You can do it. Just take scads of pictures from start to finish and even document every move you make in a Word file. Then work backwards to reassemble.

Then be prepared for nothing to work as it did because switches and other stuff will be out of whack and will have to be tweaked, perhaps for a few weeks at minimum. It will take a while to dial the machine back in, so be patient.

And throw a coat of wax on the new playfield before you even begin to repopulate.

I have been wanting to restore my Frontier but I feel I might get in over my head...seems to daunting for me but everyone I have asked says do it. I might work up the courage someday...I will be following this thread.

A few ideas shared here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-swap-guide
mof

How much would it cost to have somebody do it? I'm fairly experienced and can't afford to be the "have somebody else do it" type and am usually the one GETTING paid for stuff like that, and I would probably consider paying somebody to do it...

You have to start somewhere, I say go for it!

Sure. That's how amateurs gain experience and aren't amateurs any more.

I brush my teeth everyday and that doesn't make me a dentist.

Pay a pro to do it.

I personally couldn't afford that but I guess it depends. I think if I had the money to spend I'd do that. Seems a lot nicer to wait a little and have it done for you, it's difficult. I'd pay somebody to rebuild the engine on my car but not paint the inside of my house or wash my clothes basically - the level of difficulty and time spent plays a big part, and each varies from person to person. (or there wouldn't be interior painters! ) That being said, some enjoy rebuilding car engines as a hobby or I guess even as a business - and pinball IS our hobby, soooooooo... but even with that being said I think a playfield swap may be a little out of my realm of "fun" and more of just being cumbersome.

I considered myself a newb not all that long ago, but have since done PF swaps on 2 EM's (Surf Champ and Atlantis). There's no magic required, and certainly anyone can do it if they follow the basic steps already mentioned. Photo's, documentation and patience are your friends. The satisfaction of doing it yourself can't be beat.

CAN you do it? Absolutely - I think just about anyone could do it.

SHOULD you do it? It depends on a couple factors, mainly:

Do you enjoy that sort of thing?
And, Do you have free time to complete it?

The combination of both is somewhat essential to make it enjoyable. If you want to do it right (and everyone's level of "done right" is different of course), it will take a good amount of time and patience but essentially you just need to be great at the photo documrntion of the process..

If you aren't anal at all you could easily wax the new one and swap all original parts without washing parts, taking apart mechs to clean, tumbling nuts n bolts or buying new ones, replacing worn parts, buying new sleeves, ...etc.

I think usually once you start taking stuff apart though you get the itch to replace this or that, clean things up, find broken parts.. and honestly if you are taking the time to swap it makes sense to also take the time to take everything apart, clean it, replace stuff as needed, and generally put together a super nice and clean Playfield. This takes a lot of patience and time.. but certainly doable and super satisfying if that's your kind of thing.

i will be doing it soonish. ive got a SS coming and its got a nice spare playfield with it. ill give it a go! will read some guides first though.

Really it's not too bad. My trick is to use two rotisserie and migrate parts over so I don't lose track of where parts go. The only way you're going to really learn this skill is by doing. Super rewarding at the other end.

At least for me, the time consuming part is cleaning all the parts. Taking everything apart and putting it back together really isn't that bad, as intimidating as it may look.

As said above, evaluate whether you have the time and whether you think you will enjoy it. As far as skill, there isn't a whole lot involved. It's just time consuming.

On the last full tear down I did (a STTNG, in order to have the playfield clearcoated), I actually took very few pictures. I tear down the top of the playfield a small section at a time, putting small parts in the baggies I save from ordering parts. I write little notes or take a picture of the section if there are a lot of posts or there is a detail I want to remember later.

I put the bags, ramps, etc. in a row along a wall in my basement, in the order that I removed them, so I can later reassemble in the reverse order.

The underside is actually not too bad. I desolder and remove all the assemblies, noting the wires/lugs. I then unscrew the lamps, switches, etc. in order to remove the harness.

