I've been toying with the idea of trying a two part tabletop epoxy on a playfield to see how it would hold up. I searched the internet to see what I could find out from others but couldn't find any info on it, so there was nothing left to do but bite the bullet and give a shot. I did this in November, then took it straight to our bar so it would get a LOT of plays. We have a dedicated group of players and often a couple of tournaments a week with 40-50+ players plus lots of casual play the rest of the week.
The PF was in decent shape. Had a few rough spots I had to touch up and inserts were falling out and were cupped. I replaced the inserts and sanded the entire playfield very lightly just to clean it up some, then touched up a few bad spots. I replaced all the keyline circles around the inserts, including the "circle with triangle" around all the bonus inserts by scanning the PF with a see-through doc scanner and importing that into illustrator, then using black vinyl cut on my Silhouette vinyl cutter.
Here's a before pic:
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A few of my concerns were yellowing and the tabletop epoxy not being able to stand up to the abuse of the ball and immediately getting all scratched up, even within the first few plays. I purchased a UV resistant epoxy to try and minimize the yellowing.
I mixed a total of 6 ounces of epoxy per square foot of playfield (32 ounces total). I made sure the playfield was absolutely level using small camper jacks as well as putting a straight edge longways on the pf and cranking out the slight sag using the same type camper jacks. I used painters tape along the outer edges on the underside to make the dripcicles easier to remove after it hardened. I then flooded the entire pf with the epoxy and let it run into all the holes and off the edges. I also hit it with my torch to remove the small bubbles as it cured. Here is the result:
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After cleanup and reassembly:
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I didn't sand the epoxy it all. It is exactly as I poured it. Also using tabletop epoxy has the advantage of not eating up the vinyl I used for the keylines and I didn't have to dress out in all that PPE nor protect my shop from overspray. Just pour it and watch it run.

Here it is after I got it back up and running:
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I've been keeping a close eye on it as it has gained plays at the bar and I'm happy to report that not only has it not shown any dimpling, it has so far shown no major etching/scratching from the ball. In fact I can see no real wear on it yet even at the inlanes. I wax my PF's about once every 10 days and I would estimate it's gotten around 1K plays at this point (I need to pull an audit on it next time I'm at the bar to confirm).
Here's a pic of it at the bar:
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It plays smooth as butter. Love the roll of the ball on that epoxy surface.
If you'd like to check it out in action, it gets featured on our tournament streams every week, just jump over to https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2059012825 and it's the first game on camera at our latest tournament from this past Saturday.
Yopp

It plays like a cleared PF to me, but I agree that can be subjective.

MAS Tabletop Pro

Yes. I will leave it in this high traffic environment and monitor/document. So far I’ve been very impressed, but let’s see where we are in a few months.

It’s about 1/8”. I’d say about as thick as a hardtop, maybe just a tad thicker.

There will be some criticisms here as well (this is Pinside after all). It’s ok though since I’m the one that has to live with results. So far so good.

Didn’t have to adjust the switches any more than I would on any other “bring it back to life” resto. The drops were remounted just as I removed them. No issues with them.

Not sure I exactly understand the question. I just let it run. In spots where the post screws go into the PF (or any screw), I used drill bit in reverse to dig through the clear coat to the wood. I also used a dremel with a sanding wheel to clean up any larger holes for things like GI bulbs, sling shot switches, etc etc. It’s not completely free of tedium, but I’d say no worse than a hard top, etc.

The yellowing was my second concern (after durability). I watched a bunch of videos that went over the yellowing of deep pour epoxy. People showed how badly it would yellow when they would do a "cast pour" which is filling a large container with it, then putting it out in the sun. They also compared this with a thin pour (tabletop) and over a few years the yellowing wasn't evident like it showed up in the deep pour. Of course avoiding direct sunlight is a must. It's going to be interesting to see how this stuff holds up, but after doing several playfields with coat after coat of Varathane (which has held up way better than I expected), doing it this way was easier, faster, and far less messy with the overspray and such. If it stays clear and continues to hold up as it has so far I'll be a happy camper. At this point only time and a lot of plays (which it is getting now) will tell.

Just realized I never shared what see-thru scanner I use. I know there is an older, larger one you can buy used, but I have this smaller one that I picked up a few years ago called "Doxie." I've been using this thing for over 5 years and it's been rock solid. It is self contained, runs on a couple of AA batteries and writes the scanned images to a memory card. I scan and import the images into illustrator where I create the outlines for the vinyl cutter. It's plenty big enough to get the graphics around the inserts (see the image on the small screen from an original scan of the "Pinball" playfield). In some cases for larger areas I've stitched together multiple scans in photoshop.

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Test 2 is underway.

I'll have to get footage of that on a future project, but, put simply I make sure the PF is absolutely level and wrap the edge of it with 1.5" painters tape to make a "wall" that won't allow the epoxy to run off the edge until I've got it spread the way I want it. When I apply the epoxy I pour it in a meandering pattern around the playfield avoiding larger holes such as saucers and the large hole at the bottom where the ball return will be mounted. I have a latex glove on the free hand and use it to spread the epoxy over the entire playfield, making sure it makes it to the edges and up against the painter's tape "wall." I let it freely run through the holes in the playfield. It's thick enough so not a lot of it drops through said holes. Once the PF is completely coated and starting to self level I grab one end of the painters tape and slowly walk around the PF, pulling the tape off as I go, letting the epoxy run off the edges of it at that point. That's pretty much it other than hitting it with a torch every now and then in the early curing process to get the bubbles to release. Then just let it sit a couple days until hardened, then set it aside to finish the long cure.

Good point. It can be scorched pretty easily. Taking that a step further, I’d say anyone thinking about doing this: proceed with caution. I’m not recommending anyone else do this, and if you do, I suggest watching hours and hours of how to’s on YouTube first all about the process and the possibly pitfalls. I’m doing these as tests. While I have an environment where I can put them to very high volume of plays testing, only time will tell on the long term performance.

I personally think the thickness on my first project was just about right (but if anything, it may be just a hair thicker than some may like, but everything works and switches are fine) and has played perfectly. I’d say it’s no thicker than a hard top (and definitely won’t be thicker than version two of the hardtop which is going to double in thickness). This one turned out just a bit thinner because I warmed the epoxy before mixing and I turned the heat up in my shop to 85 degrees for a full 24 hours before the pour. The thing I was worried about most, scratches, it has way exceeded my expectations. I have to go to the bar later today and my first test project should be headed for 2K plays if it hasn’t already hit that mark. I’ll grab some closeups of the inlane to flipper feed. I’m shocked at how well it’s doing.