I'm doing my first playfield swop on a Centaur (original playfield for a better original clear coated playfield).

Are there any good threads, web sites, or videos with procedures for doing playfield swaps? I'm hoping there's some good DIY tips out there that I can learn from. Only thing I saw of interest on Youtube was a guy who slid all the underside wired parts onto a sheet of cardboard and then slide all that onto the new playfield, like using a pizza oven. Pretty smart.

Thanks!

Thanks for the great forum link, erichill.

Read through it.

I'm now justifiably terrified.

Thanks for all the great information guys. I really appreciate it. I'm moving from the old playfield to a restored and cleared orignal one as I don't have a CPR. At least all the screw holes should be in the right places. I was going to replace every screw back into the old PF so I can use it as a guide of which screw goes where. I'm not interested in tumbling screws from the underside. They're already in quite good shape.

The response from Pinsiders here is so helpful, I cannot thank you enough. I'm learning a LOT from reading the responses and frankly, just spending a lot of time looking at the underside of my Centaur playfield is teaching me a lot. It helps to fully understand how everything is connected together.

I guess using new 44 sockets are better than new 555 wedge sockets? Good thing I did not load up on 555 LEDs before doing this : )

Tracing with a pencil around all the main parts and maybe the braid wire is brilliant.

I understand the why Freeplay40 says to molex all the coils, but frankly that seems like it would take a little more time than just clipping and resoldering them and I don't expect to replace coils all that often.

I've had filthy machines where the crud in the wire harness is so bad you can't see the colors. But on this particular machine the insides are so clean it is hard to believe it is from 1981. It looks only a few years old in there. Even the coin door wires were clean, accept for some kind of cola spill. Here's a pic of the cabinet bottm BEFORE I did any cleaning.

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Would be nice to have a rotisserie but maybe I'd get one if I do more swaps in the future. For now, just two really large folding tables, side by side, seems like the ticket. I fully agree, some big towels under the PFs sounds like a good idea. The pop bumper bodies may indeed need to be supported, as someone previously pointed out.

One unavoidable problem for me personally is CATS! They mess with everything when I'm not around. They especially like to knock little things off tables and then bat them around until they disappear. My strategy is to keep everything covered in blankets when not working on it. (yes, there's also a forum thread on cats and pinball).

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Here's the subject of discussion.

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Just what is it about the 81 Bally wedge light sockets that has everyone complaining? Obviously they must suck since everyone agrees on that. But why? They seem to all be fine and working properly. Do they break during the swap or something?