What a shame ... fixable

sand and reclear...

Heat, then wet sand then high speed buff. Cracks gone.

This makes me wish I still had a White Water. I miss this game. Good luck, great deal!

Major bummer on the clear cracks. Assuming you opened the shipping box within 30-90 days of receiving the newly cleared PF's, I'm *shocked* Chris didn't offer take care of this for you!(especially if you offered to cover the shipping to/from HEP). A $700 clear shouldn't have large cracks in it when taken out of the box! If this damage occurred during a PF swap, that's another story (but that doesn't appear to be the case). Most buyers don't have the ability to "sand and reclear...".

If an insert shifts after it leaves here it is beyond my control because the work I do is on top of those surfaces. I always provide detailed pictures of the work after completion just to verify there are no issues at that time. That is all I can control
Sanding it down and reclearing it again is nothing to me and something I could easily do but sometimes it is just the moral of it and offers no guarantees it couldn’t happen again or somewhere else.
For “$700” you are paying for a service. That service was completed you are not buying a playfield guarantee. That would cost much more
Why should I be punished for something I have no control over?
How does this fall on me?
This is precisely the reason I quit doing playfield only work.

Here is the $700 service I performed on the playfield set.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/31#post-4725032

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/31#post-4725200

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/31#post-4725475

My opinion is this is not hutch's fault. if a pf is less than 20 years old I dont worry about the insert glue job not being right. I dont believe this is just from insert expansion and contraction, which is common. That is when the insert lifts or drops a little and you can feel the insert under the clear (and see it). Some inserts do it some dont.
As long as chris was using the clear he usually uses, I would guess the inserts were not glued right, but thats my guess and it dosent help the seller. Just more opinion.
I have never seen it before but maybe if the clear was mixed wrong like a 4 was mixed like a 2 on accident. I did it once but caught myself before pouring it in my gun. So I have not seen if it looks normal but is brittle. Long shot but who knows.

I dont know what those stupid imogies are but I was saying 4 to one mixed like a 2 to one

Makes sense, but this outcome must be extremely rare (especially so soon after delivery).

Both you and Chris do world-class pinball restoration (and I know first-hand, since I've worked with both of you). The restoration/clear you did on my 40 year old NOS Paragon PF was stunning! In that instance (given the age), I remember how much work you did on setting/glueing the inserts.

From my perspective, both service providers and game manufacturers need to take care of their customers when rare events occur. If defects like this become more common (possibly because Mirco didn't glue/set the inserts properly), then restorers would have to spend more time on the inserts (or refuse to work with Mirco playfields, or charge more when working with them, or lower the bar to their clients, etc.).

If this were my PF, I'd sent it back to the restorer so they could figure out what went wrong (assuming there was some ambiguity). Living with these 2 major cracks wouldn't be an acceptable option...would be a "showstopper" for a PF swap. I'd actually be thankful that the cracks showed up prior to investing time in the swap (which is considerable).

If it were something I could take care of or control I gladly would and always do but not everything that happens is.
It isn’t about taking care of a customer it is about inheriting someone else’s problem.
Taking care of a customer is no problem.
Inheriting someone else’s problem is.

I don’t think people should reclear Mirco playfields. Same thing happened on mine and I don’t blame anybody but I wouldn’t be willing to reclear them if I was in the business.

Not true.

9E2AE96C-96BC-4241-8932-A52B62A57652 (resized).png

Any cracks in the mini now?

Yeah the material settled back in the crack after a years time. This is exactly why I wouldn’t waste the time and effort revisiting the main playfield at the time.
Playfields like these are just a can of worms and even if your happy the day you get it back it doesn’t mean you’ll be happy a year from now and there is no way to guard against it other than just to avoid them.
The playfield actually has a past here as is and I don’t think it is right to try and now make it seem like I am some how at fault or leaving someone high and dry when the truth is I only agreed to take it in as a favor at a discounted rate and you were already in a tight spot with it to start with.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/restoration-rough-water-to-white-water-#post-4612611

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/restoration-rough-water-to-white-water-#post-4613409

We did a CPR TAF together and that went fine and I bought a MM from you and that went fine
but sometimes things don’t go as well as we would like and there’s no science behind it nor investigation needed it’s nobody’s fault it just sucks.
I can live with that and have no hard feelings.
If someone were to buy this playfield set from you and wanted to send it back through here I would sand and clear it again as a goodwill gesture but I will never inherit this particular playfield as a problem of mine.

Lol!
Wet willys orphanage. It was absolutely at a discounted rate of $650 for the pair including t nutting. Time,materials and even t nuts cost money so I can’t lose money doing something even if it is a favor and this is two playfields not one.
The work I do is a process. That process gets carried out the same way each and every time
There isn’t a good job or a bad one there can be a better or worse outcome based on factors I DO NOT CONTROL.
The playfield set left here looking perfect or else I would not bother sending it out at all.
This is what I am trying to explain to you.
It isn’t an issue between us personally.
I am always willing to help and work with anyone but please understand that it was two months after I shipped the playfield that you stated you notice these flaws that makes it difficult to be of much help.
If it were the day Or week you received it then no questions asked I would have ate it but two months after is tough to swallow even if you say you just opened it I have no idea if it actually arrived that way after so much time passes and you would find others would feel the same most likely.