As for thickness, it’s level with 2 pieces of masking tape. Probably a bit thicker than a sheet of mylar. So the edge isn’t going to influence the hardtop. I did the same drop test and it looked the same as the black paint.
In theory it’s no different. My buddy that cleared it originally used auto clear at his body shop he owns. So it’s the same clear that goes on Mercedes and BMWs. The real problem is the type of abuse this particular saucer gets. So if a professional grade clear cracks I imagine that a cheap rattle can from Ace will probably show its own version of wear. BUT what I’m trying to show at this point is how amazing it turned out and what I’m not showing (off camera) is how I’m using it on a piece of ply to show what a whole playfield would look like. My hopes are that this could be a new option for clearing playfields. Extremely cheap, a lot safer, really easy.

Or it’ll be a complete failure haha

And it failed...
I held the ball from half way up the playfield and let it roll and the clear cracked like a windshield. Which really bugs me because I did this drop tests. But I guess as this cures it get really hard and looses flexibility. Glad I figured that out before installing the hardtop.

Back to the drawing board.

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Well trying to sand this is pretty much impossible. Looks like absolute shit. Also this playfield’s saucer is too shallow anyway. I’m not sure what to do. I’m sick of this game. About to light it on fire.

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my obsession with this game is seriously unhealthy... literally all i can think about is Mata Hari's hole
So, my plan is to replace the saucer. Before I do any more to this playfield, everything from here forward will be separate materials.
Plan A - Get a 1/2" piece of maple or oak and make a 3 3/4" square and recreate the saucer
Plan B - Have this printed with glossy black filament
Either way I'll make the replacement first then decide the best method of surgery to cut out the existing saucer and add the new.
Once its finished the hardtop will hide all scars and I'll be back in business.

Saucer Dimensions.pdf

I think this saucer is just blown out all together on this particular playfield. The fins and the hammer stick up past the edges of the wood. What do you guys think? Even the screw for the top of the assembly peaks out of the top of the saucer.

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I’ll stop by Lowe’s in a little bit

Found the JB Weld Kwik wood. Drilled some holes and roughed it up with 80 grit. Feels like chewed gum as it hardens. I ground in a thin layer then built on top of it. Really easy to shape. Eager to see how this turns out.

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Ok an hour later and the saucer is shaped and looks amazing. Holy hell...

I’m going to fine tune it tomorrow. But sheesh I can’t believe this stuff. You guys were right. Praise Vid once again.

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The saucer in the playfield currently in my machine is shallow and this play field it was deep, you can see that i built it up with about a 1/4 inch worth of the epoxy, I'm going to sand it down a little more to get the shape right but for the most part I'm trying to keep the bowl to stay higher to hopefully help with impacts at the back, with direct hits.

I think tatman9999 's Viking has a great example of saucer depth. Just enough to change the ball path.

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Right, here's a CPR Mata Hari saucer, you can see how high the bowl is, very shallow in comparison to what i had before I added the epoxy. I think I'm almost there with the shape.

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Ok finished sanding. Got the saucer pretty darn close to perfect (at least for me) and got it painted up again.
Deez told me to man up and just buy the spray max so now I have to.
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Thanks Dono that makes me feel a lot better about the shape I went with on my saucer.
That’s awesome that you got to use that to work with CPR

The playfield in there now has a decent saucer. Still low in the back. I “think” it’s a couple things. The corners are at a perfect trajectory for the ball to hit on up the middle shots.
This playfield is BURIED in clear so almost 1/8 of an inch (little less) of clear is absorbing a lot of impact.
Hard to say how this will hold up on the new. My hopes are that the ball wont hit in the same edge and because of how it’s shaped I could probably install some type of a metal ring that is flush with the edge to act as a cliffy.
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I was kicking the idea around for using mylar a few posts back... thats also an option

While I wait for the SprayMax to deliver might as well keep going
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Ooh la la...
Hello hardtop

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That’s installed, there’s not much prep outside of what I’ve already captured. Just got it lined up, clamped it down a little above halfway and peeled back the masking for the bottom. Laid it down then peeled back the top and BOOM! It only takes a few minutes to lay down. I did clean up the insert windows from behind because they were a little cloudy. And I put the pop bumper screws back in before I laid it down.

Ok let’s edit this:

I guess if I list everything I did it would be the following:

Sanded entire playfield
Polished inserts by wet sanding at 2000 grit
Painted the outside edges of inserts that might have the edges exposed
Applied gloss wipe on poly to inserts
Cleared all exposed wood with Ace Hardware clear enamel
Painted and cleared saucer
Damaged the saucer testing cheap clear
Sanded saucer down a second time and reshaped with epoxy
Repainted and cleared saucer with SprayMax 2K
Cleaned all the clear plastic of the hardtop from the back side to remove smudges from handling or extra adhesive from production
Wiped playfield with a tack cloth and sprayed it with duster
Lined it up how I wanted splitting the difference in registration
Clamped it down
Checked registration again
Reclamped
Checked registration again
Reclamped
Checked registration again
Reclamped
Went back to check registration again and yelled at myself for being a perfectionist
Vomited out of nerves
Peeled back the protective layer from the adhesive for the bottom half and laid it down
Then peel the back and laid it down
Then stood back and laughed at how ridiculously easy it was

As far as I can tell I only have one hole that is off just enough that I can’t get the lane guide in. Outside of that they are all pretty much on except the pop bumper area. The screws were a bit off and the cut outs for the bodies are going to need trimmed back. But it’s all just FRACTIONS of an inch. It was almost a perfect registration. I’m really happy with it.

Thanks cant wait for the swap!
Swap #2 lol hopefully this is the last time

I got the inserts pretty glossy then used one smear of "Wipe-on Poly" instead of clear coat to give that wet look. The whole reason I'm doing this swap is because the clear ghosted off the inserts so i didn't want to clear them again and have it happen under the hardtop.

The black paint i determined about 4 or 5 inserts needed it but after I lined it up only 1 of them REALLY needed it the rest the slightest bit of black paint helps one the edges of one side, not really even needed. Oddly enough the white 5x bonus arrow the lower PF was the only insert that seemed off.

As for the shooter lane I just used 80 grit with my finger or thumb depending on the spot of the groove i was in and sanded it clean then smoothed it out with finer grits up to 220, nothing to extravagant. I almost hit the limit though on how deep i was getting, I didn't alter the shape of the lane but if i would've kept going it would've started getting too deep. Which wouldn't have mattered anyway after the fact because of the plastic explained next.

Because of how the plastic of the hardtop lays in the lane the ball is cradled by the plastic the whole way up the lane so the ball never even touches the wood. (I don't think this was on purpose I think it ma just be the way this particular one was cut) Knowing this is what drove me to clear it early on with that cheapy stuff. Looks amazing! Then i made the bad decision to use that same stuff on the saucer and we all saw how that ended. I then ended up using spraymax on that one piece.

If i was going to do this again, i would've just cleaned up the inserts and did the wipe on poly the same then just put a strip of tape over them all and just spraymaxed the whole PF. But even that isn't necessary, even on bare wood the Hardtop sticks and ISNT letting go. That adhesive is insane.
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Initially I was going to use it all over the whole playfield but I like the deep gloss of clear coat. This stuff is pretty nice though. Used it on 3 of my EMs after cleaning the shooter lane.

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