(Topic ID: 143963)

Poly vs. auto clear...

By Pinfactory2000

8 years ago


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  • 93 posts
  • 34 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by Langless28
  • Topic is favorited by 9 Pinsiders

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    #24 8 years ago
    Quoted from solarvalue:

    Also, pre-diamond plate games were coated with poly, no? A lot of these older games are already amber. So, personally I don't think it is ruining the game to match this finish.

    Lacquer I believe

    #39 8 years ago
    Quoted from Riptor:

    Poly will yellow over time, its a fact. It will yellow very quickly if its exposed to sunlight. 2 part automotive clear is the only "right" way to do it. Anything less is a shortcut.
    If you do not have the place or equipment to do this type of work you would be well ahead of the game to pay someone else to do it. I have a black knight that someone cleared that looks like crap. If I had to guess they used a foam roller because you can see those tiny air bubbles that you tend to get from them rollers. Its a real shame because it was otherwise a decent playfield. Now its going to take hours of time to strip the old finish off and prep it correctly for some real clear.
    There are different ways to do many things. In some cases one may be just as good as the other. When it comes to clear coating a playfield there just is no substitute for a 2 part auto clear. Sure you can get decent results with poly but why take the risk of it turning yellow and the fact that it will not hold up to wear as well. The amount of work is the same for both products. If I take all the time to prep the playfield it only makes sense to use what will give the best results and protection.

    Sometimes it doesn't make sense to spend $850+ on a playfield restore when the game is only worth that much to begin with. With a trashed game I think poly is fine, otherwise I would use auto clear 100%. I don't think Cody destroyed that HG, not at all.

    Not to mention there are many bad playfield restorers out there. It's hard to know who willl do a good job except for the true professionals.

    I am having flashbacks of the RGP days

    2 months later
    #87 8 years ago
    Quoted from CaptainNeo:

    there is a reason i've been restoring fields for 10 years. Because it's a PIA and not easy to do. Better to have someone that knows what they are doing do it. Clearcoat is some dangerous shit, if you do not know what you are doing. It likes to stick to anything wet. Lung walls, eyeballs, shit like that. When I first started restoring. I thought I could get away with just using paint respirators. NOT. Passed out in the shower after about 3 months of clearcoating.
    For those that want to do their own touchups. I do clearcoating and leveling for flat $350. But you must scuff your entire field before touching up with a choreboy type pad, and only use water based acrylics. Anything remotely oil based will make the clear fisheye like crazy.
    As for diamond plate being varathane, i've never heard that. You can tell it's not, because of the cloudiness of B/W inserts. That cloudy effect comes from the shitty technology clearcoat they had available at the time. Clear wasn't really clear. Now it is. Hence why you can see all the jeweling in Stern fields and couldn't in B/W fields.

    This is the primary reason why I haven't tried clearing myself. I don't feel safe enough laying down clear in my attached garage. I would try it in a completely separate building but I would want a full setup: clean air mask and a vacuum wall to catch the particulates. I would hate to use this stuff in a residential area and harm my family or my neighbors.

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