Calgary, AB
I am in the midst of tearing down and cleaning my Judge Dredd machine
and have got to the point of removing all of the playfield pieces and
cleaning and polishing the playfield. However, I have found that ALL of
the inserts are very slightly raised. None of them appear to be
exhibiting any wear around the raised edges but I have found that the
clearcoat around one or two of the inserts is definately cracked and can
be easily felt as a very narrow crack when running a finger nail gently
across it.
This is a home use machine and so will not be subject to frequent and/or
heavy use. I plan on waxing the playfield and keeping it regularly
waxed while I own it (which will be many years). I have read a lot
about the various methods for lowering raised inserts but have found
nothing to answer the following questions that I have swirling around in
my head:
1. If I keep the playfield waxed is it really necessary to lower the
inserts? Will the wax not provide adequate protection against wear
along the insert edges? Or is it more about the raised inserts
affecting gameplay.
2. If I do lower the inserts then does this not cause the clearcoat to
crack around the insert edges (or at least make any cracking worse)? I
can find no discussion around what to do about any cracks that form?
3. If the inserts are lowered, is there any concensus on what glue to
apply underneath? I have seen talk of using super (CA) glue, wood glue
or epoxy.
4. What can I do about the two inserts that clearly do have cracks in
the clearcoat around the inserts? Would painting water based Varithane
into the crack using a very fine paintbrush work? I'm also thinking of
putting some of Pinball Pal's playfield stealth protector material over
the area, but I would like to seal the crack first.
Really appreciate any help with the above. As usual, I seem to have hit
a roadblock on the refurb and can't seem to make a decision on how best
to proceed.
Raleigh, NC
