Antares Refreshment Center - Great for Small Businesses

Looking for a compact, easy snack & soda machine for your small business? No need to spend too thousands of dollars on full size electronic machines that will never earn their keep. The Antares Refreshment Center may be just right for your needs, if your needs are indoors.

First of all, Antares snack & soda machines are very compact. They take up about as much square footage as a full size file cabinet. They are either deep blue with black or black and grey, so they will be discreet, wherever you decide to place them. They aren't very tall either, just under 5 feet.

Also, these machines are mechanical, which means no complicated electronics requiring you to send for a specialist if something goes wrong- each selection has it's own mechanism, so if one goes bad, the others still function fine. It has 9 snack selections (can vend candy bars, cookies, chips, pastries, etc.) and 7 soda selections. Depending on thee year model, it's soda selections may be all cans, or cans with one bottle selection. Many also come with what's called a Red Bull kit, which allows you to vend the odd size Red Bull Cans.

Furthermore, these Antares machines use up very little electricity, because the only part of them that is electronic is the soda unit which runs a fridge style compressor, and the dollar bill changer, if you use it. The snack portion of the machine is entirely mechanical. You can be assured that your wallet and the environment will not take a hit because the whole combo only uses about as much electricity as a small dorm style fridge.

The price of these Antares mechanical combos is very attractive as well. You can find these machines most of the time for between $500-$1000, depending on age and condition. Sometimes you can even buy them brand new in the box, never used.

Antares vending machines are for pick up only, and there are plenty for sale all over the USA and Canada, being sold secondhand by sellers who bought too many, or bought for relatives who ended up not using them, or people who want to get out of the vending business due to other jobs or retirement.

If you are trying to start a vending business yourself, these machines are a great place to start- they require very little maintenance, and very small investment (be sure to get several so you have a ready arts supply.) There are plenty of videos online that can help you learn to operate the machine and do any repairs that are needed on it. These machines are pretty much modular, meaning there are very few small parts- just chunks that you remove and replace. A perfect starter for young people.

Mechanical Antares combos- still kickin!

Planet Antares has recently come out with a new, larger electrical vending machine, which has snack, drink and entrees- but it's rather a high dollar item, plus it's just too much machine for many locations. So the mechanical combo definitely has it's place and will be around indefinitely.

The Planet Antares Refreshment Center mechanical combos are still a great choice for many types of locations: Offices with less than 40 white collar employees; locations with 20 or less blue collar. Break rooms of retail stores, hair style salons, day cares, etc are good places for this type of machine. It only takes up the same space that a full size file cabinet would. That makes it a very attractive investment for both vendors and locations.

For vendors, the Antares combos are great because it's a machine that can be moved with a small hand truck, filled quickly, and fits in most places. For locations, it's ideal because there aren't many things that can go wrong with it- most of it's issues can be solved with a screwdriver.

There are basically 3 types of these mechanical combos- they vary by manufacture year. They ALL vend9 snacks, but the drink options will differ. Older black and grey ones, from about 2004 on down, cans only; the 2005 through 2007 blue and black ones do 6 cans with one bottle lane. Less common are the brown 2008 mechanical models- they have 6 cans and one bottle lane, but they can be set up with a kit to vend out energy beverages like Red Bull.

Still popular, you can get these machines at a super discount via Usedvending.com .

How to change prices of Antares snack & soda machines

Have you had fits trying to change the prices of snack and soda selections on your antares refreshment centers? Those little plastic coin mechs are really simple once you understand them.

This video should help...

Antares Bill Changer - filling it properly

The Coffee Inns dollar bill changer that is sold as part of the Antares refreshment centers uses coin tubes to vend quarters, dimes, and nickels.

To make sure that you do not shortchange a customer, there are a couple of things to know...

