Simple Green is water based, so that may have activated the mold (mould) spoors.

What got on the playfield that required Simple Green to remove???

I’ve had my protector on my TAF for over a year and waxed the hell out of it prior with Mother’s wax and still wax it. Mine looks great still

Anyone figure out what it is? I am currently doing a firepower and considering buying a Playfield protector but am now a little concerned
Also I have a few triangle inserts sticking up on the point side, will this cause issues with the protector or will the protector make this go away

Thx

Use naphtha before installing you should be fine. Over ten installs and no mold issues. The protector will smooth out raised or sunken inserts, but with raised I would try to press them flat before installation. Reference vids playfield thread. If they are severely raised they will possibly cause unnatural ball movement over the protector.

I have two that are raised only at the point and will push in but don’t stay

I pulled my Firepower protector off, the suspect white spots were not mould, they were a few very small debris particles stuck to the back - probably there from new as I didn't wipe the back down before installing or the particles made their way underneath over time. Smaller particles had accumulated around giving the effect of mould spores. Wiped it all off & reinstalled - all good. Next time I will give the back a light wipe & check before installing.

I also noticed that not much dust had collected underneath the protector after more than a year - so that's good. Wiping my finger accross the playfeld I couldn't even see dust on my finger. I don't expect the spots to reappear now, if they do, I won't be worried about it as it's not mould - I didn't actually even notice there spots until I was made aware & looked up close.

The white partcles may be from post rubber that has rubbed off & has collected in spots, which is why it appears white & seems to stick a little as well.

I've got 3 installed. One on Gorgar, one on Grand Lizard, and one on Johnny Mnemonic. Over the past couple of years, the Grand Lizard one has severely warped up on the left out lane, and has warped enough under the spinner to get the ball stuck 8 out of 10 times. I came up with a rigged solution... Meh.

I can take the glass of any game of mine after a year and not have dust on my finger. That's normal.

I’m restoring a DM right now that employed a protector. The play field looks to be in very good condition underneath. It played well with it on so intend to clean wax and reinstall. Even though it appears very dirty when held up to the light, it made the game look like it had a fresh clear coat on it. I’m pretty happy with it. I don’t know which one it is as it was already on when I bought it.

Yes, that's true, the only reason I mentioned that was a few people were speculating that a lot of dust would make it's way under the protector as they are not stuck down & their is sometimes slight gaps between the two surfaces around the edges, meaning it will need to be removed & cleaned regularly. Not the case for me, though I guess in some instances though their may be the need to clean it more often.

It certainly doesn't bother me taking it off every year or two & giving everything a good clean at the same time.

I am seriously considering one of these for my F-14. I need to level the inserts first, but the mylar is lifted in so many spots, i'm not sure if this will just cover a dumpster fire and if it's even worth it. I have to level a good 12 inserts before the gameplay will be normal, the ball hits the glass around the slingshots and near the jet bumper.

Cheap ass $137 option, even with the 20% coupon. So i decided to hold off and bought a $11 12" deep throated C-clamp. If it doesn't play right with them leveled the right way, then playfield protector it is!

Have a link to the clamp?

Orrrr clear the pf.

Well yeah that goes without saying, ya fill to level.

I’m going to fix my two raised ones and I ordered one of these to put on. We shall see

So I have the two worst ones epoxied and clamped back in place and may do a couple more. The top of the playfield has been cleaned with novus, and is mostly stripped. Once I’m ready to put everything back together should I put as much on as possible first or put the protector on then populate the playfield?

You will have to mix it up a little bit. Put some posts on to get your bearings and then lay it down. Plastics go on last as they interfere with installing the protector. You'll figure it out. Just keep a watchful eye out for any areas where the protector might start riding on a post. If you have a riding condition you will need to Dremel/grind material away. If you have any part of the protector riding any play field part the protector will not lay flat.

UPS says my playfield protectors for Black Knight and Eight Ball Deluxe will arrive by tomorrow evening. Can anyone who has done either of these machines give me a head's up on what I'll be needing to remove from the playfields to install? I suppose it may become obvious after looking at the protector, but having a little advanced warning beforehand to get my head wrapped around what the job will entail would be helpful. Thanks in advance....

Any plastics that go outside the rubbers, pop caps, flippers, any gates or spinners. Ramp flaps will need to be at least loosened to go on top of the protector.

So I just got home to find my playfield protector have been delivered unfortunately it was sticking out of the box and broken

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that will make it easier to finish breaking it to stuff it in the trash where it belongs.

Wow, that's a real shitty packing job

that sucks, usually they tape all the way around box and tape the protector down on the cardboard itself.

My BK and EBD protectors just got delivered an hour ago - my Ring porch video seems to show the packaging intact. I'll find out in a couple hours when I get home!

I had the same issue. I emailed them and they offered to send a new one.

