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

See how to service an Antares vending machine

If you've never seen a mechanical vending machine or never used one, be sure to visit this video that shows an Antares snack and soda vending machine combo in action!

You'll see how the 3 vending machines (snack, soda, dollar bill changer) act as 1 machine. You'll see them inside and out! See how they are filled with product and change. Learn how to use one to vend an item.

This video shows a 2005 model which is the newest style as of today (August 2007).
The video also explains how this newer style differs from 2004 and older models...
Antares vending machine Demonstration video

Update to changes on 2005 model Antares Machines

On my post a few down, I forgot to list another feature that was incorporated into the 2005+ design of the Antares Refeshment Centers vending machine combos.

The bottom right selection can vend 12 oz cans, but it is slightly wider in order to accept things like Red Bull cans. It can probably also still do the 10 oz juice bottles, but I haven't tried one.

We'll be putting a video on the blog very soon showing the new style Antares snack & soda combos both inside and out. If you're not sure how they work or how they are serviced, be sure to watch this video.

Change to changer attachment in 2002

The 2002 Antares refreshment vending machine centers had a slight change from previous years. This was simply adding an additional support bracket for the side mount dollar bill changer. It attached to the top lid of the existing "L" bracket and went across the top of the machine before folding down the left side wall a few inches. Just like the main "L" bracket, it only attached to the soda vending machine via a double sided adhesive tape.

It probably adds a little more resistance if someone is trying to remove the changer from the combo, but I personally do not think it made much difference. As long as the adhesive tape is applied correctly the first time on the main bracket, it is extremely strong and is further backed up by the metal cable that connects the changer to the bottom base feet.

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

Major change to Antares Vending Machines in 1998

Another substantial change to the Antares machines came in 1998 when they changed the construction material of the snack vending machines. Previously, they were all metal casings, but due to the heavy weight of the snack machine (90 lbs) pulling on the soda machine door, there were problems with the door seal and air leaks.

From 1998 to now, 2007, these 9 select snack machines are made primarily of plastic. The main outer casing is black plastic and now weighs half (45 lbs.) what the metal machine did. This did solve the door seal issue on the drink machine.

New Style for Antares Vending Machines in 2005

In case you're wondering about the Blue machine at the top of the blog and the grey Antares machine farther down the page, the difference is the year model. Machines manufactured in 2005 or later have the blue graphics panels on them. Antares machines from 1995 to 2004 have the grey & black graphics as shown in the lower picture.

Along with the color change, these 2005+ blue machines do have a different configuration on the soda machine for the size items they can vend. The grey combos had 4 lanes for 12 oz. cans in the top half of the machine and 3 lanes for either 12 oz. cans or 10 oz. juice bottles in the bottom half of the soda vending machine. The newer blue ones have 6 lanes for vending 12 oz. cans (3 on top and 3 on bottom) as well as 1 lane (runs from top to bottom) that can vend larger items such as gatorade bottles.

Before 1995 Antares / Orion machines also had blue graphics that were gridlike and looked completely different from the new models. There aren't too many pre 1995 machines around these days :-)