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Those who have seen me on here before will know I’ve restored a few allwins and pinballs. I’ve never had a vending machine before but am now expecting delivery of one in a few days. I know nothing about them in general but thought it might be fun to work on during lockdown.

I’m guessing this is '50s or maybe '60s but know nothing about the maker although have seen a couple of pics online so suspect they were quite common. My plan (unless anyone suggests otherwise) is to strip and paint it and make some new decals for it.


1) I see you can get some water slide type material which can be printed using an inkjet. I was thinking of using this and then lacquering over the top to seal when finished. Is this the best way? I could do with vinyls instead but suspect that won’t look too good.

2) Are there any websites for vending machine fixers/collectors? Any more specialised in this are than this one?

3) maybe related to above and I hardly dare mention after the ‘resources’ problems of recent days but is there anywhere I’m likely to find some hi res images of sweets of this period. I don’t necessarily want the same as is there at the moment. I plan to see what fits sweets wise and find a similar product from the period to display on the decal if that makes sense.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Hi Geoff
I joined this facebook page which has something close to what you are looking for: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151347598650253

I'm currently working on a restoration of this lovely beauty of a Ditchburn vending machine below from 1965.

all the best .. Dicky

Thanks Dicky. Just what I’m looking for. Your machine looks gorgeous. Lovely project!

Absolutely lovely machine Dicky, good luck with the restoration.

dickywink wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:06 pm Hi Geoff
I joined this facebook page which has something close to what you are looking for: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151347598650253

I'm currently working on a restoration of this lovely beauty of a Ditchburn vending machine below from 1965.

all the best .. Dicky

That’s cool, how on earth did that survive

Coffee and especially tea was real sh%t from machines in the early days. You see the button style from their jukeboxes

Hi Geoff, i hope the restoration goes well, its a nice vendor ...

Hi Treefrog ... you are so correct... i never thought i would ever see one ... not the sort of thing that people collect but my dreams of finding one came true
this one has a back story in that it was in a farm house near Durham that was used as lodgings by touring bands in the 70s and 80s when they did gigs in the north east , and because the bands worked strange hours the coffee machine had refreshments available 24/7 ... many bands used this machine ironically including the band Hot Chocolate... true
I picked it up last year and internally it was in great condition and sitting in the back was a bag of 1980s Brooke Bond instant Sh*t tea that you mentioned

Im hoping that it will be on display and working ready for when i open the Ditchburn Museum next year ... here's some photos for your enjoyment ... all the best Dicky

Yes, it's great to see such a rare, esoteric and cool coin op survivor. I had no idea these were by Ditchburn, but think I recall two of them on my Friday night trips from school to Smethwick swimming baths. The second, similar-looking machine was for cold drinks - cola, lemonade, orange etc. We discovered you could mix the drinks by turning the central knob while it was dispensing.

A Ditchburn museum/coffee bar! Fantastic!

Thanks PM
yes they made the Hotspa and Coldspa ( for the carbonated drinks in a cup ) and minispa and mini coldspa
surprisingly two Coldspa machines turned up last year in LasVegas of all places

this is the minispa

and these are the 2 mini coldspa machines in Vegas

I really should start a Ditchburn Machine thread .. i feel that im Hijacking Geoffs great thread .. and isnt that a really great machine ... its been a while since i have seen ASPRO and just the thing you need when you have overdosed on Chocolate ... Today they would not allow a pharmaceutical to be sold between two chocolate vendors

all the best.... Dicky

No problem. Your machine brings back memories of the trip to the swimming baths to me too. Don’t think it was the same machine but the memories still came flooding back.

Yes the idea of kids putting their sixpence in the wrong slot when buying their chocolate probably needed to be sorted....!

A Ditchburn thread would be welcome. I remember the 'automat' cafeterias in London as a small child, during our Motor Show trips. Wow! So much like the Jetsons.
Did Ditchburn make the huge, much missed Milk machines?
The triple vendor in the original post is familiar; the ASPRO section was seen in pub lavatories, either solo, or alongside Durex.

Ha ha. Yes that sounds familiar. No ‘danger the contents may be hot’. Just grab it with as little skin contact as possible before spilling it down yourself getting away from the machine through the crowds.
The machine I remember had a vertical row of buttons on the right hand side with the various selections. The only one I ever pressed was hot chocolate. I also clearly remember the clear plastic slide up panel to retrieve your drink.

brigham wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:53 am A Ditchburn thread would be welcome. I remember the 'automat' cafeterias in London as a small child, during our Motor Show trips. Wow! So much like the Jetsons.
Did Ditchburn make the huge, much missed Milk machines?
The triple vendor in the original post is familiar; the ASPRO section was seen in pub lavatories, either solo, or alongside Durex.

Hi Brigham ... yes Ditchburn did make Milk machines according to ex employees, but I have never seen an image or photo of one. As a kid, the one I remember the most was from a company called Vendo. These machines would also vend Yogurt if it was a very hot day.

all the best ... Dicky

Is that outside the Spa Pavilion at Whitby?
Lucky kid; I never had a camera at that age.
I was lucky if the grown-ups coughed-up a tanner for the milk machine!

I remember one of these milk machines outside a local cafe and can still recall the sound of the internal 'thud' of the waxed cardboard milk container as it made its way down into the hinged collection drawer lower down .....warm memories - actually the milk was quite cold.

So I thought you might be interested in the end product. First time I’ve tried using water slide decals. Scanned/made up some artwork and inkjet printed them. A bit fiddly to get on. I damaged one but adds to the slightly vintage look I guess.
Tricky to get stuff to fit the machine. But ended up with some small after dinner chocs like you get in restaurants for the centre, and raisin boxes and green and black mini chic bars for the other 2. I used some strips of Correx to line the tubes to reduce their size to work with these goodies.

Nice work Geoff, like the fact that you have reproduced/kept the 'PROPERTY OF' label on the bottom.

Nice one Geoff.
Which transfer paper did you choose?

WOW fantastic work ...
total transformation

dicky

Thanks guys. I’m not sure what make the paper was. It was from MrDecal on eBay. Clear inkjet paper. Seemed to work OK. If I was doing it again I would give 3 coats of clear coat rather than 2 before soaking them as a couple bled. It did advise 3 but I thought that 2 looked enough! I think I was also a bit impatient to get them off the paper when soaking resulted in a couple of creased ones. Fortunately I’d printed a few of each so a bit of waste didn’t matter.

I’m now going to do something with this thing. I understand it’s a cigarette vendor used in hotel lobbies etc. Works great on sixpences. I’m planing on stripping and waxing it as the varnish is pretty tatty. I think sweet cigarettes are the way to go for this one! Any idea of its age?