A word of warning to anyone interested in any of this stuff. I have parted out hundreds of machines in similar condition over the past 10 or 12 years taking every possible safety precaution I could and about three years I started having respiratory issues from doing it. PLEASE consider the risk to your health before you get involved with machines like this. The time & effort for the small financial return is bad enough but the health risks just are not worth it.

All of us feel like we are invincible when we are younger and typically don't think about long term health effects our actions might cause down the road. Messing with machines like the ones in these pictures just are not worth that risk. Spend a few extra dollars and start with something a little cleaner and you will likely live longer and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

If you are as "foolish" as I am sometimes - at least tear the stuff apart outside with plenty of air movement, try to work from the upwind side and be sure to wear gloves & a good mask as well as eye protection. "A little dirt has never killed anyone" but if you are exposed to enough of this stuff over time bad things will likely happen.

Thankfully I don't think I have anything really bad but I know my lungs will never be the same as they would have been had I not gotten involved with some of the really nasty stuff I tried to save. Thankfully about 6 or 7 years ago I "wised up" and started really avoiding buying the really nasty stuff. I still saved as much as I could but if something was really bad I just didn't even bring it home.

Unless you are super lucky even if it cleans up half way decent the paint is going to start lifting as soon as balls start rolling over that playfield. I bought several machines that had rat nest, mouse nest, etc on top of them and even the ones I was able to clean up turned out to be trash because of the waste attacking the bond between the paint and the wood. I had a Wizard that cleaned up to nearly new that had a couple mouse nest on the playfield. I was insanely happy because I paid pretty good money for it. After a good cleaning and waxing I got it up and running and the next thing you know chunks of paint started lifting everywhere the mice had used it for a restroom. I wanted to cry between the hours wasted & what I spent on that machine it took me weeks to get over it.

I have had similar experiences with flood machines. It seems like once that paint starts lifting off the wood you are done and all it takes is just a little moisture to separate the bond attaching the paint to the plywood.

Best of luck!

Clear coating will not reattach the lifting paint because the bond between the original paint and the wood is not longer there. Kind of like painting over flaking paint on a house once paint starts lifting the only thing you can do is remove it and repaint. Not something that will work on a playfield.

As I said in my original post about this "hopefully you will be lucky" but if not be prepared for disappointment and lots of wasted time & energy.