts for these 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Just curious, what happens when one of the weak AC motors jam mid-cycle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tblake05 Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Ya that’s pretty neat. I often wondered about using a pi and Arduino to run a machine. then various adapters/software to allow for different machines. can you communicate over mdb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPenn Posted April 3, 2023 Author Share Posted April 3, 2023 Yes I can communicate with it over MDB, that was the most difficult part. It runs on python. Just parsing the data from the MDB commands can be difficult, mainly the coin mech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCandyMaN Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 On 4/2/2023 at 2:41 AM, AZVendor said: It doesn't matter. The motors do fail. You can't get the door handle, shelf fronts, spirals, door trim, coin chute, front buttons, coin return cup or linkage, shelf or cabinet harnesses, power supply, basically whatever you could imagine, you can't get because the machine is 40 years old. the point is... is that an older machine can be upgraded without having to spend for a new one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 If you ever need any of the items AZ mentioned I’ve got them. I bought a route years ago with 30 AP500’s. Just pay the shipping and they are yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seigel Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 MrPenn, this is amazing! I was wondering if you have shared anywhere the ideas and even some of the challenges you overcame while doing this. I would love to know more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 It's not just amazing, it's actually stupid. He should have done it with an AP113 or something more usable than a 40 year old dinosaur that looks like a dinosaur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I'm always curious about what counts as "everything" when someone says "everything is original" but then they list all of the new retrofitted parts that were added to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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