Rowe 147 Cabinet info and schematics

MIPS

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Sorry for the slightly weird first post. I never thought I'd be asking around for info on vending and arcade cabinets but then after one machine last year and an arcade machine a month ago, when this ended up in my driveway I had to find a place to get a better idea how deep this rabbit hole is. I'm not totally unskilled on this stuff but I've certainly never really messed with it.


Anyways, so this is a Rowe cold food machine that was recovered from an abandoned ski lodge. It has seen its share of vandalism but otherwise it is complete in the inside and some of the visually absent items like the coin return are undamaged. A lot of metalwork on this one....

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A packrat made its home around the compressor and aside from packing it full of all levels of garbage it did a good number on the wiring harness. I need schematics for the machine if I am to attempt to restore it. Unfortunately all the Rowe documentation for their cold food machines that I have found so far refers to their larger carousel machines. In fact I cannot find any information on this model at all aside from one stock photo dated from 1981.

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Any help on this one would be appreciated.
 
I know Suzo Happ well from my job however while they have turned up some compatible parts like trim pieces the service manual at the least was not available.
For the others I can inquire for availability but that might take a few days. The other thing is that it seems that there was more than one vending machine with the "model 147" designation.
 
So I am still waiting for a response from any of the above service outlets (except for Betson, who kept bouncing my emails as spam, so screw them). In the meantime when I wasn't away on business I was slowly deconstructing the bottom of the machine. Here's what we got:

-The refrigeration unit is dead. There are holes in the condenser and the compressor has seized. The evaporator and tubing threads into ports on the unit and is in excellent condition so that can be saved but this will no longer refrigerate in the meantime
-The wiring harness is in two major pieces. If I fail to find the schematics I can at least rebuild a good chunk of the system thanks to the wires being color coded but otherwise I'll have to figure out the rest on my own.
-The four adjustable feet are rusted in solid. They will have to be drilled out
-The door was removed and set aside for now
-Dismantling the base resulted in finding a massive amount of rust. Save for three pieces it has all been ground and brushed off and everything given a protective rust treatment. The remaining parts will need to be sandblasted.
-So far only four screws have broken.. I'm in disbelief how so many rusted screws are coming out
-The slug rejector is behaving after a good cleaning. The totalizer however has plastic gearing that has shrunk and broken.
-The blower fan on the door has a burned out coil. An existing splice tells me this is not the first time that motor has been replaced.

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On cue, Suzo Happ and Veii replied to the emails I had sent and neither can offer any support due to the age of the machine. Suzo suggested AmericanVending so I've sent them an email.
 
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Took several days, but AmericanVending's email bounced as well. This is just frustrating now. It's in a position where all the regular vendors have nothing but it's too new for the antique vending machine people to have anything. :(
 
Took several days, but AmericanVending's email bounced as well. This is just frustrating now. It's in a position where all the regular vendors have nothing but it's too new for the antique vending machine people to have anything. :(

Have you tried telephoning them?
 
Hey look, it's five years later!
This damn machine, I swear to god, the model 147 does not exist. You can clearly see on the plate that is a 147 and yet no matter what catalog I went through and what google hit I found, there was nothing. This project got as far as I finished straightening, sanding and repainting the cabinet and rebuilt the compressor package from salvaged parts then brickwalled on the wiring diagrams because reverse engineering EM wiring sucks, wrapped it in a tarp and set the machine aside for almost five years.

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Well I got pushed to figure out what to do with it or get rid of it so I sat down again and started trawling Google again and FRICK'N FINALLY I had a breakthrough.
It's indeed not a Rowe 147. It's a Rowe 447.

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The bottom of the flyer dates it to the mid-70's. Capital Vending has the 447c parts and service manual in PDF for $5.
I'll verify the manual is correct, then the next action is to repair the door.
 
The 447 looks a lot like one of the machines we had in the Operations Ready Room at LaSalle Station back in the day. I think ours had a dollar validator as well. The sold sandwiches (well, sandwich shaped material) and other stuff in there.
 
So after some extensive reading the Rowe 447 isn't entirely the same as the 147. The external trim and design is identical but on the inside there are a few changes to the wiring and configuration, such as the priceboard configuration is now a set of sliders rather than a plugboard. The evaporator is more than twice the size. Still there's more than enough that's the same between the two that paying $5 for a service and parts manual is worth it for the wiring diagrams and parts listings. It's worth noting that for all the components I recognize from my 147 the parts catalog denotes them all starting with 147. Likewise all these different or new components that seem specific to the 447 start with 447 in the part number. Other components not specific to either like switches, pilot lights and relays have some other part number. (EG: "Roll pin" 932-12, "Switch Insulator" 147-816 and "Terminal strip assembly" 447-1805)

Currently shopping around for a metal shop to assist with the door. So far all the places I've gone to are all confused because either they do automotive or larger commercial industrial jobs rather than one-off vending machine repairs. Wood cabinets are *so* much easier to fix.
 
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So after some extensive reading the Rowe 447 isn't entirely the same as the 147. The external trim and design is identical but on the inside there are a few changes to the wiring and configuration, such as the priceboard configuration is now a set of sliders rather than a plugboard. The evaporator is more than twice the size. Still there's more than enough that's the same between the two that paying $5 for a service and parts manual is worth it for the wiring diagrams and parts listings. It's worth noting that for all the components I recognize from my 147 the parts catalog denotes them all starting with 147. Likewise all these different or new components that seem specific to the 447 start with 447 in the part number. Other components not specific to either like switches, pilot lights and relays have some other part number. (EG: "Roll pin" 932-12, "Switch Insulator" 147-816 and "Terminal strip assembly" 447-1805)

Currently shopping around for a metal shop to assist with the door. So far all the places I've gone to are all confused because either they do automotive or larger commercial industrial jobs rather than one-off vending machine repairs. Wood cabinets are *so* much easier to fix.
I used to suggest finding a local high school with a metal shop, and seeing if they could have some of their better students do it. However, in the US, they don't do metal shops (or wood shops or electric shops) anymore.

There are places around that cut metal. We had one where I lived before I got relocated - I gave them a tow bar (something used to tow an airplane) and they reproduced it for me.

They did waterjet cutting, and other stuff.

Find a company in your area that does similar things. Here a link to their website.
 
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