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Play pinball and the playfield will get dirty. Enjoy the game, when it gets dirty wipe it down.

It's like a gun. If you are going to keep running patches down the bore until they come out white, you will be there a while. I don't know how you enjoy your pinball machine so clean. All of my machines are unplayable after a cleaning. The ball is flying around twice as fast as it should, and swerving randomly from spin. Just when you do get control of it, it goes running off the flipper because it is still spinning and the new grippy rubber gets hold of it. I loathe the day when I have to really do a good cleaning, because I know the game won't be enjoyable for at least 100 plays.

My pins shine like new! Every pin that gets played that week will be opened up at sunday. But because i keep doing this, the work is minimal. 10 minutes max is needed to keep them minty fresh! I take great pride in my QC pins in NM condition!

But i know i'm an exception rather than the rule. Most keep their pins in good condition and clean their pins (good), maybe 6 times year?
But the other good side of this is because of this my reputation is known, and when i sell a pin, they are gone very fast.

I clean and wax the PF at least twice a week and sometimes once a week. I'm kind of obsessive about it.

Once a week

Woah! once and twice a week! I will give mine a good dust off with a microfiber cloth maybe every two weeks but only really clean and wax it every few months.

You need help

I very rarely play my machines, so it's not unusual for me to clean a machine just once (a full strip) when I get the machine, and then it's still spotless when I decide to sell. They usually get 30-40 plays between full strip and being sold. Sometimes less.

You guys are nuts for cleaning so often, but, I was in your shoes when I started out with my first machine almost 2 years ago. Then, I talked to a collector who has some of the best machines and does clear coating. His advice to me is to only clean when you see ball trail marks. There's no reason to do so before then.

From other things I've gathered looking into the subject, is that Novus 2 is slightly abrasive. Why keep rubbing something that is slightly abrasive on a playfield every month on a machine inside the home? Wait for the ball trail marks, then clean.

When it LOOKS like it needs to be cleaned. It's time to clean.

Once a year for the party. I spend the entire month of September each year going through the games, cleaning and fixing all that I can and trying to make them bullet proof to stand up to the 12 hours of being banged on. Some will still go down for sure and I can almost name off all the ones that will right off the top of my head. There problem childs and always will be. But anyways, the cleaning takes place once a year for sure.

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836

If it is not dirty you aren't actually cleaning it. Is this a trick question?

I should not have said clean. I usually wax the playfield when I have the glass off at least once or twice a week. I never use Novus on a playfield. Does anyone else wax ramps, ball troughs, balls etc.?