Rob,

It will probably be easier than your FH swap

CPR pf's suck for swaps. True story.

After my CPR High Speed swap, I put a guide together. Hope it helps...
-mof

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-swap-guide

Rob, the best advice I can give you is to think of the dimples as suggestions. Those suggestions may be right, and may be wrong. So, fit EVERYTHING first by hand and operate the mechanism. Then fit it with one screw and operate the mechanism. Once you are confident it's in the right spot, carry on.

And get yourself a nice set of finger files and spend a day clearing the clear out of star rollover inserts before you start anything else.

I have a NOS EBD playfield (not installed) if you need any pics. LMK

This. If anyone has a good guide to this I'd love to see it by the way!

where do I find these and what are they?

thanks

Me too!

I've had one of these sets for around 10 years and find them to be ham dandy. Especially for pinball.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-needle-file-set-468.html

EDIT: READ THIS FIRST!

http://classicplayfields.com/guides.html

I've done 3 CPR swaps: Black Knight, Centaur and Whirlwind. But the suggestions below are valid for ANY after-market playfield.

First, I re-drill almost every hole, using brad-tipped bits ONLY: http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DW1720-Brad-Point-6-Piece/dp/B005GOM3VO/

Use the old playfield to determine the right drill bit to use for each hole. The factory holes are too small, probably due to clearcoating. If you have to hammer a part through the top of the playfield, you're doing it wrong.

AFTER the holes are drilled, hammer in your T-nuts before you do anything else, and make sure they're the right thread. It sucks to hammer in a new T-nut in a finished playfield.

Joe's right: the dimples give you an idea of the general area where the screw goes. For anything that protrudes above the playfield, you MUST manually fit the part and work the mech to check position. Mark the correct screw position with a sharpie (dot), then drill a tiny pilot hole for the right spot, and only then screw down the mech. The factory dimples are usually fine for light sockets and things that are 100% below the playfield.

The only issue I ever had that was CPR-specific was on Black Knight. I had to route out a "landing area" for the metal ramp, so that it sat flush with the playfield. I've played a CPR BK that didn't do this, and the ball skipped when it hit that metal edge.

(EDIT: I had an issue with one of the holes on WW too; see my swap thread for details).

You can learn from the mistakes I made on my last swap here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ww-restore-something-old-something-new

The playfield is exactly as I left it in February, 90% complete. Sometimes life happens...

I would be 100% in for that. Would like to help and learn. (Lord Atticus may deny the visit though)

Finger files...yes HF has a set that work OK, but they are a bit thick.

These are a lot thinner and work well on start inserts:

http://www.amazon.com/Piece-8-Inch-Black-Riffler-Files/dp/B000YPERJ6/ref=sr_1_5

And these come in all kinds of handy for other stuff, but are particularly helpful on the star inserts. These are little tiny sanding belts. You cut them in half or into strips of any length, and thread them into to star slots. One hand on top, one hand on the bottom of the PF and pull them back and forth like you are flossing your teeth, if you remember back that far. I clean up the narrow end of the slot with the files above if necessary.

http://www.amazon.com/REPLACEMENT-BELTS-DETAIL-SANDING-PEACHTREEWOODWORKING/dp/B0012VXQNE/ref=sr_1_6

It's in the link above but ===>Let freshly delivered playfields cure longer and unboxed.

If you look in the green by the inlines you have the extra hole in the playing area that is not supposed to be there. Also like I told you the hold on the inlines by the 70k is too high up. You have the same field as I do. The pop bumper holes are too small also.

There is also a hold up top by the kick out that is not supposed to be there also.

I'd love to pick up an unloved, trashed Bally Star Trek. My wife loves the theme, and I like the layout.

I hope to be doing my 1st PF swap in the not so distant future.

I did a playfield swap on pinbot earlier this year. It was my first time. The two things I wish I had done differently:

Take more pictures before taking the original apart. Was over 250 pictures of the playfield and wiring harness enough for me? Not really. Take more. If I do it again someday (unlikely), you can be sure I will be armed with at least 500.

I do not remember where I read this tip (somewhere on Pinside): take a large piece of translucent paper and make yourself a map/template of ALL of the screw holes on the back of the playfield. Use this paper to transfer the exact hole locations to the new playfield. I think this would help a ton especially for critical items like slingshot or pop bumper assemblies that can be pretty darn finicky about their placement and orientation.

I don't know how to link etc but guy on ebay has video for sale from time to time on how to swap ek playfield..my cpr ek is on deck for re-do this winter and for $29.99 I might take chance and buy this if even to learn one important step I don't know..

Couple comments/recommendations from my experience swapping playfields. The GI braid that is soldered to the light sockets should be upgraded to 1/8" flat braid. Also consider swapping out 555 sockets for 44/47 sockets. Did this on my Fathom and will also do it on my Eight Ball Deluxe.....I hate 555 sockets!

IMHO, I wouldn't recommend this. There can be subtle differences between the CPR pf and yours. Better to line up the part on the new playfield and check the action manually, like jgrenuk said.

I soldered the braid. I've seen others who solder a small connector with a hole it that is then screwed down with the lamp fixture. There are some under playfield GI sockets that are now held down with any screws...just stapled, so at least those should be soldered.

Photo of the underside of KISS. Also note that I used the 1/8" flat braid.

