Hi, I am attempting my first Playfield swap. I bought a new Mirco CFTBL that arrived yesterday. I ordered the Playfield Saturday and it arrived in Wisconsin on Thursday from Germany. The packaging was excellent and am very pleased with the speed of delivery and the Playfield looks awesome. It arrived faster than the 50lb of corn cob media from Home Depot.

I have read many, many Playfield swap posts, but they are very long so I couldn't read them all. As I get further into the swap I'm sure I'll be searching for more information.

The Mirco has dimples where the holes in the Playfield should be placed. Do I need to pre-drill these holes?

I have many Tee Nuts mounted already, I made a nice tool to pull the Tee Nuts with a bolt (I saw in the forum here, great tip).

I am concerned with screwing in the wood threaded posts and screws and twisting/tearing the clearcoat. I saw the suggestion to use the special Brad point drill bit in reverse, but what size drill bit would I need to buy?

Does the Playfield need to be waxed?

I already stripped the original PF, I have already washed the 3 main wiring harnesses in the dishwasher, I have already unsoldered all of the flasher sockets and polished them overnight in walnut shells and soldered them back in place. I tried the Flitz polish from Ace Hardware and it was ok (very expensive $7 for a small bottle). So yesterday I used Brasso from Lowes which is $3.50 for a bottle twice as big and I think it worked better. I learned quickly you put in the polish and turn on the vibrator for 10-15 min to let the polish mix with the walnut shells before adding the parts. If you don't do this you get big clumps of goo all over the parts which is a mess to clean up, and you need to start over with the vibrating.

I'll post some pictures once I find my Compact Flash reader. Thanks for the help. I'm going to dive into this Playfield swap today!

Thanks for the tips! I'm putting in the rest of the Tee nuts now, will probably be working on it until 1am.

I made a big mistake going to a hardware store and buying tee nuts. They had 4 lugs instead of 3, and they were thicker. Very hard to get all the way flush with the wood. So I popped out the originals and used those instead. Then I installed all of the wire posts. Not quite sure what to do today, probably clean the wires that go from the power supply area to the backbox since those were not removed.

I took digital pictures and then I wrote the picture number on the painters tape. So if I have a question I know exactly which picture to look at.

Here are a few pics before and after.
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Mof I have read nearly every post in that thread, and some parts of it more than once. Very well documented.

Last night I plugged in all the wires, with nothing on the top of the PF, and plugged it in........(drum roll please).........it's alive!

Some progress pics. Also have a question - the mirror attached to the base of the cabinet, what are the dimensions? Look at the hologram pic, you can see right into the playfield.

The pics don't always upload in the order I selected.

Bottom of the Playfield - you can see the painters tape with the picture number of that item. It really helped to know exactly which picture to look at if I had a question. Without question this was the biggest time saver of the entire project. When I start on my IJ refurb in a few days I'll be using even more tape with picture numbers.

The pop bumper pic - I used a 3/16" Brad drill bit in reverse to cut the mylar around all the wood screw holes.

Made a stencil for the mylar. Then tape it in position. Then start at the bottom, once it has an inch or two on the playfield, the tape can be removed. The tape prevented the entire thing being lopsided.

Pic of ball drain area ("10 Million") - I messed up the location of the metal pad on the bottom of the PF. Next time I'd attached a screw and tighten it to hold the metal block in place, then screw in the wood screws. Also the very small hole for the weird long super small headed wood screw doesn't line up (the hole just to the right of the metal plate under the PF). Really the first hole that I've had an issue with. It's off on both sides of the PF.

Hologram - This is a hot mess, not sure why it's so messed up. The hologram light does have the black square cover over the top. HELP!

My old PF used a bunch of posts that do not fit in the new PF. https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-4036-1 Pinball life doesn't even sell these anymore. My friend with a machine shop may take the larger posts (which are only about 1/32" too big) and put them on his lathe and make the shoulder just a pinch smaller. I do not want to drill the hole in the PF larger, may ruin the clear coat.

Thanks for viewing!

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I installed BOTH flipper coils upside down. So the connectors were upside down and I wired left to right, so wiring was reversed on both flippers. Fuses are black so I'm flipping the coils then solder, then new fuses. Not sure I have that exact fuse. I guess Monster Bash may be missing a few fuses in the next hour.

In the pic, the wires were attached where the red circle is. DOH

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Flipped the coils. Redid the wiring. 2 new fuses. The left flipper works. The right flipper blows the fuse as soon as the game is powered on.

Replaced the right coil with a slightly used coil. It flips up and stays up. I turned the machine off right away, I figured it would blow the fuse. HELP

No it's not fine, the right flipper sticks in the up position. Fuse is OK. The coil is almost new, the diodes were installed by the manufacturer. But Tuesday I will test them.

Thanks!

Today I cleaned the EOS contacts and adjusted them, they were not very dirty. The flipper moves freely with the machine off.

Then turn the machine on, go into switch test, press right flipper. It goes up, stays up. Turn power off, flipper drops to normal position.

I decided to install a brand new coil, same issue, the flipper stays up after pressing the flipper once. Remember I wired this coil backwards initially which blew the fuse. Not sure what else it ruined. The flipper board has no burn/melted parts so no obvious issues. Idea.....swap flipper board with another game. Not sure which game though!

How do I determine which transistor is bad? Thanks!

I looked in the manual, I am missing it completely. I see the transistor part numbers but not what they are connected to. I did a test with a DMM and Q11 acts differently than the other 7 transistors. On the continuity test, red lead on the TAB and black lead on the Emitter I get a beep (Continuity). On the other 7 transistors no beep. Now I need to find a place that sells these. I'll try Radio Shack LOL!

Is this part suitable? https://www.pinballlife.com/tip102.html

Thanks!

The manual says Q9 is the transistor used for the lower right flipper. Q9 tests OK. Q11 seems shorted. In the manual it only lists Q7, Q9, Q10 and Q12 as being in use. Can I remove Q5 and use that?

Thanks!

I never realized the coils were different. I do have them both correct.

I made an executive decision. I looked at the flipper board, and on transistor Q5 only two of the 3 lugs are in use. So I guessed it's not being used. So I removed Q11 and replaced it with Q5. The right flipper WORKS. It's 1:30am, I'm happy and going to bed.