Hey Pin Heads,
I did it! I bought an overlay from Classic Arcades, meticulously took my time to install it perfectly and then watched as it slowly turned into "crap"!
Bubbles, wrinkles, puckers, whatever you want to call it, we can agree- it sucks.
Take a look....
20180928_221216.jpg20180928_223609.jpg20181001_105957.jpg20181001_110024.jpg20181001_110054.jpg20181001_110251.jpg20181001_110305.jpg20181001_110328.jpg
So I decided to call Jeff at Class Arcades to discuss what happened. He had no solutions, but offered to send me a new overlay.
But why bother! I don't really expect to get different results. There is something clearly wrong with the overlays from Classic Arcades. I've read too many stories similar to mine.
So I thought if I want a different result, got to do something different- right?
Two ideas I have are:
1. Install the overlay and then put a thick layer of Mylar over the top. The thinking is that it if the overlay is sandwiched between the wood substrate and a thick Mylar sheet, the overlay won't be able to pucker up. Most Mylar is 3 mil and that seemed a bit too thin to me. I was looking for Mylar around for 8 to 20 mil, but struck out. I only looked online and making calls for a few hours but no one seemed to have thicker Mylar.
2. I came across a company that manufactures Mylar (and many other products). I talked to their engineering director and he suggested another solution. They sell a commercial grade 2.0 mil thick sheets of high performance acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive. Both sides have adhesive. Both sides are peel and stick. He strongly believes that if I sandwich this product between the wooden play field and the overlay that it will adhere it so tightly that It won't lift at all.
The name of the product is: V-501 high performance acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive
When I receive the product, I plan to test it on several sections of the old overlay.
I'm interested if any of you folks have any insights into either approach, comments, or suggestions.