When putting the harness back on, it's pretty hard not to put it back correctly. After 25 years, the wiring "remembers" where to go.

When reassembling, I always start with the pop bumpers, as they are easiest to work on when the playfield is bare. When everything is back together, there will almost always be things that need tweaking. I like to test all the coils, switches and lamps before I reassemble the top of the playfield, while everything is still easy to access.

Each game has its own unique challenges, but BoP is not too bad to start with. You can definitely do it if you have the time and patience. Again though, if you don't think you'll enjoy it and don't mind spending the money, there's something to be said for just having it done.

It's a bigger job than you think it is. It isn't that it is impossible, but it is very involved. I'd say do at least a couple of top side tear downs on different games first. Be very familiar with soldering (and have a good iron). Be used to pulling apart pop bumpers. The time to take on a playfield swap is after you know how to disassemble and assemble the individual parts.

And after you take those, take more, from every possible angle. Digital pictures are free, and you will run into that small spot where the extra pictures will save your bacon getting it back together.

And two very important ones. 1. Don't assume any divots for drilling are in the right spots. You may find some of them are not exact on the new playfield. 2. Do NOT assume that the last person that put your game together did it correctly. If there are two (or more) hex spacers or ramp stand offs in the game, really check if they were put back into the correct spots by whoever had the game apart last. You would be surprised how many wonky ball hangups or strange ramp behavior come down to a minor difference in post side.

And if you take it on, enjoy the project. Don't do it just to save money, do it for the fun.

i myself am an person without patience,
I would want it to be done in 2 days 4 max so id be working on it like crazy and my wife would probably devorce me
if not cause of swearing because nothing fits or works that would do the job for her

so ask yourselff do you got da skilzz and the patience

i dont

I'll share my own story on this really quickly.

Been in this hobby for 5 years now. Just got done doing my first one on AFM.

We had a clearcoat job done, and the playfield looked gorgeous:

ceafbfa2ccdaf6b6fa5e88a59af5a1ecf1c0f7fd (resized).jpge05b9ec7b7fef355270580b04f6ad0227dd490fd (resized).jpg

We started in January and worked here and there every weekend until the game was completed in nearly exactly 1 month - weekends only - and only 1 day of the weekend each time.

Now, for whatever reason, the clearcoat has failed. Here is my playfield now.

20170327_223157 (resized).jpg20170327_223208 (resized).jpg

The point? If I had paid someone else to do it, I'd be in a pretty nasty situation right now. The silver lining here: I have the experience to not be afraid to go back in and do it again. Already got a new mirco PF on the way, so once it comes in, I can take a plethora of required photos and jump right in.

The bottom line: do it. Your confidence will grow, and you'll be able to help someone else down the road.

Do it. The only way to learn and get better is by doing. Build a Playfield rotisserie first, I understand it will be invaluable for swaps.

Go for it.
So much easier now with digital cameras to document your progress. I don't know how people would have done this back in the days of Kodachrome...

only way to learn is to do it.

Take photos, keep a list, have fun.

Everyone says take lots of pictures and that is a correct thing to say. Indexing them some way so you can easily find the area you want is also important. It is nice to go right to the correct pictures of areas that are complex, areas that are different than others, specific dissembly/reassembly order is required, etc. instead of hunting through a 1000 pictures to find what I need. When I do take a pic I usually take 4 pictures of the item I'm photographing. A close up, backed out to see adjacent areas and 2 close ups from different angles.

You can do it. Here's my first hand experience having posted the same question beefier my first restoration.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/afm-playfield-swap-difficulty-level-for-a-noob

This forum made it possible, as I got lots of help when needed (and you will inevitably screw up or get lost).

I absolutely think you should. I did a swap on my Space Shuttle when I knew hardly anything with pinball maintenance. I took my time with it. I mean really took my time with it and worked maybe 5 or 6 hours a week. It took several months but I didn't burn myself out and I learned a lot.

