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Okay...sorry.... no dope to found here but thought the heading might catch your attention.  I wanted to take on a new type of challenge...at least very new to me.  Rather than be progressive and move onto the next Slot platform, I wanted to take a big step backwards in time.  I picked up a Stoner Candy machine that is need of some major refurbishment and thought I would share the experience start to finish if anyone has interest in it.  I expect the whole process to take a month or two to get it finished.  What game room or home theater would be finished without something like this right?

First off some history...and by no means am I an expert.  If anyone out there has more information on these I hope you will post it as I am very interested to learn more of it's history.  Stoner was a company in Aurora, IL that produced various styles of this vending machine.  To my knowledge the one I have is called a "Stoner Junior" and was produced some time clear back in the 1940's.  It's a 6 unit vendor but they also had a slightly larger one that was a 8 unit.  Dang hard to believe this little gem is around 70 years old.  These machines were commonly found at your local theaters, barber shops, gas stations, and so on.  What really attracts me to these machines aside from the historic value is their aesthetics and design.  If you take a look at the fine details you can really see the Art Deco influence as well as the Industrial Revolution influence.  This machine was originally a Nickel machine but it's been modified to take Quarters which tells me the last time it was used before it was put into storage was probably back in the 1970's.

Before I get started....first I have to say some thanks.  First to Slot Monkey, who donated the machine for the project.  I say "donated" because he has not stopped by to pick up his trade yet....Mr. Slot Monkey...please come get your trade.  And also to FORDSBS who volunteered to take over the exterior repair and refinishing for some horse trading....Ford you forgot to tell me what color of horse you want?

Here are some "Before" Pictures to get us started:

Couple more:

First things first I guess....get organized.  What needs to be done?

1)  All exterior and interior metal frame has some bumps and bruises that need ironed out.  Get the surface rust off.  Prime, paint, apply custom decals, and finish with some clear coats. 

2)  The display glass is shot.  The screened color is crumbling away.

3)  The pull knobs are badly faded, chipped and need replaced.

4)  All chrome parts are dull and need to be re-chromed.

5)  All interior mechanics need to be de-gunked and oiled.  It has some mechanical problems also which I'll talk more about later. 

6)  The "amount" inserts are in bad shape and need replaced.

7)  The lock set is rusted out and needs replaced.

8)  Decide on the new color scheme.

I'm sure there are some more things I have over looked...but that's the major stuff....so basically it's a do over.   :279-


So...get some stuff ordered...that comes first....I cheated and already ordered in some replacement knobs, some custom decals, and a new lock set.

Next step is to disassemble everything and get the frame ready for repair and new paint.

This reminds me of a big find on Pawn Stars and Rick Dale is about to get a phone call.  :)

Can't wait to see the progress Jim.  Good luck!

Jason

Stoners?

(http://www.imfdb.org/images/3/38/AR-10BattleRifles.jpg)

Here's some shots of things getting disassembled.

Some more:

Couple more:

FORDSBS .... I labeled the color scheme for you but thought I should post a record of it here since I know you will peel off the labels to prime it.

more

more

more

Coming your way Ford....thanks  :131-

We're ready for it Jim. My man Chris (Doogie) will give you a first class job.
Thanks, Ford
Ford's Body Shop

Can anyone give me some advice on what the best products are to clean (de-gunk) and then oil all the mechanical parts?

Jim,
the serial number on the top of the delivery unit will tell you the date of manf.  usually around the '50's   the first two digits.

great work horse of a machine. If memory serves me, the original coin mech on the side only goes up to 10 cents, some were two coin nickle and dime,  we were able to modify them to vend for a Quarter. COINCO coin mech actually made a Stoner  electronic conversion kit  that dispensed change. Had a warehouse full of those  machines along with U-Select-its  , Candy mats, AND Nationals.  and a few Rowes. All to the scrap yard. who knew??


