Rockola CD-8 Bubbler - Broken bubbler tube damage

Hello. I am looking for some advice. I recently bought a Rockola CD8 Bubbler Nostalgia Jukebox.
I thank
When I bought it, it appeared as if one of the buuble tube at one time in its past, leaked and damaged the rotating cylinder.

The other day, the longer RH curved tube leaked and actually removed some of the paint on the inside of the RH pilaster. I have several questions that I could use some advice on.

Where is the best place to buy the cylinder, the pilaster and a new bubble tube?

Is it possible that the heater is heating too much and this caused the tube to leak?

Are there special installation precautions when installing a new bubble tube? For example, is there a gap between the heater and tube?

Thank you in advance for the help!

Creeker69 (Ron)

Ron,
A Rock-Ola dealer--You will need whole model number and serial number, in most cases Is it the "old style" cabinet ?
Doubt it
Use caution--they are easy to destroy no spacing needed they fit into "the holder".
Ron Rich

Hello Ron,

You could check at www.victoryglass.com they used to stock a range of the earlier Rock Ola CD-8 pillasters and curves and some of the oil tubes or check out your local Rock Ola dealer as Ron suggests.

The plastic trims and oil tubes are expensive and difficult to transport, I have had the oil tubes come in corrigated card almost 6 inches in diameter where the tube in the middle has broken, so take care.

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Thanks Alan and Ron,

I contacted RockOla first to find the local dealers. They gave me two dealers. One is near me the other is 320 miles away from me. Is it possible that there are only two RockOla dealers in Pennsylvania? Anyway, I contacted the one near me. They only run the shop 3 days a week, which is fine with me. I contacted them and they carry nothing. Zip, nada for RockOla. They suggested I used EBAY! Disappointed that I could not procure locally, I decided to use shop.rock-ola.com and order direct from RockOla.

I wanted a price on a part not listed on their site so I decided to call. (They only have 25 parts for CD8 Bubblers on line) I went through the computerized operator and finally selected "buy parts". It rang then bounced back 4 times on a Friday morning around 10:30 their time. I ditched the idea of getting a price on the color cylinder tube and decided to order the pilaster plastic and bubble tube from their web site. The total was about $130.00 US. But the freight for UPS ground was $159.00 ! We have all had experience with UPS and I admire the job they do, but 159.00 was like RockOla saying to me, "we can't be bothered!" They don't answer the phones and make ridiculous charges for freight. The parts price were reasonable.

Then I wondered if it was because of the fluid in tube. I am in the automobile business and certain items require special handling and thus cost a little more, such as air bags. So I removed the bubble tube and the freight was still over 100.00 for UPS - GROUND! Clearly gouging.

I cancelled the order before I gave my credit card information and ordered from HAPP controls. Freight is estimated at about 19.00 for tube and pilaster. I really hope for companies like RockOla (now Antique Apparatus) to succeed but, man oh man, they make it hard to love them.

Maybe I'll go the Chicago Coin-Op show and get one there if I am lucky; well, maybe at least meet some people for future parts and service issues. I sincerely thank you and have a follow up question. Is there something I can put on the inside of the pilasters, like a wax or something, to help protect the cream colored paint in the event another buuble tube should leak?

Thanks
Creeker69 (Ron)

Ron,
That's why I do not repair "RockOlas"--what a story, but I am not surprised, as I have had similar problems with them---Glad to hear that "Happ" has parts--I just hope they are the "right version" parts---
BTW--"Antique Apparatus purchased the name "RockOla" in 1993 from Mr. Rockola himself. They were in business making "bubblier" cabinets before the purchase, and were using Rowe "Guts" ( I think that they were "trading" finished cabinets for the guts, as Rowe did not construct their own cabinets)-- Ron Rich