CaptainNeo Does playfield restorations and re-clearing.

.Many pinsider know my works on pinball mods, and i attach a lot of precision in detail, i am also a PF restorater with highend finition like kruzman.
My career focus is mostly on mod work because restoring PF doesn't pay much for the time spent.
That's why I do less and less traditional restoration and I work in partnership with a graphic designer / printer.
a good part of the WPC is digitized and several prototypes have already been released and have made customers happy.
we still have to work on the green of the MB, we also see the first IJ which is a prototype, there is a second which has been improved and the final version is really good, in addition, no vampire teeth for Willy .
I insist on the fact that it is not manufacturing but restoration on original PF which are erased and reprinted.
this has a double advantage, the quality of the wood is no longer an issue and there is no copyright infringement.
a traditional intervention on MB / AFM models because digital printing does not allow the manufacture of fluorescent colors.
I will create a thread during the year for those who would be interested in redoing their PF, several formulas will be possible to reduce the cost of the restoration.
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a run of AFM, about 25 hours each with the airbrush and bruh to make the fluo
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Oh I know you do fantastic work for your mods. I'm excited to see your playfields. It baffles me though that there are some very smart people in this community and quite a few own their own business. Obviously they aren't going to create a pinball company but a competitor to say Mirco would be obvious to me. Mirco doesn't even offer fancy playfields to get extra $$$ like a B&W Addams Family or glow in the dark artwork on say Creature from the Black Lagoon. Even Mirco website looks circa early 00's. Just get a Squarespace website ffs. I'm not sure how many people have toured Chicago Gaming Company but I did last Summer. I saw a worker silk screen a Cactus Canyon playfield and it was really cool. They made it look easy because they are pros at it.

Ultimately I'm surprised Hardtops haven't taken over the entire playfield industry yet. Explain like I'm a 5yr old but why are we still silk screening in 2023? If the inks are having a negative impact on the clearcoat/ghosting around plastic inserts then why are we printing playfields when we should use a hardtop then clearcoat over it? Haggis Pinball has the right approach to all of this in my opinion. Yes I know it's more labor intensive lining up the hardtop but I feel that can be automated and there would be pretty much no rework. Don't even get me started why we are using hammers to hammer in inserts! Just use a hydraulic press to press in all the inserts at once!

Somewhat off-topic here but for me personally I plan on moving to the Chicago area this year and working at a manufacturer (maybe not though because the pay is too low but still I think it would be fun as a part time job). I'm a welder by trade and I have fixed some stuff that have broken for friends and they are like "oh that weld just saved me hundreds of money on a new lockbar". It literally took me 10min. My plan is eventually have a side business that is on par with Mezel Mods or Back Alley Creations.

I don't think that the screen printing is the problem related to ghosting or other detachment.
this technique is superior to digital printing and allows special colors such as gold / copper / silver and fluorescent.
only it is less easy, less rapid and more expensive.
the quality concerns come rather, I think, from the quality of the materials and certainly from the too rapid implementation without providing care in order to save time and therefore money at the expense of quality.
there are also the constraints imposed by the system to use certain products which do not necessarily make a good marriage with other products.
as for the solidity of the tops, then there, it's just that the wood used is not noble wood but resinous crap, like the cheap fir tree found in DIY stores and especially isn't pressed and dried like the vintage PFs were, again, it's too expensive.
it is to be hoped that the manufacturers follow the method of haggis pinball which seems to me the most reliable to have solid, to see the cost of manufacture which can not be farther than the manufacture of a PF 80/90 's

Nope. No thanks. Not interested in a poly playfield. At all.

Screened art on wood is the gold standard. Digital printing on wood playfields seems to be unavoidable since most manufacturers have gone there, but hopefully they figure out how to make it reliable long-term.

Plus it’s also feeding a crook and letting him stay in business.

it's already found, just take time and buy high quality wood.
something shareholders will never consider lack of passion and greed.
in france, I will soon take care of the finishing of the plates of a French pinball machine which will see the light of day this year.
The manufacturer makes it a point of honor to make solid PFs.
the species of wood chosen is birch, the two prototypes which have already been well tested have resisted ball impacts well, this wood is a little more expensive than what is used today without comparison.
can be a track to follow, but once again "the dough"

Yes, I was implying that, but should have added "at the price point they want to hit for their profit margin."

I've installed 6 Mircos. They have ALL had at least 1 issue or another. Not a single one (even hand-selected at shows) has not had some sort of problem (chipping, alignment, whatever).

whirlwind was an absolute shit show of issues. Alignment, missing holes, chipping...

Same as IJ was also

I'm surprised an enterprising pinhead attorney that hasn't brought class action already. Between JJP and others, there are a massive number of impacted machines out there ($M's), over an extended number of years. I can only imagine that subpoenaed internal emails between customers and manufacturers and Mirco regarding quality issues would be very compelling popcorn reading

Yeah and lets not forget the live feed at last years TPF

In betting he's not smart enough to stay away this year

I'm tryign to catch up on this post because I need to do a PF swap of AFM. It sounds like there aren't good options? Or perhaps the best option is to find someone (Las Vegas Playfields?) to restore my original? I don't know--it's pretty beat up and likely just needs to be replaced.

I would love opinions--thanks!

It’s better to play on a worn playfield than to give money to scammers.

Are extra playfields available from CGC from the remakes? Would they be usable for an orginal machine if they were available?

