A Cliffy would be a waste of time for this one. It is not a ball entering a sharp edge hole. It this case it is leaving a sharp edged hole and chamfer, or champfer would be the best way to go. Even the piece of plastic I talked earlier would be best to be a little pulled back from the hole and even then chamfering the hole would still be a wise thing to do.

597d055c15230a32905b37cb3827b7697215a396 (resized).jpg

A Mantis style protector would help. I bet the chip happened when the ball rolled into the hole, not when it was ejected. When the ball rolls down the groove, the first place it's going to hit before settling into the hole is the rim, right where the chip is. It hits at a bad angle as well, almost parallel to the playfield, helping bump the clearcoat free.

Will be chamfering my hole.
Never said that.

Usually that phrase is paired with "moisturizing cream" when people say it.

I read through most of the posts starting at the beginning. I used to have a Nineball about 20 years ago. Bought from CSSK amusements in Red Lion PA. Paid 200 for it, it was my first pinball machine and I learned alot on that machine. Sold it a couple years later because I had to move and could not take it with me(I forget the real reason). At the end of the day pinball machines are toys to play with. I'm pretty new here at pinside and I read some posts on other forum sections where people get pretty upset about stuff. I'm thinking... "It's pinball machines...how can people be so pissed about stuff?" I understand now. Like classic cars if you want to keep your machine looking pristine, you don't drive it, you just look at it. That's no fun. Wear on a pinball machine shows how much fun was had playing that machine. I'm just trying to keep it in perspective. No pinball that is played is ever going to stay perfect. Lets try to have a good time!

I love my Nineball. Have a NOS clear coated PF in it. My brother has a spare target bank and spare NOS spinner. I wonder what that will bring. LOL. I will let him know that Mirco made playfields!

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 1.07.40 PM (resized).pngStern Pinball Nineball Target Mechanism and Spinner Pinball (resized).png

nice violet color!

Don't forget the single drop target at the U-Turn. Gotta have that one, as well. but you are 2/3rds there. And don't forget the transformer.

Yeah, it is a good color on the violet. Looks to me like Mirco got a fairly good match on the repro, too.

If there is any difference in the shades on violet I am for sure not seeing it.

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 12.51.39 PM (resized).png

That's a neat version of the PF
I'm seeing much more use of violet in the super bonus area AND the horseshoe area than in other versions of the original PF pics online.

Even the S+H area was improved to not have black spikes through the letters
S+H (resized).png

Highclasspinball - we would greatly appreciate a dozen high res close ups of the entire playfield in natural light. We want to help version 4 be as QC'd by the public as possible.

Missing "spot all numbers" in the red area on left

spot-all-numbers (resized).png

That's good catch. Probably the best one of all. Right out in plain daylight. How did this one got missed but some 1/16" black line or small white dot gets the press?

And it was printed on the donor play field, as well.

21a1fca6e3edef46776d00c319d48bb2f6c2a4bc (resized).jpg

Here are a few more shots of the playfield. The two close ups were taken a few minutes with the glass ON. I had to get on a work conference call. One taken with game on and one without. The additional picture is from when the game was being restored. For clarification it is a NOS playfield and cleared by Chad Keller. I can take pictures of other areas (horse shoe) with the glass off later. If there is interest.

148431442_123542936313919_8090628977043471265_n (resized).jpg

148558027_419887219071243_6062701697401678402_n (resized).jpg

thumbnail (resized).jpeg

I wish your PF had been the donor, for sure!

Yeah, that long-arm spinner needs to be reproduced: I should have bought one from Steve Young when he still had NOS copies for sale, but alas didn't get my Nineball until after he sold out (he still keeps it in his catalog to taunt us Nineball owners: http://www.pbresource.com/spinner.html#stern). I actually have nightmares about breaking my Nineball spinner and wake up and have to go downstairs and check to make sure it's still there..

Steve has that one style spinner for sale. I asked him about that and he made it himself. He did not have fond memories of making it.

If I could get spinners made with with unbent wire, I could bend them in any way some one wanted.

If I could bend my own, I would make them so they would be centered. But they would be be interchangeable. Making a Nine ball spinner would be easy.

These spinners are centered inside their cage, but they are off-center in their lanes. I like symmetry.

IMG_5624 (resized).JPG

IMG_5622 (resized).JPG

The checkerboard spinner is a Gottlieb I am experimenting with. I had one like this that had broken wire but I was able to make another wire and replace the broken one; It can be done, but is a substandard type of repair good for only when you cannot find another one .

Yeah that's a pretty bad fuckup. Looks like rev 4 will be necessary after all.

And re-do the plastics as well, the blue in the current set is way to light when lit.

I have had that dream/nightmare too. LOL. That one and dreams about missing college exams. Go figure!

I still have the college exams one too. Crazy.

