Flash
Williams, 1979what would be the best way to protect playfield on one such as a flash pinball that is 40 years old.?
it does not have mylar on it so i was wondering if clear was needed or just wax often to protect it.
what kind of wax or clear would be best .?
Flash playfields are terrible. So are the inserts. Their designed lifespan was get it out the door.
If your not going to do a full touch up and clearcoat best thing is just wax it up and hope for a hardtop or someone to do a replacement playfield.
CPR has a conversion kit for a flash https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-conversion-kits/asgard/
but is not currently offering flash playfields for sale.
I would think flash would be a big seller for them.
Most of the pfs are pretty worn and cupped as the game got tons of play on it
in its day, especially by me. 
i may get the Playfield Protector later on , but for now i will wax and change the ball often.
here is a picture of the playfield . I am working on changing the plastics and adding in led bulbs soon.
playfield seems to be fine except for the some white lines arounds the inserts.
are the inserts hard to change?
IMG_3542.jpgQuoted from Matthew2015:i may get the Playfield Protector later on , but for now i will wax and change the ball often.
here is a picture of the playfield . I am working on changing the plastics and adding in led bulbs soon.
playfield seems to be fine except for the some white lines arounds the inserts.
are the inserts hard to change?
[quoted image]
Yours looks ok - mine was really planked.
As others have said, I’m really surprised no one has done a replacement pf. Guess the game has always been too cheap to justify it. But on the flip side, there’s a lot out there, and a lot that need replacement pf’s. As the price creeps up, it will become more likely.
Great game - very underrated Imo.
When inserts warp or cup downward, the outside edges also tend to rise up so the ink there wears first. I've got an NOS pf in my EBD with relatively few plays and 'on' time and even it has a tiny bit of that wear happening on a couple of inserts. The plastic shrinks over time a little even if it's not under heavy use and lamp heat. If the inserts instead sink a little, then the art on the wood around them starts to wear first. The inserts are probably not set in absolutely 100% perfectly flat relative to the playfield in the factory anyway. Yours looks pretty damned good, relatively speaking. If it's the insert ink that is worn I suppose you could remove them, redo the black ring art, clear them and reinstall. Personally I'd just play it!
Quoted from cooked71:Guess the game has always been too cheap to justify it
That's exactly what CPR gave as their reason why they have not done a Flash pf.
A playfield protector is probably the best option, the same goes with Firepower. Immediately plays so much better & addresses all the issues with cupping & the ball trajectory.
On Flash the whole area with the 3 rollovers on the right is not covered by the protector, not sure if this affects play, but I preferred to made my own protector so the whole area around the rollovers is covered.
Quoted from Matthew2015:the inserts do look warped after getting a better look at them.
i do want to change these out if its not too hard to do.
[quoted image]
Those look to be raised up above the playfield, and also cupped.
Do some searching on here.
Folks have taken the inserts out, sanded them flat, then re-installed them.
I haven't done it, but it seems do-able with reasonable effort.
Quoted from lowbeau67:Fill the inserts with Minwax Polycrylic
and clear that sucker!!
The arrows would have to be pulled and sanded flat first since they are sticking up, in that case if there's enough plastic to work with they wouldn't need to be filled. Or perhaps they could be carefully heated and then pressed to be made straight again, then fill if the cupping is still bad enough. I've only taken cupping out of a few round inserts with heat and pressing with okay results but for odd shapes like that, yeah I'd poke around in here for flattening inserts. If you sand them of course you're going to lose any artwork including the surrounding ring but it does work. Or you could just sand the *bottom* of ones that are poking up so they sit farther down and don't poke up anymore when reinstalled and then fill them, then you keep the artwork.
I like classic williams machine. If your pinball machine isn’t too messy, a product like Windex is usually enough. Spray some cleaner on the clothes and start wiping everything you can reach. Remember not to spray the cleaner on your machine; Always spray on a towel. Older style products like carnauba wax are still the most suitable for your electro-mechanical pinball machine. Modern clear-coated play-fields prefer modern product.
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngI have arrows bowing up like that on my Stern Lightning, has gotten worse over the years but I don’t want to mess with clearing the whole playfield since otherwise it's in nice shape with no worn-thru ink on the wood. And I like things as original as possible anyway. So I thought of this idea...
Removing them, surrounding the circumference with some kind of adhesive foam tape or thin strip of putty or other type of dam, then filling them. Then sanding the clear to make perfectly flat and one more light coat of clear to finish. Then sand the edges clean and sanding the bottoms enough so they can be reinstalled flush with the playfield. But haven’t tried any of that yet. Maybe a goofy idea, but an idea.
Since you already started sanding them you should be able to sand them more and make them much flatter. Then reinstall with glue, except being careful to set them level with the playfield before it dries instead of pushing them all the way down like they were originally or then they will be sunken since now they will be a tiny bit thinner.
This post made me antsy so I finally popped one warped yellow arrow out of my Lightning. The ball has actually gotten hung up on the edge of this insert. I put on some gloves, heated it up with my hair dryer for about 20 or 30 seconds just enough where I could gently press the warp out, held it there a little to cool. Checked the fit, sanded the bottom a little bit. A little glue around the edge of the hole and making sure insert was flush all around. It worked! They are skinny so cupping isn't a big issue with them. About a dozen more to go...
i will get the rest of the inserts cleaned soon , the others don't look as bad but still could be sanded a bit to to look better..
the next thing i am about to do is the the apron which has a lot of wear on it. i am waiting on a decal for it to come and i was wondering if i should sand and repaint the apron with a gloss black before putting on the decal.
IMG_3555 (resized).jpgQuoted from Matthew2015:i will get the rest of the inserts cleaned soon , the others don't look as bad but still could be sanded a bit to to look better..
the next thing i am about to do is the the apron which has a lot of wear on it. i am waiting on a decal for it to come and i was wondering if i should sand and repaint the apron with a gloss black before putting on the decal.
[quoted image]
Yes. The final product is only as good as the prep work. Sand well and paint with gloss black.
Quoted from lowbeau67:Fill the inserts with Minwax Polycrylic
and clear that sucker!!
Mine turned out great and plays fast!
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Correction.
I filled inserts with Minwax Polycrylic
and then I cleared entire playfield with
Minwax Polycrylic. It's been about 16 months
and I just found a troubling thing.
Delamination around the pop bumpers.
Gonna have to sand this topside down
and Spraymax 2k it.
Just wanted to put this out there.
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