If you are a first timer then I suggest you set aside a dedicated long term work area with a table (even a pool table with a drop cloth will do) to lay out the removed parts in the general location of where they sit on the playfield.

My first time with a playfield swap I did this exact method as inevitably other real life situations will take over and there could be delays in getting it all back together. This method makes it so much easier to come back to and seeing the general locations of all the parts laid out even loose is far less daunting than seeing them in a jumbled mess.

These days having a few dozen or more playfield swaps under my belt it simply all gets thrown into a pile for cleaning but it all comes down to repetition and experience.

Go for it. I'm about to embark on my first swap in a couple of months and have the same fears that you do, but I'm going to jump in with both feet!

Marc

I started a 100% full resto of my taxi. From wet decals/touch ups/clearcoating of the playfield to new cabinet decals,every metal pieces in the tumbler and powdercoating legs, rails, etc...

first time.

But even before thinking of it, I read EVERY damn post on pinside about Resto (thanks to Vid). I read them and made my own in Word documents.

You have to love learning because at the end, even if the game is a mess, your learning curve will be exponential for the next one!

Go for it and make it into a topic so you can ask the community questions!

You have to be a amateur before you can be a pro. Like has been said. Take 10 times more pictures than you think you need from every angle and take your time. My first swap was great. After it was all together I had to adjust 3 switches and it's been running perfect for years.

Another suggestion for a newbie is to get another wired playfield and have it on hand for reference. You could borrow one if possible or buy a beater and part it out when your done with it

Mike V

No doubt. Consider this a blocker to getting started -- start fishing for one. Sometimes you can borrow a PF off a friend too...

-mof

I say go for it! With the support here, I'm certain you can get the job done right. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as I thought it would be either. There's tons of great advice in this thread, and pretty much everything I would suggest has been mentioned. Take tons of pics, allocate plenty of working space if possible, take your time, take more pics, etc.

Think about when you finally get it all done up the way you want, and you turn on the game for the first time--full of anticipation...the game *you* put all that time and effort into, all the problems encountered along the way culminating into a grand flick of a switch, that moment when it lights up and looks f*cking awesome--what a great feeling. (of course, the game will almost always need further attention getting everything just right once it's all put back together...but I bask in that moment when it comes to life)

If you're into pinball for the long-haul, this experience will do nothing but benefit you. You'll know your game inside and out by the time you're done, and the knowledge you gain in the process will come in handy for your other games too. I was super-nervous when I did the playfield on my BK but it worked out and was completely worth it.

Do it! Get yourself the proper tools. Take lots of pictures. Experience is power in this hobby.

Best of all, if you F things up, you've got a good group of people here who can help bail you out!

There's more to it then just doing a swap. Aprons need repainting, side rails need to be sanded down and made to match the new playfield. You also got to create a parts list and order the parts. Pop bumpers and flippers need to be rebuilt. Plus, at times, something just doesn't line up. And there's on more thing, sometimes the playfield should be clear coated. Done right, the clear coat is going to set you back months. I've been through this process 3 times and a fourth in the works. I hire someone to do it for me and they've all turned out great! These boards are expensive and even more expensive to have installed correctly. All my boards are Wade Krause.

Do not even begin a project like this until you honestly answer a few questions;
Are you patient to perform tedious work until completion?
Do you really want the end result? Will that be enough to keep you motivated throughout the project?
Do you have the time, a spacious place to perform the work, a comfortable place to perform the work? By comfort I mean it can get dirty and cluttered and not cause stress?
I think you can do it,from your comments. Lot of hours to do it right.

If you decide to do it -- rotesserie makes it go really smooth as does having s tool bag with the dedicated proper pin tools -- magnetic nut drivers and screwdrivers are really great to have for example! Took me a while to get all the little things together and dedicated in one bag but man it's nice to have them and not go searching in the garage or wish you had a certain tool but make due with something else!