That broken area looks like it is in front of the apron and behind the flippers. If my guess is correct then it should still be usable.

You can take a Dremel and grind of the broken area.

Ask for a replacement and keep it for a spare.

Terrible half-assed head-in-ass packaging for sure.

I emailed them right away, hopefully they send a new one, just sucks to have to wait a few more weeks.

My BK and EBD protectors were delivered today, packaged well, no damage. No extra shim/scrap pieces for BK, tho (I was hoping they had started doing that). Will be installing at least one of them this weekend.

Just curios, how quick did they get back to you. I expected to hear something today but nothing.

I had one ship out and sat in Philly since Saturday. UPS said to contact them which I did so hoping to hear something soon. Maybe I'm better off if everyone has gotten damages? Last one came perfectly packed and really quick.

Yeah, I think it took a couple of emails to be honest.

Fwiw, they emailed me back within a few hours. But said it’s on its way. Yeah, that’s why UPS said for me to have you start a claim!

I bought one a few months ago that arrived bent in half, good times.

Two emails and a pm here and nothing but crickets
Starting to get a little frustrated

Third time a charm! They are shipping out a new one Monday. I’m happy with that.

I have protectors on three machines now.
-Bally Harlem Globetrotters
-Bally Rolling Stones
-Bally Kiss

Each of these machines have either a near-mint unmolested playfield or an NOS assembled playfield. All of these playfields have either slightly raised or sunken inserts. Just lay the PET over the playfield and gameplay is dramatically improved.

I installed two this weekend:

Black Knight
This pin has good playfield artwork with little wear, but lots of cupped inserts. It drove me crazy when the ball would roll over one and radically change into unnatural directions! The protector fixed that 100% and even gives off that clear-coated playfield look. Ball speed is still very fast and seemingly unaffected by the protector (I keep BK at around a 7 degree pitch). One problem I ran into was with the rollover switch for the Extra Ball/score at the end of the upper ramp...the protector "surrounded" that rollover and occasionally the wire for the rollover would get caught underneath the protector. The other problem was the right two ramps were now slightly lower than the lower playfield protector and the ball would "hop" a bit coming down the ramp. If the ball went slow enough, I could see it also getting caught in that gap and you'd need to nudge it out. I solved both problems by snipping the end of the protector by that Extra Ball/score rollover, then cutting that snipped part in half, then using them as shims for bringing the two ramps up to the same height as the lower protector. Overall very pleased.

Eight Ball Deluxe
This pin also has good playfield artwork. It doesn't have any cupped inserts, but the playfield is slightly rough in both the right and left inlanes where the wire lane guide meets the flipper. If you trap the ball with either flipper to set up a shot, then release the flipper, the ball stays were its at and does not roll down. You have to nudge the machine to get it started. I could try sanding those areas a bit more aggressively than I've tried, but that'll bring up the paint and then I'm faced with artwork touch up issues that are beyond my skill set/comfort level. Added the playfield protector, and the ball rolls smooth as silk now in those spots (and all over the playfield as well). I had to raise the inline 2x/3x/4x/5x targets a smidge to get them level with the protector so that the ball doesn't get stuck or hop, but that was no big deal. As with BK, action remains fast without needing to adjust the pitch (I keep EBD at around a 6.5 degree pitch).

I'm currently trying to get a non-working Mata Hari project up and running. If successful, I'll be adding a protector to that machine too!

Here are some pictures - Black Knight after the install, the protector piece I cut off of BK then cut in half to use as ramp shims, and the Eight Ball Deluxe after the install.

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I forgot to update as well. I got my White Water protector last week. This is my second one and happy with it. It does come with the upper playfield one. I have not used it as I don't feel it is necessary as it has mylar already.

I had my playfield stripped down so installation wasn't an issue. For this title, you have to remove all the ramps and upper playfield but I think that is the case for most games. It is working great for the few plays I've put on it so far.

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I have one for my HSII on the way. My PF is
In good shape but a few insert irregularities here and there. Looking forward to installing.

Anyone ever sanded off insert artwork, redecaled and then just installed the protector over without clearing the new decal? A couple of inserts have partial text wear and debating on what to do.

Second one came in with no issues. Already started re assembly. Did a full shop with a lot of parts that needed cleaning and replacing.

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How often do you get "the sweaty look" under the playfield protector? Even though I have tried to clean the playfield as well as I can with naphta to get all of the wax away (if any), it still looks like there would be moisture under the protector. I think somebody called the phenomenon newton rings.

If you obtain a playfield protector that's been rolled up in a tube for a while still having the protector film on it too, can you get it flat enough again to use it? Looking for advice before I buy it. Thanks!

It will flatten out.

I have one game that had this and it was a NIB. I think this may happen because it is perfectly flat and the look is from static cling or something but I dont know. I took it off, cleaned, naptha'd, made sure everything was perfectly dry, and put it back. In about 15 minutes the look was back.