Russian, English, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Danish, Polish.

Yes, we do. In English and Russian.

Popcorn machine Robopop® could be theoretically divided into two parts: the key unit of the main body which gives the machine advantages over its competition and which is patented, and the rest of the machine. The key unit is at the same time very simple and has only one moving part - a turbine. All the rest is designed and assembled from very well-known and very spread components.

Some spares are shipped together with the machine: V-belt, halogen lamp, power supply for halogen lamp. During the warranty period, which is 1 year, the spares are shipped free ( by air or sea) on the basis of reclamation report and the photo. The warranty does not cover bulbs and v-belt. After the warranty period is over, all the spares are to be purchased.

The drum should be daily cleaned from oil and hull. Also the hull should be daily removed from the internal chamber, it’s convenient to do by means of a vacuum cleaner or brush.

The abovementioned service is only required one.

Per our experience the knowledge of a manual is enough to run the machine successfully. Our engineers however can provide verbal (over the phone) or written consultations on any question, English or Russian languishes are available for communication. You may invite our engineer which will provide to help with the machine installation and training. The visit is free but the receiving party should pay for tickets, accommodation and if necessary translator.

We recommend a Flavacol seasoning salt from Gold Medal Products (USA)

Sugar powder usually contains 10% of starch, during the heating it is getting lumpy and sticky. It leads to the salt tube clogging. Even if we use cornstarch-free sugar powder the tube clogging takes place as well.

Presently we are developing a sugar mix that will suits the machine demands and spreads evenly in the popcorn stream.

Meanwhile, we would like recommend the following. Charge the half of the bag with popcorn, add a sugar powder, then close the bag and shake it several times. The product is ready to eat. Cheese powder can be used in a same way.

Popcorn machine Robopop has the following work algorithm:

1. We need to get popcorn which would satisfy us by flavor and quality. For corn, salt and oil supply, we can use either the factory settings or our own setting.

The following parameters will be applied to the popping during that test: the level of corn supply – 5, the level of salt supply – 5, the oil supply - “ON”, the supply frequency – 80%, the machine – Robopop Mark 3.

2. After the parameters are set (corn, salt and oil supply) the actual flow rate metering for corn, salt and oil should be done. 

2.1. 10 kg corn, 1 kg salt and 5 kg oil should be filled in the feeders.

2.2 Switch on the machine. Select one of the preset recipes by pressing the button <<BUTTERLY>> or <<MUSHROOM>>. Currently it’s “BUTTERFLY”. After pressing the corresponding button you will see the recipe screen where you can get familiar with pre-settings.

To start popping, press the button <<START>>. As soon as popping process starts, the corn feeder will be activated, and the corn will be fed into the chamber. If the recipe requires the use of salt and oil, they will be automatically supplied only after popcorn comes into the sifter.

Wait until the corn feeder will be empty, the machine will notify you about that by the sound signal and the corresponded massage. Now you can deactivate the machine.   

2.3 After the popping is over, the residual oil and salt should be weighed. For the salt weigh you should remove it by the help of the plastic spoon. The bucket with oil should be weighed on the scale.

2.4 According to the selected settings, there should be left: oil – 3,5 kg, salt – 700 g. Using these settings the popping time for 10 kg kernels will be 20-25 minutes.

3. Using these figures the dependence from the row materials consumption to the kernels can be composed. Accordingly under the selected settings the row materials consumption for 1 kg kernels will be: oil – 150g, salt - 30 g.

4. On the next stage we should determine how many corn, oil and salt contain in 1 kg of popcorn.

4.1 For that we have to weigh the popcorn. In the present case the popcorn weight is 10 kg, the weight of oil and salt are the same. It allowed us to say that the popped corn weight is 8,2 kg.

4.2 After the division of popped corn, oil and salt, we are able to calculate the percentage proportion of every component. These figures we can accumulate in a table.

Reference materials:

 Robopop Mark 3 and Mark 3DF have six corn feed gears, each gear correspond to next corn feed quantity (+/- 1 kg).

For Mark1 and Mark2 the sequence is next (+/- 1 kg):

The maximum level of salt supply in factory settings for all machine types (Robopop Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3, Mark 3DF) is 1,5 kg per hour.

The oil supply regulator is located on the pump surface item 3 (see the figure below) which allow to regulate the oil value from 0% till 100%. 100% regulator value corresponds to 5-5,5 oil supply per hour.

The oil supply on the recipe settings has only two position “ON” and “OFF”.

Also there is a switch on the pump surface item 2. To ensure that the pump operate correctly and get on/off signal from the main controller, the switch should be in “ON” position.

Recommended settings for Robopop Mark 3 and Mark 3DF are next:

The grade of the kernel is a main factor for the separation process. The Recommendations on various grades of kernel are given below.

The separation for Preferred Mushroom Jumbo (Jumbo), in most cases is useless since the quality of waste is very low and makes up 4-6% (the most part comprises burnt, cracked and half-opened kernels). To reuse such kernel is impossible. It can lead to the blockage of the chamber and breakdown of the machine.

For the most part of butterfly corn it is possible to reduce the percentage of the waste to the value lower than 1%, if the separator is set correctly. Before corn reuse a visual assessment of the corn is necessary to do, popped corn should be removed from the tray. There is no need in the corn sorting, just separate it for 15-30 sec.

While the corn separation follow the next rules.