Same boat, but I need a MM

You’d have to do all of the dimples yourself. None of the PCBs are the same and I’m betting they changed other components as well.

And now the newer TBL also have issues.

Gorgar was a huge mess. Hole patterns were like 10 degrees misaligned to the entire playfield. Like he didn’t even lay the template down square (or however he does it…). I had to redo a lot of stuff. Finally got it done and the scoop chipped on the FIRST BALL! Not kidding. Like a fingernail sized chip. I felt like taking the whole game to the dump.

At least in my experience of doing mods for the last decade the truth is that to make something nice takes time. And that means two things:

1) Someone has to spend the time

and

2) That time costs money, and is often the most expensive part of the process

Many people don't want to spend all that time, and many people don't want to pay for all that time. If you can farm up some 3D printers to crank out a design, and then it's just done off the print bed? That's easier than post processing. And it keeps things cheap enough for impulse buys.

A lot of people just don't want to pay for extra quality and attention to detail when they can get good enough for cheaper.

Same thing for anything else. It's all about return. You could hire an army of support staff but they wouldn't pay for themselves. Most people won't buy more games because you have more people doing support.

Interesting, I have done (2) IJ’s with no alignment or hole issues. CH fixed and recleared the first one, second one was a 2000/3000 grit flat sand and buff.

If I remember correctly, CH fixed the “Willie Fangs” issue didn’t he? Mine was going through HEP at the same time!

The top-side components wouldn't have changed, so dimples and holes should all line up. Same with MMr. But underside, yeah, dimples would be in wrong locations for a lot of the lamp / boards and such. (Mechanical parts, like slingshots and all should be close, if not match up.)

Good luck suing someone in another country. People need to just stop buying them. He is still going to come to expo, and people are still going to not confront him, and he knows it.

Ya just stop buying and he will learn he needs too make them a lot better if not he will lose only way

The wood used to make playfields is a finite resource. It's extra painful to think that so much of it is being permanently wasted on these garbage playfields and will ultimately end up getting tossed out or used for wall art.

Ya 1600 bucks wall art lol stop buying its grap

Didn’t kaneda and a few others confront him last year? This is much different than the kulek back pic.

Well, does anyone have a CNC file and artwork file? I'm almost tempted to see if I could go that route with my AFM.

I've had a WTB ad up for a non-mirco playfield for ages now, but I've only had a couple of responses about old tired playfields that weren't much better than mine.

I emailed PPS almost a full year ago asking about a CGC AFM playfield, but at the time, it sounded like they didn't have any plans to ask for more to be made since production was completed on those.

Does Buthamburg have any plans surrounding AFM?

So maybe we should all work together with our PF's and have them sent for restoration. Since it sounds like it can take a year or longer it kinda sucks to have a game sitting without a PF for that long. Kinda like a PF book exchange

I need a MM... If it is okish shape I could buy it, or just send you mine once it is pulled out of the game.

I have an Alien Star that has been sitting for 2 years waiting for a playfield... which is finally coming.

I just realized that the Mirco AFM PF that i had installed last year has art printed below the starposts. Sigh. I guess I need to buy some washers

Is the artwork under the starposts pooling at all though?

If its not, i would not worry about the washers.

If you do need washers make sure to buy the silicone ones as they seem to work best, a normal metal washer will cause the pooling also

No not buy run the other way fast there's better out there

for the record my quicksilver playfield from mirco... this is one photo but basically everywhere there is a post the clear is toast. I emailed mirco no response. I have Ron re-clearing two new playfields from micro and will have to pay the engineer who did the swap again.

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Who else could I get a playfield from for ghostbusters and does anyone just do the print u can buy and not the wood.

Sorry to see this, hope you get a reply with a positive outcome sooner rather then later

Unbelievable that this is still happening, if the clearcoat process is not going to change with the digital print, he needs to at least remove artwork under all posts moving forward to prevent this from continuing

When did you purchase this playfield from him?

I got one from him years ago and will never ever buy that grap ever again I have learn too get your other PF fixed your way better off ,the clear he using not its grap and not oil base as it should be

That's a stern pin. Order one from Stern.

Some of the pinball parts places might have that one in stock

I need a nineball playfield, but im not buying mirco junk. Such a shame

https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-playfields/nineball-3/

My original wh20 mirco playfield had pooling around a bunch of inserts. Ordered a replacement after playfield had already been partially populated.

All this get a new replacement wh20 playfield with the same issues.

I think the plan is either you get super lucky the first time or plan to pay someone to clear your mirco playfields.

Mirco was responsive to the issue, but apparently may feel the issues are related to overly picky pinheads. I’m not sure if he plays or not but it’s like buying a Soviet made car versus a Porsche if you ask me.

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That isn't pooling. Of course, what people here call pooling isn't pooling either, but that's just plastic and wood moving at different rates. You're better off with it breaking cleanly over the transition than having the clear so thick that it stay together and ghosts the insert. That will quickly break off. The clean break you have will be fine forever in home use as long as the inserts stay level.

I wish people would stop buying from Mirco, unfortunately they are the only option for some games at the moment so it's Mirco shit or nothing.

I can't wait for Buthamburg's new shop to get up and running! It may be the greatest playfield production facility in the world when they're done, and they have a keen eye on quality and will reject parts with even smaller defects than what Mirco puts out.