According to dale :
Am trying to restore and antique theater popcorn popper that has a
burned out heater. This is a 230 volt element and I wonder if anyone
has found any place that sells just the coil element that I could use as
replacement. Was thinking of a clothes dryer element also. thanks.

Conceptually, it's not too hard to get it operational again, but given
you call it an "antique", and "antique" implies that it could be
_VERY_ old and unsafe (ie: no thermal cutouts etc), I'd be very
nervous about it. Be sure to have a safety kill switch and
a fire extinguisher handy...

If the existing element has one or two breaks, you can often get
them brazed or silver-soldered to give it a few more years of life.

Alternately, if you can determine the wattage and dimensions of the existing
coil element, you may be able to find a clothes dryer element that has
the right wattage, roughly the same coil length and diameter, and cut
it out of the element frame (if the frame can't be reworked to fit) to
get to the raw coil and restring it.

It's also possible to make your own heating elements from raw nichrome,
but that will require considerable care in ensuring you get the final
temperature right. A really good appliance service center might
be able to do that.

If you can't braze the existing element, I'd take the unit into
a good appliance service center and ask if they can match the
voltage, wattage, and length parameters.

How many watts is this thing anyway? Dryer elements are in the
4500-6000W range - that seems a trifle high even for an industrial-duty
popcorn maker.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.