Lower_playfield.jpg

That is a good point. I think I just felt frustrated getting anything with a coil / kicker pair positioned properly and thought this might be a good workaround. Given your point, I think I would use a pencil to transfer the position of the original screw holes to the new playfield. That way, if something was not exactly in the right spot, you could easily adjust its position while still maintaining the original spatial relationship between the two moving parts that allows for free movement of the plunger through the coil.

This isnt just specific to CPR but any playfield swap.

I picked up 2 different color of numbered stickers on a roll. Apply 1 sticker to the part being removed and another sticker right next to one of the screw holes it goes in(on the old playfield). This will help you ensure everything gets back to where it should on the new playfield.

0001-1000-labels-roll-l-1240-0001_flor.png

Use a staple lifter to remove your staples, if your ground braid is in good condition, this will let you reuse it without doing much damage to it
31Yzj1wuKFL.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/C-S-Osborne-1201-Staple-Lifter/dp/B002JGA0LM/ref=sr_1_2

Replace every screw with 1/4" hex heads that you can. This makes the process so much simpler when reassembling

For switches, use blue tape to hold the switch stack together along with the original screw, you usually wont be replacing the screws in these and they are often times switch specific screws based on the switch stack height.

I would worry about mechanisms with thick metal working their way loose on impact, especially stationary targets.

I find it easier to just staple on new ground braid while leaving the old braid in tact as a reference on the old field. you can then re-solder everything on nice and neat.

I have seen issues from people trying to use different hardware where clearance is an issue. I would logically figure out what screw goes to what type of mech and catalog them.

Why would that happen if youre replacing a screw that has the same length/thread type and only different head?(going from a phillips head to a 1/4" and changing nothing else)

Hex headed or square tipped screws are the future.

Oh, I totally agree with using hex head screws. I thought you meant to use the smallest screw length throughout, to avoid penetrating the playfield.

I'll agree with the hex head, but even those square headed decking screws can easily strip out. the newer 6-pointed screws are really nice. the bit locks into them tightly with no give.

the 3/8" long [yellow] anodized screws were used to signify that they were a shorter length than the other 1/4" (1/2" long) screws. they were used for securing thin metal pieces like light sockets so that the screw did not pierce the top side of the playfield.

Be careful with Centaur and other bally ball troughs....will not align right (critical with Centaur) with hex head screws.

-c

I swapped a Firepower. I was able to strip the entire bottom of the playfield leaving the ground harness and GI sockets intact. I just took a small hammer and a flat blade screw driver to pop the staples up on one end and yank them with pliers. The whole thing went over to the new CPR field and once I had everything on the bottom, I put it back in the cabinet and populated the top. The star roll overs can easily be cleaned out with a small, sharply folded, piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The worst part is re-drilling all the holes, it is scary and a drill stop is your best friend. drill-stop.jpg

I have a technique I've used for years to transfer all the parts and wiring from the underside of the original playfield to the new one. After I've removed all of the stuff from the top side, I flip the playfield over and carefully remove all of the screws to the remaining components and all the staples holding the lamps and ground braid so everything is loose from the wood. Then I take a piece of cardboard the same size as the playfield and carefully slide it under all the stuff. Then I lift everything off the old playfield and carefully slide it all on the backside of the new playfield. Then everything is ready to be reattached after some minor repositioning. You can replace the ground braid and the lamps if you want too but a lot of the time I keep everything the same if it is all good. I just screw the components on and re-staple the rest with my electric staple gun. Makes it real easy.

You can then polish up the metal parts if you want or replace lamp sockets or whatever. Of course it's always a good idea to take plenty of photos for reference too in case you need to use them.

I second this. I did it with my Pinbot. It makes getting stuff back in its general correct location easy. The wires have a "memory"for their proper position.

Black Knight - "moving the guts" (with help from the kid):

That is typically how I do it unless I do new sockets and braid. Then I unsolder the harness on the GI.

I ran into a couple of issues during my CPR Xenon swap:

1. The holes for the 1-4 rollover buttons needed to be drilled larger (underside), the topside holes were fine.
2. T-nut holes needed to be drilled larger.
3. The outhole kicker holes were about 1/8" left of the original placement. Would not be a problem except that there are two through-holes needed for this mech that only allow very minor adjustments. At first, the kick was too weak and the ball would not make it over the peak. I've tweaked it as best I can short of slotting the holes and rarely have the problem now.
4. The slotted hole for the shooter lane switch had too much clear pooled up at the top end which caused the ball to hop and hit the chrome bridge piece that spans the wood rails. I had to dremel away the mound of clear.

Yep. If you take about an hour and drill out all the through-holes to match the original playfield, the rest of the job goes much faster. Be sure to use a brad-tipped bit, and drill down from the top.

I do the same thing with a piece of cardboard to pick up the old harness and then dump it on the new playfield... However, before I move the main harness and electrical, I put Molex plugs on many of the major components and remove those in advance of the full move. Also before the big move I will move whatever all braided GI from the old playfield to the new (edit...I actually move the lights and apply new braid to the new playfield)....of course always taking photos of where the harness attaches to the braids. It's amazing how removing the major components clears things up....also really fun to remount them and just plug them in!

For the wired lighting I do religiously replace the bare braid once on the new playfield...I upgrade the braid to 1/8" flat braid...similar to the machine ground braid but half as wide.

I'm no expert, but TONS of pictures of my Firepower CPR swap here: http://www.bradberryman.com/Pinball_Firepower_playfield_swap.htm.