Exactly. It is perfectly smooth the way Stern did it and I sure like it, minor stress marks or not. Seems a lot of folks care more about how the games look than play.

Yeah, well, that's Stern clearcoat for you...

I can feel every insert and paint line on my Tron Pro. =P Will have to have it redone at some point, or pick up another PF and have it done.

LOL, coulda fooled me! I hope you can sleep tonight...

My opinion...take it for what it is worth...

Back in the day ALL arcade games were built for the Operators where the main goal was for them to be fun and make money. Dings, dents, and imperfections from the factory were acceptable as most (probably all) players did not care or notice them. In short time the games got their own bruises from the public....battle scars. By the time the game became too beat up it would lose it's money making abilities (players lost interest) and be pushed to the back of the warehouse. The operator did not want to pay for a perfect piece of furniture or art...they wanted cheap, fun somewhat reliable games that made money..period.

Now fast forward...where the problem develops. The Pinheads grew up and have interest in owning games in their homes...so Stern supplied their needs. Unfortunately Stern is stuck in the "Operator" mentality of making the game just good enough for a route. They are not geared to meet the high expectations of the home buyers. At first this high expectation was the fault of the home buyers because the price of the pins ($4.5K ish) was still in the Operator quality level. But now Stern is to blame because they raised their prices to $7K ish without raising their quality to a home buyer level.

I cannot think of a reason pins jumped $2-3K in the past few years without raising the quality bar. So now I agree with the OP that this is not acceptable....nor should a new buyer have to do much of anything to get their NIB pin working. Now down the line...sure, repairs and maintenance should be expected. And I do agree that if you own a pin, you should know your way around it (at least basic diagnostic stuff).

We do that with cars...while it is under warranty we let the dealer fix the small and large problems....but after the warranty we do more and more to save money and time. Or we choose not to fix that door ding because we don't feel the cost to repair justifies the fix....but if my new car came with a door ding you bet I would not accept it. Hope this makes sense.

Anyway...just my thoughts.

G

I agree but I keep seeing you post more complaints... you seem to be in such pain!

A piece of plastic is always going to move at a different rate than a sheet of plywood.

Clear coat your playfield, let it shrink back over a month, clear it again, sand it perfectly flat, then give it a final clear, polish it out to a mirror finish.

6 months latter after a dry winter, feel all your insert edges again.

Ok, maybe pain and anger! Breath with me... in ... and... out... in ... and... out...

Good explanation vid. I didn't know this but it makes sense. So is it possible for the clearcoat to fully cure and it be perfect or is it expected to have some flaw down the line because of temp changed? I posted a pic on another thread of mine showing an insert on JD that looks like it has 100 hairline cracks in it and I'm still unsure wether this is the clearcoat or the insert and if I should worry or not?

Here's the link with a pic

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-few-little-issues-maybe-you-can-help-me-sort-out

Those are not even cracks, just the sanding marks that are normal in the insert faces (they always follow the length of the playfield).

Playfields were sanded after the inserts were installed, to make a single flat surface.

They are hard to see in jeweled inserts, but can often be seen in the clear ones.

Nothing to worry about.

Even so, my 20 year old one still looks better than what I see here.

+1

Mine has the same issue maybe a little worse. I had a separate post on it. Stern is suppose to replace mine when the next batch is produced.

Was not specifically told why they are replacing. I shared pics of both issues to them. They responded saying they would replace. I didn't ask questions.

Just found this threat and just want do raise my hand.

Yes, there are also small cracks in the upper left corner of the the window of my ACDC Pinball.
I don´t know wether they are right from the beginning, for i recognized them the first time after around 40 plays.

the cracks could be easily seen, if the lower playfield is illuminated.
Now, knewing that they are there, i m always looking to them instead of concentrating at the balls.

acdclack1.jpg acdclack2.jpg

don't look at the cracks, concentrating at the balls