Jim

I'd try some WD40 & a stiff brush to clean. If that doesn't cut it some engine cleaner from a auto parts store. :3- :208-
Ford

Cool...thanks for the info.  The serial number is 47J6076 so I guess that makes it a 1947 year of manufacture.  This was converted to take quarters.   :25-  Uuugh...pretty sick you tossed what you had.

Thanks...sounds good.  Anybody work on the mechanical slots?  What's the best type of oil to lubricate all the moving parts?

Jim   My Son said use Brake Clean, $1.99 a can at  Walmart  It evaporates and you don't have to clean the cleaner off. I use a lot of WD 40 but I've been told that's it no more than kerosene with a odor added.

Well think of it this way.... It just makes your piece of history just that much more rare......

Have you decided on what you plan to Vend ?? once you have it restored ......

There is Marvins Coin OP Musuem that may be able to give you leads on where to find these old parts.

You might also look into that electronic coin upgrade that Jim pointed out and see if the people at the other end can put you in touch with the people who are replacing their mechanical mechs with the electronic ones ..... they might have spare parts to offer up.....

1/2 the fun of these projects is the hunt for parts and all the people connections you make along the way......

Brake clean evaporates faster . If you have gunk that has to be soaked lose WD40 will not evaporate as fast & will soak it lose.
If just for general clean brake clean will work fine.

I wouldn't use WD40 as any type of lubrication as it will dry and harden up.
It was made to remove water from electronics as it is non conductive
and not a good lube. The WD40 is the commercial name for "Water Displacement
formula # 40".

To clean the mechanics I would use a Safety Solvent  that you can get
at any auto parts store. Soak the mechanical in a tray of solvent then brush with a stiff paint brush
or tooth brush. It will leave a oily film that can be removed by
cleaning with brake cleaner. Then lube with a high quality oil or grease.
NOTE: Stay away from Carb Cleaners as they are very Toxic and flammable.

Nice project.
I have restored a few early and late 40's jukeboxes before. Can I make some recommendations?

It looks like you have a paint scheme picked out, But I would stay with original colors. That green was part of the Deco era and was original. It will hold re-sale value with original paint colors. Anything else will lessen the value.

That trim is most likely aluminum. If so, it was not chromed. It was bright anodized. This was also popular on the old lawn furniture from the era. Remember the stuff with the wide web fabric? A gold tone was added in the 60's
The anodized aluminum is much cheaper than chrome. To chrome aluminum it needs to be plated with copper and then nickel before chrome.

JMO, I look forward to seeing this progress.

Jim, We can make whatever color you want. IT'S YOUR MACHINE & it's your choice.
Ford

Well normally I would agree with you 100%.  If this were going to be resold then I would keep it as original as possible.  But since this is going to end up in our game room until I die from the candy in it...I'll probably have to take some artistic license with the color and also to keep the wife happy so it "blends".  I've seen plenty of pictures of the paint on these originally and I have to believe they used surplus WWII tank paint on these...  :97-



I just got the dust off them and your right...stamped alluminum.  I'm debating on the re-chroming issue.  They look okay for the most part but the mirror holder at the top is pretty scratched up.  Hopefully I can find another one because I would like to keep these original.  I also noticed there are some vertical groves in them (decorative) that originally had paint in the grove to match the cabinet.  Any idea on what kind of paint I should use on the aluminum?  Guessing just an enamel will work or maybe a model's paint since this won't be exposed to the elements.

I thought this was interesting.  If you look below the mirror you can see there is a shelf.  And within the shelf there is capsule like opening.  It was painted over but some of it was scratched away and it's actually glass.  Behind the glass I can see print.  Very excited to see what the message is there.  I'm really hoping for something like "Drink your Ovaltine" or "Buy War Bonds"   :72-

I'll dismantle it and let you know what I find.

THEY CALLED . IT WILL BE HERE IN 15 MIN.