After separation corn may be used only once. Second reuse doesn’t give the satisfactory results, so that corn is better to throw away.
Do not mix the corn of different grades as it makes the quality of popcorn worse. Reuse corn only with the same type of corn.
The sequence of the Mark 3DF operator steps should be the next:

Load 10-15 kg of corn in the corn feeder, pop the corn, throw away the waste.
Switch to butterfly corn (Butterfly corn should be loaded beforehand).
Add reused corn in the corn feeder in the proportion up to 50% to initial corn.
Complete the popping, after that throw away the waste.
The procedure described in items 2-4 can be done as many times as necessary.
While changing the feeders on Mark 3 DF don’t forget to throw the corn from the waste hopers. Ii prevents the mixing of corn of various grades.

The position of the separator baffles suitable for the most part of grain grades shall be as follows. Maximum inclination of all baffles to the right for providing gravitational gliding of the corn. Set the fan under the maximum angle to the hole, it should blow slightly down (blue arrows on the picture).

Popcorn Machine Manual also contains the information concerning the fan separator settings.

Popcorn machines Robopop Mark 2, Mark 3 and Mark 3DF enable to regulate the oil supply.

Oil feed regulator is located directly on the oil pump. The oil pump is located on the back wall inside the heat chamber of the machine.

Pump has a small potentiometer enabling to regulate the oil supply from 0% to 100%. The regulator value 100% corresponds to the actual oil supply of 5-5.5 kg/h.

Frozen coconut oil is the main reason of the oil hose rupture. Switching on the oil pump while the oil melting point isn’t reached leads to the oil hose rupture.

To prevent that situation turn on heating in the stand every time in the end of the shift. Also lay oil tube inside the stand overnight as well.

If the machine continuously work for 4 or more hours the overheating of the overload optical sensor is possible. In that case the machine shows “OVERLOAD” message and stops the corn supply.

To eliminate that situation, heat penetration should be reduced. Tighten the lower nut (1) which pressurize a gap from the internal chamber. It should be done when the machine is warmed up in order to take into account the metal thermal expansion. Hot air intake from the chamber plays negative role for the overload sensor sensitivity. The gap between the two nuts should be approximately 5mm.

It is also recommended to keep the stand open during the operation.

It is recommended to reduce the twilight switch SOU-1 detector sensitivity by setting the division value LEVEL 1-1.5. This position of detector provides the minimum sensitivity to overheat due to long operation of the machine and this value is enough to respond to the chamber overload.

 

It is also recommended to checks the relay and the quartz road (at least once a week) on the subject of corn dust and if necessary to clean them.

Firstly, the quartz rod should be installed in the sensor’s body. It requires some effort to tightly fix the rod in the rubber ring seal and firmly set it on the sensor’s plastic body.

Secondly, the rod and sensor should be set in the chamber of the machine. It is important that the quartz rod projection into the chamber was no more than 5 mm. The protrusion can be checked through the observation port.

The sensor has a potentiometer, by means of which you can adjust the sensitiveness. That potentiometer has an arrow which shows in which position it’s now. by turning the potentiometer clockwise you increase gap between the sensor and the first obstacle (it is corn in our case), by turning counterclockwise you reduce that distance.

Correct position of the oil and salt sprayer enable to get even distribution of oil and salt over the popped popcorn.

Oil sprayer shall be set at the distance of 2-3 cm from the sifter screw. The sifter screw should not strike it as well as the oil sprayer should not prevent the hinged cover from opening. The openings in the oil sprayer should be set strictly upright downward.

The lower edge of the salt sprayer shall be located at the small angle to horizon line (not more than 5 degrees). It is necessary to do in order to provide distribution of salt without considerable obstacles. If the inclination angle is higher, the salt will be collected in the lower part of the sprayer, negatively affecting the quality of salt distribution over the popcorn. The tube of the sprayer should be shift slightly closer to the middle part of the sifter.

To keep popcorn crunchy and tasty the next condition should be observed.

1. The humility during the popping should not be more than 50%.

2. Tightly close the bag ( container,etc) where corn will be stored after popping. We recommend our company’s brand transparent 400 liter capacity bags. They are easy to use and seal up.

3. In cinemas keep popcorn in showcases, warmers.

In contrast to Robopop Mark3 , Mark 3DF has two independently operating feeders with 15 kg capacity each. For convenience they can be called Feeder #1 and Feeder #2. Each feeder is programmed in its own way , and within each program the user can specify the level of needed corn, seasoning and flavoring . Let us call them Recipe# 1 and Recipe# 2.

The choice of Recipe #1 activates Feeder #1 with all its settings. The choice of Recipe #2 activates Feeder #2 with its settings as well.

At that, one can set up the same popping parameters for Recipe 1 and 2 as well as different ones. Everything depends on preference and available corn variety. Switching over from one feeder to the other is done by the operator manually by hitting the appropriate button. There is no automatic changeover.

Robopop Mark 3 has one feeder with 25 kg capacity and two independent Recipes. Each recipe activates this existing Feeder, but uses different settings , specified by the operator.

By default, Recipe #1 uses the parameters, suitable for seasoned and flavored butterfly corn. Having been popped, this popcorn is a Ready To Eat Product.

Recipe #2 uses the parameters, suitable for popping mushroom corn without seasoning or flavoring. This corn is intended for further caramel coating in the appropriate equipment.

Yes. Robopop Mark 3DF has two different popping corn Recipes. The choice of the concrete Recipe activates the proper Feeder. If you prefer to pop the same variety of corn in both Feeders, you need to set up the same parameters for both Recipes . The changeover will be manual, by pressing the correspond button by the operator.

If you pop only one variety of corn most of the time, we would recommend Robopop Mark 3, it is cheaper than that of Mark 3DF.

Robopop Mark 3DF is better suited for movie concessions and small manufacturing facilities where it is necessary to change over from one corn variety to the other several times per day.