I think it is obvious we have issues....Some more than others.

Mostly noobs, like me who do not no better. I was worried about mine at first so ease up bro!

I think Baltic Birch is a real lousy wood for PFs, wish it wasn't but it is. It's about 80% cheaper than the custom wood we use. The face veneers of Baltic Birch, are of course, Birch which is pretty soft in comparison to Maple. We used it for our original Fathom that Greg and I made 10 yrs ago. And I used just a few again on Star Trek, I think, when we ran short of wood. The wood is VERY soft, the drum sander chews it up fast, even hand sanding can easily leave bowls or low spots in the surface. Our short run experiment was to try and bring our costs down and some PFs were fine but the Bronze level yield was way too high. So we felt that it as worth the extra $55 or so to use teh custom made panels that we use. Try sanding around an insert to fix a little added epoxy and you have a bowl because the wood is sooo much softer than the insert.

The Maple we use is MUCH denser and much harder. In fact, the custom wood I use now has two solid maple rock maple faces which are fully twice as thick as a BB face veneer. Veneers are twice as thick and the wood itself is much denser, it just makes a better playing surface that stands up better. A PF size sheet of BB weighs about 9lbs, which our new wood is about 17lbs. That's about 45% more dense and 45% more resistant to dimples from the ball.

But Ron has a point. The wood when we get it is only months old, we keep in in climate controlled storage for several months more before its used, but the older it is the more moisture comes out of it, when stored properly and the denser it becomes. The grain lines I have heard mentioned will show after about 6-8 months but of course you'll never see them if the PF is installed as you really can only notice of in a pristine surface. The clear is as it fully cures is conforming to the grain below BUT your fingers which are one of the most sensitive probes out there usually cannot feel it. Your eyes do see it. At this point if the clear is sanded smooth and shot even once more we have found the grain lines never return. We'd love to do that with all out PFs but it would mean holding the PFs for almost a year for it to make a difference and it would only make a difference to wall hangers not PFs installed. We do at least three coats, usually four and sometimes more depending on the circumstances. If required they are also spot sanded and buffed individually using 3Ms system which is time consuming and expensive. It's certainly not a the same as Ron but it's head and shoulders above what I think anyone else does given the number of PFs we make every year. Ron spends days on each PF and he's doing so on a more seasoned, denser piece of wood so it's not surprising that his finished product is gorgeous, and it truly is.

Mike Purcell
CPR

My Metallica seems to have a lot of these dimples. Anyone else have them on there Metallica?

No worries, is normal

It's a story about a steel ball traveling on wood bouncing against plastics. Yep, dimples are normal

If you have many it will look flat again

Thanks for this post. Good info for the paranoid among us

Some games must like Metallica must be way prone to these dimples compared to others.

You should see how many mine has. Particularly near Sparkey as well as the center of the playfield. The magnet is also all chewed up.

well not necessarily. An EM would take a really really long time to dimple.

I like the way that shooter lane looks with the high contrast layers. B/W, most are high contrast like that. Adds a nice look to it.

It will even out over time

Get a protector for Sparky (the plastic that stops the ball from bouncing up and getting slammed down by the magnet. An absolute must for this game.

Yours had the same issues with the dimples everywhere?

Everybody's does, it's not an issue

Every pin dimples over time they dimple enough you don't see them over time though as the whole PF gets compressed. Dimples are not a problem. The only way to stop them is not play the game.

The potential problem with metallica is balls bouncing in the air off sparky and getting slammed down by the magnet. That can cause wear around the magnet and I worry about it damaging the ball too. Get a sparky protector very easy fix.

Dimples are not exclusive to Metallica...every game has them

Any pictures of new Stern games with these dimples?

I can take a pic of each of my games...all have dimples...
My STLE had noticable dimples after 5 games

image_(resized).png

Lol. Just looking to compare my Metallice.

It's all good, I have a Met that's less than 2 weeks old and its dimpled, now I played a couple of days and it dimpled the magnet core. That stopped once I put the sparky extended protector on. Not too worried, a new one is cheap.

Here you go. Your welcome!

IMG_20160514_192316671_(resized).jpg

IMG_20160514_192047153_(resized).jpg

Thanks, looks very similar.

How many plays do you have?

400. I bought it NIB.

Baltic Birch balls would prevent this.

Yes but how many plays before they suffer wobulation? When they get out-of-round they track all over the PF.

:p

We need metal play fields with bullet proof glass inserts.

Start at post number 1 in this thread and keep reading, it will explain EVERYTHING.

Why should he when he can ask the same questions and get the same answers.

The only thing that completely eliminates dimpling are the clear plastic playfield protectors previously mentioned in this thread. They also keep your magnets looking brand new.

i know it was s joke because you don't have as many if any airballs. Still have to have somewhat of and airball to make a dimple.

I'm currently looking at a game that I'm interested in buying, and I got photos ahead of our meet up. It is a modern Stern, about 6 years old, once routed. The game has what looks like striations. Not so much dimpling or planking, but more like wood grain. What's the word on that?

I ain't gonna stare at the game, I'm gonna play it. Looks aren't the issue, I just don't want it to play wonky.

striations_(resized).png

Here ya go!

image_(resized).jpeg

I saw that photo of the WOZ and thought they looked pretty similar.

I appreciate your responses, Vid. Thanks!

Yep. Every time the ball jumps over a paint line or a speck of dirt, it leaves the playfeld, even if it's just a fraction of an inch. Or it can leave the playfield just due to the angle of the bounce off of flipper, sling or rubber.

What we really need are machines that will "tenderize" the wood before it gets painted and clearcoated. Hundreds of little ball-peen hammers, controlled by robots.

My WOZ has no dimples.

It really is that simple, your games are gonna dimple!

Why do you guys keep kicking a dead horse??

Good one.

In case anybody was wondering...steel balls are stronger than the force. The playing field on my Star Wars LE is dimpled like a golf ball.

Look on the bright side. Now it's really aero-dynamic!

Hi,

I a fan of Vid's threads... But I got the opportunity to discuss with a well known French restorer, and we both deeply examined a MB pf which has been operated for a very long time and we seen no dimpling at all...

Of course with all Stern issues with their last pins, we were here (in France) wondering about plywood origins (China?), and why deep dimpling (Stern) was appearing on some pf and not on others (different batches, different countries?)...

Personaly I'm a pin player since 40 years, and a pin owner since 35 years... Never seen this problem on my pins (most 80's GTB)... I'm not sure for 90's pins as I was not playing very much during that period, but I have several questions...

1/ Are really all generations concerned?
2/ Is the CC has really a protective aspect regarding dimpling? (CC is flexible, so...)
3/ Mosture does really have an impact?

BR

Eric

Show us pics of the PF in an area right before a ramp entrance, and right after (ramp removed). I bet if you have an above light source reflecting the correct way, you'll see a difference in the played area vs. untouched.