So do I. I was wishing for 2 years to find a decent NB play field to get to CPR. I never got the wish I wanted but my other hand sure kept getting filled up.

I went with what was available, for both the when, and the where. Had this one not have happened we would still be wishing in one hand...and....still have nothing. It would have been nice to have 2 or 3 play fields to look at before the work got started. But only 1 was available.

I wish my repro Seawitch play field was in different shades of blue, too; And it ain't gonna happen. Of all the Seawitch play fields in the country, John managed to get the only one with the fucked up colors, for a donor.

Next time a situation rolls around like this I think I will just shut up and let everybody keep wishing and think what could have been. " Man, I sure would like to re-do my Nine Ball but my play field is a blown out piece of shit and there are no repro play fields to buy anywhere."

The missing text you spied out would have still been missed even with this super nice NOS unit.

And I am still trying to figure out how out something as blatant as this missing text happened at Mirco and the super sleuths that were hawk eyeing that rack of balls. Even I should have seen that missing text! IMO, the bad rack of balls could be excusable considering the condition of donor play field, but missing text like this is weak and is absolutely poor QC.

So that's both Mirco & CPR that have mixed obvious patches of text on a PF for Classic Sterns

I get some people think we should kiss their ass becasue we're getting something out of it...but jesus christ come on this isn't a color tint recreated from a smoke, sunlight, & old balls damage; it's large text!

Here are a few more! Wish I had a better camera. (this was an iPhone)

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 5.00.47 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 5.01.07 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 5.01.47 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 5.02.09 PM (resized).png

Please keep those NOS pics coming -- it really helps with QC'ing

@highclasspinball: white 173 should be on top of all violet and blue marks (final layer)
-mof

173-NOS-and-Mirco (resized).png

Please keep those NOS pics coming -- it really helps with QC'ing

@highclasspinball: yellow objects (12 or more mistakes shown here) need priority foreground yellow color over background blue and violet.

Again, you don't need to see the NOS version to know these are mistakes. Any artist can detect these problems with a little time and focus. The balls are not all circular. The stars have "bites" taken out of a few of them. There are lines over-lapping some of the yellow "balls"

-mof

173-mirco-YELLOW (resized).jpg

Sure. I am happy to help. Any specific area that you want a closer picture or for me to concentrate on?

nope, we just need a full reference set. if it's 9 or 12 or 20 pics -- I'm not familiar with what pinside is allowing for top MB size and what that res turns out to be. I won't ask you to take all the plastics off, but of course that's the ideal =)

I am curious about top left above the saucer, that red area and how it terminates. It's hiding under the plastic I think.

In short, the ipdb set S T I N K S for nine ball.

Ill grab a few more pictures for everyone tomorrow. Cheers!!

You made a nice catch with the missing text. But for some of this other stuff you are picking fly shit from pepper.
===========================..............................................=======================
=====================

Really? Are you serious or are you applying for a job as a jeweler?

shopping (resized).jpeg

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 6.20.18 PM (resized).png
=======================================================

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 6.14.26 PM (resized).png

" The balls are not all circular. " For real? None of them measure larger than 1/8" in diameter.
=================================================

This one looks just like my play field. And also the donor which is the one in the picture. And if anything is hiding under the plastic, I'm not sure I could get very worked up about that. and if you look close, you can see a hint of white between the two posts.

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 6.35.40 PM (resized).png
===================================================

As I said, you caught the missing text was a good catch. I'll thank you until you are better paid. Concentrate on that stuff. You are very good at it.
........................................................................................................................................===============================

But if I am supposed to worry about some 1/8" yellow ball waaaaay in the back and partially hidden by a ball guide for not being round enough, I just cannot go there.

I just took another look at my NB. None of the yellow spots or dots are circular. They are all irregular. Every last one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Find the bigger stuff. You are good at it. Get out of the weeds, or we will all die a death of one thousand cuts.

Chipping of the clearcoat is now also appearing at the rear single drop target. I didn't get a picture before I took a razor knife and cleaned up the front edge a bit. Before installing anything on the playfield, I should have made a small bevel around all of the holes and slots. The edges are so sharp, he must have cleared it first, before milling out the holes and slots.

My aim here is just to be transparent about what I see.

BTW: Does anyone know where I could find a replacement red target? Mine was pretty worn, so I sanded it down to bare aluminum and have thought of painting it, but if a new one if available that would be great too.

20210209_133909 (resized).jpg

At this point, I'm 100% positive Mirco will have an excuse for it.

And if, before he went to print, he had just released the full art...ART, not selective pictures of a printed playfield from various batman angles, this could have been avoided, like all the other mistakes - for FREE.

