Sorry. Double post

I bought the same set in preparation for a full teardown and playfield swap this summer. That's a curious piece. Have you asked Pinbits?

PS,
Nice collection! You don't see many that large up in these parts.

Edit:
Found it. Look at the small blue plastic in the upper part of this picture. It might go under the bear kick ramp near the skill shot/thing saucer?

http://mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=891

Sorry,
The triangular shaped plastic looks like it might protect the blue plastic that is underneath the bear-kick ramp (or behind it depending on how you see things).
The plastic sort of points towards the skill-shot saucer. Since the ball gets launched to that area a lot, they likely made a protector for it. It looks to have a similar shape.

I found this pic. You can see it peeking out from under the ramp... just above the ball.

pf12.jpg

EDIT.
Looks like it might be the worng shape. On further inspection, that plastic above is much larger and it looks like you've got another protector for it. The only other place I think it could go, is the small plastic tucked against the left side of the left ramp entrance... just behind the pop bumper with the modified cap. I'm a bit stumped too. The small blue triangular plastic in the link I posted above does not appear to be in my pin either???
Might have to start tearing things down

I had and still have the same dilemma. Would be nice if Pinbits provided some sort of map showing where the protectors are supposed to go.

I believe that the protector goes underneath one of the blue plastics in the back of the playfield. Next time I feel the need to tear things apart I will search for it again.

On a related note, what did you think of the quality of the Pinbits TAF plastic protector set?
I felt that they were a bit too thick. Didn't need the protective washers anymore,
but due to the combined thickness (plastic + protector) that in some cases the
nut does not go on as far as I would like. Also one of mine came a bit too scratched
up on the edge for my taste. Overall, not bad for only $20, but there was room for
improvement.

You can buy some lower profile nuts at pinrestore.com that will alleviate the issue.
Some guys flip the nut upside down to get more bite, but doesn't look right.

Most protectors have to be made of Lexan to take the abuse (not acrylic like the plastics) and the variety of readily available thicknesses in Lexan is not as great as other plastics.

Martin uses PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate) for his protectors, not Lexan which is a polycarbonate resin.

Thanks for the tip.

For this product the Pinbits web site says:
The material is (t)he same as the original plastics, but a little thinner and more flexible.

As I recall, the material was not thinner or more flexible than my TAF plastics.

Looks like Pinbits also added the following to their product description since my last visit:
In particular, the blue triangular piece under the stairs ramp (the protector is about in the center of our picture).

Sure it is, you can fold it in half, try that with your TAF slings.

Not sure about that. I suspect that my plastic protectors would snap in half if I were to fold them.
I do know that when I was tightening down (screwed in not bolted over one of the pop bumpers) and being very careful, the plastic protector cracked while the plastic piece itself did not.

I doubt it was made of petg then, here are a couple pics, this is a scrap piece left over from Pinbits protector folded and then unfolded I made clear return frames out of it good luck snapping this stuff.

pet-g_002.jpg pet-g_005.jpg

Please take a pic and share when you find the location.

I believe plastic protectors are designed to be installed underneath the playfield plastics.

I believe there is one in the S-M set that goes on top but as a rule they go under.
Pretty sure all the ones on TAF go under.

I've ordered these as well and my machine is completely torn down now. I'll update when they come.

1) The protector does indeed go below that blue piece. The part isn't subject to damage by ball strikes, but gets scuffed up by the ball guides it sits on.

2) Our protectors are .060 PETG which is pretty tough. We'll replace any that break, just drop us a line. The material is very flexible, and can be cold bent. There are acrylic protectors out there, but to borrow a phrase "they snap like nachos". We don't make them. Acrylic isn't really strong enough until it is up to 1/8".

3) You can put them protectors under or over, but most people put them under. One exception is the Arwen plastic on LotR, which we protect on both sides.

Hope that helps!

Which blue piece? The one directly behind the bear ramp that Drano provided a picture of earlier in the thread?
I believe that the protector for that is the one in the bottom left corner of the first pic on this thread.

The protector in the middle of the first pic in this thread is still somewhat of a mystery where it goes.

Providing a protector location map when someone buys the product would be helpful.

Answering emails sent to you asking about it would also be helpful. I sent an email and a follow up email to you asking about this mystery protector placement and did not get a response to either.

Yes, you are correct - it isn't that piece. Here's a scan of the original part, maybe that will help. I've not been able to find a picture of it on the game.

tafsmallss.jpg

I searched on my TAF for that blue plastic and did not find it. Maybe during my next teardown?

Now if only someone could tell me where my 3 leftover plastcis from the TZ clear plastics set go, I'll be set
I believe you can buy them as a set of 4 and nobody knows where 3 of them go LOL!

That blue plastic might be in the set but it's not on the game. I guess they can take a protector off the list!