Don't play them and put on mylar!

A small piece of mylar or... a playfield protector...
http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/playfieldprotector/index.html

Meh, the mylar will look ugly. This is usually more an indentation, and not "wear". It's always hidden, and expected with metal flaps getting constantly run over it. It's something I would not worry about.

I mylar areas that are visible that are prone to wear. I mean, what's next, mylar underneath posts and guides to avoid marking into the clear from them as well?

Just leave it.

I put mylar on every ramp flap of any pin that I redo . Stops any more wear and cant tell its there . Just one of my personal preferences I do when I redo a pin

You can of course put the Mylar on the underside of the flap itself, rather than the playfield.

Id also put some down on that clock insert so it dont wear anymore

mylar is the trick.

be sure to wax the pf before install so it will remove easy when needed at a later date.

I also liek the "mylar the bottom of ramp flap" idea

Yes for sure under the flaps is the best then u won't see it at all

Why even fix this? It gives a nice slot to position the ramp correctly when putting it back on and if the flap is sunken a little bit that just makes it level with the playfield right?

but mylar will increase the thickness of the flap slightly. The only time you see it, is when the ramp is off, so who really cares? In pinball, you have to accept imperfections. From the factory, over time, stuff gets wear and tear. Think of it like a car. If you are going to wonder how to keep dust and dirt out of the engine, you probably aren't going to drive it out of the climate controlled garage.

Most playfields I restore are level 2 fields. meaning that hidden area under ramps, plastics and posts, are not touched up. So for the past 10 years in my experience. Most people don't care about the wear under the ramp flap. Even on a freshly restored cleared field.

This is very ture the ramp and posts and everything like that u will never see unless u take them off

Sometimes u can see the wear depending on the prior movement and placement of the ramp .

When I owned Fish Tales, the big flap on the boat ramp had worn a groove ~1/8" wide down to the wood. Even with more standard ramps, the flap flexes enough to make a groove that bothers me. I also put down a small piece of mylar under ramp flaps any time I have the ramps off a game. Anyone that says the mylar looks worse than the groove, I disagree with.

With that one, it's probably a good idea, but that flap is an exception that is especially problematic.

Hey, it's your machine, it's not like it's a big deal either way.

Keruza, I totally get it, if it's preventable why not take steps to prevent it. Does anyone have pics of a ramp with the mylar on the flap as some have suggested? I'm curious how that looks. Also, if you put it directly on the playfield how much do you let it stick out in front of the ramp?

Yep I agree

but if the preventive action sacrifices gameplay, then i'm not so sure. Just like putting cliffy's on a perfect hole. Preventive. Maybe, but you see what the ramp flap does to the playfield. What do you think the edges of those cliffys do over time from the ball rolling over them?

I get what you are saying, but you are kind of contradicting yourself there Neo. If you don’t care about ramp flap indentations, would you not prefer cliffy indentations that are hidden as well, over visible damage that has or will occur, and be visible?

no, because cliffy's make wear in the wide open of the playfield if you don't use the cliffy. Not everyone uses cliffies. I have them on my RFM and wish they were not there.

So you'd rather have chipped clear or wood on an exposed hole rather than some wear under a Cliffy?

yes. Chipped clear or worn wood in a hole, is wood grain. Easily touched up and fixed with a major playfield restoration. When it wears around through the art, it's a lot more difficult to fix. Some fields are horrible to fix in that surrounding area. And this is coming from someone that restores these for a living. So you go from an easy $400 fix to a 500-700 fix.

Has anyone seen Cliffy pf wear? I know this has been talked about many times if it will happen, but I have never seen any photos showing an issue.

Good point. Pics if anyone has them.

Unlike the springy, always moving, ramp flaps, the Cliffys are usually screwed down tight, with very little (if any) movement.

I've taken them off many a playfield in for restoration and have not seen any through-paint wear from the Cliffy itself.

I have not seen wear through the paint to the wood but I have seen several games with indention in the clear from the cliffy.

The much lesser of 2 evils?

For me, I prefer the mantis style protector over the cliffy for the games that have one available.

If a mantis style is not available then I consider the cliffy. I'm in the minority though in thinking that a lightly worn hole looks better than a big shiny item on the game though.

Show this rampant epidemic of exceedingly expensive fixes brought on by cliffy's. I've yet to see anything more than impressions in the clear.

This topic is borderline nutty. If you don't want your playfield to get any damage, DON'T INSTALL IT.

i like the Mantis style hole protectors too. but the problem is, on all Lawlor games, he angled the sides of the hole. So you really can't use a Mantis protector on say Addams family. Also Cliffy is the only choice on a "used" game where there is some wear already. Mantis protectors don't hide wear, Cliffy's do. Cliff is the man for this!

in a home environment you won't really get the wear. If your games got as much play on them with a cliffy as those ramps have seen to make a grove in the playfield, the cliffy would do the same. In a home environment, it's not really going to be a concern because it will not get enough play to break through a cleared field. Now if you have them on an old school lacquered game, you may see some exposing rub. What I don't like about the cliffy on RFM, is that the cliffy causes the ball to do an ever slight jump when it hits it. enough so, that the ball flies over the proxy for that middle shot and never reads the ball going through it.