Clear coat should not be having problems that fast with little play. Something has gone wrong with it & it should be replaced. Printing looks very good. Maybe Mirco can explain his process: Is he milling after clear, or is finish clear the final process.
As a example my latest guy doing it leaves the white inserts in place & they ship still there. He manipulates them & I have only had to clean 2 so far. Just with a exacto knife in place, white star & only the rollover insert edge if needed. No chipping of the clear which can happen with a small file. Guys are really happy about this way of having them installed & ready to go. My process is not a secret: playfields usually get 2 coats of water based Varethane interior gloss to seal the wood before printing, playfields are not cleared until there is no ink smell, light coat of hardner than 2 coats of omni clear.

Holy crap, that text. What is with the 'E' in 'COLLECT'?

Good luck with that. He seems quite satisfied to just keep failing upward.

So how do you order these at the $799 price? The web site is in Euros and a higher price.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1042-mircoplayfields/04587-nine-ball-playfield

Here are a few more!

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.19.00 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.19.25 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.19.43 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.20.00 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.21.05 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.21.22 PM (resized).png

Screen Shot 2021-02-14 at 2.21.45 PM (resized).png

Any word from Micro if the missing text "spot all numbers" will be fixed/added?

Funny how that works...

The text " Advanced loop target value" looks like it is printed crookedly. My blown out Nine Ball platy field is on the left.

Screen Shot 2021-02-15 at 12.40.54 PM (resized).png

And the blue color around the "Thousand" is different, as well.

Screen Shot 2021-02-15 at 12.43.38 PM (resized).png

and even the black "bubble" transitions are off.
I would think with the high technologies of today,
that copying artwork would be more precise.

I want to order 2 of these. One for a friend of mine and one for me as we have 3 Nineballs between us.

Is there a final 4th rev coming or is what is pictured on Mirco's site the final rev?

My Nineball #1 has a nice original playfield in it with low plays.
My Nineball #2 has a playfield that was litely touched up then cleared with something...not sure what.
Friend's Nineball has a moderately worn playfield in the typical worn bonus area.

This run, with the missing text, is done. Mirco says he is super busy and it will be some time before another run. Considering a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I am making my order now.

I guess that we’re going to have to wait for something better.

My Nine Ball play field arrived an hour ago. It's beautiful. All of the text looks good, crisp and sharp.

I want to thank Duffy'sArcade for tearing down his Nine Ball and getting the play field to Mirco so we can have this in reproduction.

IMG_5911 (resized).JPG

A jeweler's eye view shows that the ball perimeter line is still cutting into the lightning bolts.

DSCF3180-Edit (resized).jpgIMG_5915 (resized).JPG

But the way I play my pins, that perimeter line is not an issue for me.

IMG_5913 (resized).JPG

As has been talked, Mirco missed the text that is supposed to be below the saucer kickout. If this becomes an issue for me, I will scan this text from my original play field, make a screen print and make the correction.

While this saucer cutout matches the original, I am going to take the palm router and mill a radius all the way down to the yellow line to give the ball an easier time of clearing the edge of the hole on launch. I find it strange that Stern did not do this and just left a sharp corner on this cutout--but I suppose cost was an issue.

I am also going to run a strip of mylar in this launch area to help protect from ball impact.

IMG_5916 (resized).JPG

I bought an early one, gave it a month to cure, and will install it into the cabinet this week.

20210328_183606 (resized).jpg

Anyone recently purchased a Nine Ball playfield from Mirco? Highclasspinball said in a PM that the missing text by the saucer has been fixed, I was just wondering if anyone has purchased one. And if so could you post some pictures?

I was also wondering if the washed out colors on the plastics that DuffysArcade reported had been fixed? https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nine-ball-repro-mircoplayfield-and-plastic-set-available/page/5#post-6115982

I already have a set of CPR plastics but I'm pretty sure someone posted that they don't match the colors on the Mirco playfield, but I can't find the post now.

CPRs are way too dark for an original, or for a Mirco pf.
Mircos plastics are much better for either.

I had the opposite: Mirco's plastics are much lighter (blue) than the originals on my game. Bad enough that swapping out anything less than all would stand out like a sore thumb. I wonder if Stern had significant variances in color, and CPR repro'd based off a batch that looks like mine, and Mirco repro'd off a set that looks like yours? FWIW I think the darker color looks much better, but could be I'm just used to it.

Pretty sure mine are original, game was bought, unshopped, out of the back of a trailer in Morrow, OH many years ago.

Edit to add, they look mostly the same until you light them up, then the Mirco repros are more translucent, faded, whatever and illuminate several shades lighter than originals.

Mirco repro'd the plastic set based on my originals I sent him. The originals were a nice vibrant blue, so I can't explain why his NB repro set came out a much lighter blue. I ended up putting my old plastic set back on.

They must be all over the place, then. I got another original 9ball in shop to restore, it had CPR plastics, and looked horrible.
Way too dark.
Here is pic I took before taking apart.

20210531_203703 (resized).jpg