Here it is. Tomorrow morning we are going to start on it.
Ford

Sigh...well I got to the "Secret Message" hidden by the painted over glass panel.  Unfortunately is had nothing to do with drinking your Ovaltine   :96-  Says: "Miles Vending Service" in the hand written part.

It's a UNI-vendor.  :97- :97- :97-

LOL...  :97-   :71-

Friday AM

Looking sweet already.  Is it actually aluminum?

The cabnet is steel.

I have nothing to contribute here other than to say, "thank you" to Bettor Slots and FORDSBS for posting this log with pictures of the restoration of the machine -- it's a very interesting project, and I'm anxious to see the final results!  K+ to both of you.

Friday PM. Lots of dent's to take care of but THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR.  We had worse to work on.  :140-

Monday PM. We're plugging away.

Monday Pm

TUESDAY.  Got primer on. Tomorrow it gets block sanded & primed again.
The black speckles you see is dusting of black to show up when we block sand to make sure all imperfections are taken care of.

2 more

Here’s an update. We’ll get 2 colors on this week. Then we let it sit until Tuesday to make sure we don’t get solvent pop in when we put decals on.
Solvent pop is when gasses come from paint curing and cause a bubble of air between decal & cabinet. Tuesday we’ll sand clear & put on decals & clear again
Will post pics after painted.
Ford
Ford's Body Shop

PAINTED

MORE

JIM,  IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED

ONE MORE

Looking sweet Ford...thanks so much.   :131-

Looks like something that Mr. Willy Wonka himself would be proud of.  Beautiful work Ford!  Can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks Jason.  IT IS A CANDY MACHINE--GOING TO PUT WONKA CANDY IN IT.

Wonka candy...best candy on the planet...hands down.

Sweet! That looks awesome guys.
Bettorslots can drive it home with this!  :96- >>>

It looks 1000% better. Great job Ford. :3- :3- 

I love this thread because Jim (the customer) gets to watch the entire process of restoration as it happens and Ford (the merchant) can get immediate feedback from Jim as he does the work, even though the two are 500 miles apart. :71-

 :259- guys.

Stat :31-

Thanks Stat. I also think this site is great so we can do this. I hope all you guys & gals see what is involved with something like this.
When you do a job like this if someone doesn't live close they call regular to see how things are going. This was nice so Jim can see what's happening.
Ford

More K+ from me -- I love this thread, I think this is a neat project, and it's great to be able to watch this come together.  I just wish it would be done tomorrow -- I hate having to "tune in" each day -- I want to see the finished project!!  :) :) :)

I hate to make you wait but I will not have more pics until Tues. or Wed. :280-  I'm glad you enjoy it & thanks.
I want to get it back to Jim before Thanksgiving so he has something to do after he eats all that turkey. (put it back together)
Ford

Looking SWEET Ford.
I'll tune in Tue or Wed for more pic's

K+

Here's a pic of cnady display.

Man, this thing is going to look SWEET when it's all done.  Great work, guys.   :3- :3- :3-

Probably my favorite thread to follow right now.
Nice work so far and THANKS for sharing!   :3-

Ford,

Am I correct in assuming that is not Powder Coating?

Nice looking quality work! :244-

CH :95-

It's PPG car paint. Base coat-clear coat.
Ford

Looking great Ford  :131-  Like others, I'm enjoying following this thread.  It'll be great to see the finished product and look at the before/after pics!  Keep up the great work!

Jim, it's going to be a sweet edition (pun :96-) to your game room when Ford gets done with it. :3- :3-

Where are the flames ???


But it does look good without them. 

Buzz, can't  you see the ghost flames on it? :30-

But I think Casper went South for the Winter.   :88- :88- :88- :158-

Ford, you should trick out an S2000 cabinet in some custom matched color to the theme reel strips like a RWB, or a Double Diamond (teal/pink/purple), etc.   :89-

Tell you what Jason. I was thinking about it due to the fact that I'm waiting for parts on theSuper Stars Spin but I thought it might be to much and cheapen it.