There are 7 coin tubes, but you only fill the ones you plan to use. 4 of them can hold quarters, 2 can hold dimes, and the last 1 holds nickels. So, if you filled all of them, you'll be giving $1.25 in change for each dollar inserted! Probably not what you had in mind :-)

Normally, you'll want to fill either all 4 quarter tubes, or you'll want to fill 3 of the quarter tubes, both dime tubes, and the nickel tube.

However, the most important point to know is that your rear quarter tube at the end of the slide must have fewer coins than any of the other individual tubes. That's because this last quarter tube engages the trigger letting the brain know when it is running low on change. So, the changer depends on this column to make sure it does not accept bills if it does not have adequate change to return. If another tube has fewer coins than this trigger tube, it will be allowed to vend eventhough the other tubes may be empty! ...your customers will get shortchanged.

As long as you keep this in mind, these change machines really do a great job. These changers have been basically the same for over 10 years. Every now and then, one may need a new board, but that is a cheap and easy repair to do on your own.

The only negatives with them are the cabinet construction and price for a new one. You can buy comparable changers for much about half the price, yet they have a much better cabinet construction to help lessen simple break-ins.

For more common sense in vending,
visit www.USEDvending.com & www.4MEGA-Vending.com

Vending Combo needs freon?

"Elfmuse said...
I have the opposite, I need to recharge the freon I think. I can't find a manual anywhere online or howto's ....So do you know how to do this?"

Elfmuse, if your Antares machine needs freon, that is not something you would do yourself.
Call a local refrigeration repair man to look at it.

Good luck,
Eric

Antares Machine - soda machine freezes up

"Hi Eric,
I saw your message and was wondering if you could help me. I bought a used Antares combo machine manf. 2000, and it keeps freezing up on me. Do you have any sugg. on how to stop it? do I need to turn it down? And how? I can't find a manual anywhere."

Teddie, if it is an Antares machine, this can occur for a few reasons:

- First check the front door seal for damage. The rubber seal between the drink machine door may have a break or may be damaged where it is allowing hot air in and the machine has to keep running. Look for cuts or warped areas.
- Sometimes this occurs because the snack machine mounted on the front pulls on the door causing it to sag and not fit correctly against the seal. When the door is closed, check all the way around it to make sure there are no gaps where air can get around the seal into the drink area.
- Then, the tilt of the machine can sometimes keep the front door from closing completely allowing air inside. If so, use the front leg levelers to raise the front of the machine slightly.

If everything looks fine with the door seal, you can try turning the thermostat down. It is located on the back side in the opening right above the square base.
It could be that it just needs adjusting. If not, it may need to be replaced.

Hope this solves it for you.

Eric Normand
USEDvending.com

Antares combo jamming on bottom cans?

If you've ever had problems with the bottom 3 selections of an Antares drink vending machine where the cans are turning and jamming, here is some insight.

Now this applies to the selections that are slightly wider than the can only columns:
- the bottom 3 selections on 1994 - 2004 models
- the bottom right selection on 2005+ models

These columns are slightly wider in order to handle items such as 10oz juice bottles, some energy drinks, & other beverages that will fit.

One of our employees was loading an Antares the other day and had a problem with the cans on these wider columns turning while rolling down. They would stall in the middle of the column or slide to the very bottom and block the auger from being able to turn. Since these columns are wider, they allow the cans have enough room to rotate and block the lane.

There were 2 issues here.
- the small metal shim was missing
- he was not loading the cans properly

In order to properly direct the cans through the auger at the bottom of the column, a metal shim is needed to go on the right side wall inside the column by the auger.
This keeps the cans in place to the left side and it also blocks the ability of someone being able to twist the can past the right side of the auger since the can has enough room to rotate in the column and come out without turning the auger.

Secondly, he did not realize that in order to keep the cans rolling evenly down the columns, it is best to put the end of the can SQUARELY against the left hand column wall before letting go so that the can may roll as straight as possible being guided by the wall.

So, if you've ever had this problem, get some shims!

We sometimes have them available pre-owned at www.USEDvending.com or they can be ordered directly from the manufacturer.