Nahhhh...worst case, if it turns out bad, it can always be repainted black or have new formica applied. 

We're coming down the home stretch.

And the base.
Hope this is what you wanted Jim.
Wishing you a good time.

That's going to be one beautiful candy machine....!
Great job guys!  :89-

Looking sharp!   :244- :244- :244-

Hello all!

At the Chicagoland show this past weekend I saw a few of these in both original condition and restored condition and thought I would share some pictures.  FYI - the restored one had a price tag of $2700 on it.  It was cool to be able to see one of these in person as I have been watching this thread :)

Dan #2

More pics...

Dan #2

thats cool ,but i like the purple much much better/that is going to be one kick ass machine you should be able to get $20.00 for your candy out of that,lol great job

On The un-shopped ones did you see if the mech was 10c or 25c ?

The way it looked to me they were 10 & 15 cents.

I just want to lick the candy machine.  :)

How about some crackers?

From the pic it looks like 10c and 15c and the mech says "Nickels, Dimes".

Dan #2

Hmm...I see something else on there...  :200-

Not a very good product selection there, sir.   :200- :200-

We only have a small amount of work to do on it then it will be in Jim's corner.
I want to thank all of you for watching & for Karma you gave.
 :254- :285-
Ford

 :291-

Can't wait to see the finished candy machine!
I think I'll take a ride down to BettorSlots to buy some!  :96-
I hope he puts better stuff in it than your crackers though... :97-

From what I hear Jim's going to have WONKA bar's in it.

We're off to meet Jim & give his candy machine back so he can finish it.
 :wa :136-
Hope you all have a good Thanksgiving :169-
Ford

Great work, Ford!   :244-

Before I get started....first I have to say some thanks.  First to Slot Monkey, who donated the machine for the project.  I say "donated" because he has not stopped by to pick up his trade yet....Mr. Slot Monkey...please come get your trade.  And also to FORDSBS who volunteered to take over the exterior repair and refinishing for some horse trading....Ford you forgot to tell me what color of horse you want?

Hope you made it home OK Jim. You said what color horse I want & I told you a Black Stalion. Well I say thanks. He is a great horse & I am pleased with him.
Now it's your turn to make posts.
Good Luck.
Ford
Ford's Body Shop

Thanks knagl

The Stoner is safely back home and guys...all I can say is the pictures do not do it justice to the quality job I got from Ford and his guy Chris.  This thing is MINT without a single dent, ding, or paint bubble to be found anywhere.  And after about 5 or 6 back and forth emails on the colors, Ford got it perfect...exactly what I wanted.  I am really excited to get it reassembled and put together all of the final custom details I have planned.  Coming up is new glass, hand-painted pin striping, new color matching knobs, new inserts, etc.  I also found an interesting trinket inside the mechanics like a hidden treasure found, circa 1947, that I will share pics of later.  Thanks again Ford.

More K+ guys. :88-  It's been great to follow the restoration of this machine, although I'll pass on the crackers and wait to see what goodies Jim puts into it before coughing up my fifteen cents.  :72- :72-
:91- :261- :195- :275-


Stat :31-

Top box reinstalled onto the base.

Vending tray polished and reinstalled.

Product holder reinstalled.  Before and after pictures.

Old rusted-out lock set tossed....shiny new lock set installed and working.

This may be difficult for you to see or appreciate in pictures.  If you look very closely at the original mirror holder bracket you can see some vertical Art Deco grooves and look even closer you can can see they were Red in color.  These were stripped, polished, and then I hand-painted the grooves with a Metallic Teal enamel paint.  Teal is our hi-light color contrasting the purple and cremes.  You can see the Teal in the large "CANDY" decals on the sides of the machine.  You will see it in a few more spots soon coming which ties it all together.

Before and after pics:

Here is our completed "message" center located just above the product display and below the mirror.

Before and after pictures below:

And here you can see the original mirror back in place, shelf installed, brackets installed, and our "FRESH CANDY" decal installed on the mirror.  Really hard to see the Teal hi-light color but it looks great in person...decals on the side and fine hand-painted details in the brackets.  I'm not happy with the Red color of the "fresh candy" decal, but it's what I had to work with...I'm considering a custom redo in Teal but trying to swallow the cost of it at the moment.


 :97-  If you look in the mirror you can see a Super Sally Shrimpmania I-game being refurbished on the other side of the room.

Jim, I was too busy noticing the roll of paper towels (or is that TP :96-), the can WD40 (or whatever) and the spray bottle (of glass cleaner, I presume).  :200- :208- :208- :208-


It looks better than new!  :3- :3-   Just needs a lock to fill the hole in front and some candy to fill the slots. I'd recommend Snickers bars and other M&M/Mars chocolate bars (3-Musketeers, Milky Way, etc.) as well as Dove bars.  I'd also put in some Scharffenberger, for those special occasions. :79-  :91- :199- 


Stat's definition of candy: CHOCOLATE.  :261-   Did I mention that I loved chocolate?

SF :31-

I'm waiting to see what kind of candy you are putting in. If it's the kind I like maybe I'll have to make a trip & get some candy from your new
machine.
Jim you have it looking real good. As usual you go the extra to do something right. Just like you do on your slots.
 :151-
Ford

Well I did get the candy....problem is there is a mouse in the house and it's getting eaten up faster than the parts I'm waiting on to show up.   :25-

Are you referring to a two-legged mouse or a four-legged one? :96-

StatFreak you sure like to  :79- :79- :79-

I'm waiting to see the finished job & candy in it.

 :25-  :25-  :25-

Yeah...sorry guys.  In hind sight taking on this extra credit project during the busiest time of year in the slot business was probably not the best of ideas....clients come first and fun candy projects second.   I will do my best to wrap things up here in the next couple of weeks.

Let me try to show some of the progress I have made since the last time.



The glass proved to be a bit of a challenge.  As you can in the picture below the original piece is pretty scabbed up.

The option of having a graphic artist input a design and then having the glass professionally made proved to be pretty expensive in the $400 range all said and done.  So I had to pass on that idea.

Fortunately, I found a company that had pre-made decals of the original design.  They were very high quality and not cheap...if I recall in the $75 range.  I was at first very disappointed though when I received it as I found its adhesive was on the back.  Because this was for glass I expected it to be a reverse decal where I could affix the decal on the back of the glass facing out....but not the case.

There is nothing worse than the look of a decal on the front of the glass.  Aside from the fact it will get damaged there is no reflection of the glass so it ends up looking cheap and not like a professional screened piece of decorative glass.  If you study the first picture below you will see what I mean.  Take a look at the effect of the "hot spot" reflection of the lamp in the upper right hand corner.

The Solution:

Since the original piece of glass was 1/4" thick I ended up having two new pieces of glass cut that were 1/8" thick.  I applied the decal to one piece and then overlapped the second piece of glass onto the first.  I think the results came out great.

"new and the old" pic side by side

And here is the glass installed in the machine.

 :72- :72- :72- :72-

Unwrapped candy can make such a mess. :96-  :30- :30-

---

That looks great Jim.  :3- :3- Sandwiching the decal between two thinner pieces of glass was an elegant, simple solution, and better than having to return the decal you bought, since the original was so scuffed up.

Now all it needs is some wrapped candy. :5-  :91- :91-

 :259- to you and Ford, once again.


Stat :31-

Here's a couple pics of the new Teal knobs being installed.

...and the innards.  :279-  :25-

 :208- :208-

Thanks for the update Jim. As I said before you do things right.
 :293-
Ford

Wow looks great Jim

Checking up on you Jim. Did you get it all together?

Sorry not yet.  :25-  Stay tuned...hopefully next month I will find some time.