The nasty fasty hardtop guide

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8

#1 3 years ago

OP

???

hockeymutt

Pinside member

Egg Harbor Township, NJ

6y 46,100 834 4 11

Wanted to share my tips and tricks for a quick and easy install. Not over thought just straight to it. Did this by myself in around 3 total man hours. Playfield was never fully removed from the machine and had no dust issues. I’m sure after this one I can have it down to around 2 or under 2. My sof will be that next challenger.

So first up disassembly, little pro tip I use and have been taught when I rip up floor panels in a helicopter is use a piece of cardboard as a template. No more guess where did this go, and no need for a million pictures just a few here and there.
E370868D-15B9-4446-8501-6DB1A16C3ACD (resized).jpeg

Now that you have all your star post and playfield parts removed time to sand, I went over my playfield with my hand and felt for any high spots. Noted areas and started at the inserts. An old timer at work taught me body work and he always insisted that an ungloved hand will be the ultimate judge of an uneven surface. Been using this technique for years and works out great.
E370868D-15B9-4446-8501-6DB1A16C3ACD (resized).jpeg

Sanding and sanding dust control, everyone that is doing this will be using a random orbital that almost always has a dust bag. Yank that dust bag off and grab your shop vac, attach the hose vac house where the dust bag was. Sometimes it just needs some 100 mph tape. Mine doesn’t and fits like a glove.

953A1834-scaled-e1596950865648-1024x777 (resized).jpg
Sanding I started at a 320 grit and worked down into the lower 200s for grits. Anything lower than 220 you’ll start to melt you inserts and will spend even more time trying to correct your issue with fine grit. Every insert got hit with the Sander to I felt they were level.

45034823-0F41-4CB8-8DFE-2A9E7909CAA2 (resized).jpegE370868D-15B9-4446-8501-6DB1A16C3ACD (resized).jpeg

Time to make those inserts shine!
I looking into clearing but time is valuable with a toddler, I work on my games when ever she’s sleeping or when she’s not around.

Grab a rag with some naphtha or IPA and wipe that playfield down. You’ll pick up all dust particles that escaped the shop vac vortex. If you skip this step you run the high probability of polish micro scratches into those inserts( ask me how I know)

You’ll need 2 products novus 2 and 3m ultrafine finishing compound. Novus first then the 3m blue magic. NOTE: 3m ultra fine finishing compound will also take a full Mylar playfield to almost a full shine. I also used my m12 hand polisher with a cut pad on sanding speed followed by another round at polishing speed. Think they came out great!
Before
1D37E8C2-40CF-4F69-A141-1E9C3646BFCF (resized).jpeg
After
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(On my phone swapping to computer)

Finish product
0A96FEE1-768F-4556-8337-2DD9C9B9293E (resized).jpeg

more steps and pictures to come
TBC

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4B23DE45-B29C-40FD-9E35-B9A7A32F3BAE (resized).jpeg

0

#2 3 years ago

HAB

hAbO

Habo's Arcade

12y 271K 19,993

Nice write up! I love seeing before and after pictures.

0

1

#3 3 years ago

MOO

snakesnsparklers

Pinside member

9y 92,800 4,828

Love the idea with the cardboard layout!

0

#4 3 years ago

OP

???

hockeymutt

Pinside member

Egg Harbor Township, NJ

6y 46,100 834 4 11

Quoted from snakesnsparklers:
Love the idea with the cardboard layout!

Thanks! I need to clean up my write up. Pictures are all over the place

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#5 1 year ago

???

2006Jackpot

Pinside member

1y 12,650 11

hockeymutt
Going to be installing a F14 hardtop over Christmas holiday.
I have a question about your process. After you polish with the novus and 3m what do you use to clean the playfield so that no novus and 3m compound is left in the wood that could affect the adhesive bond?
And is this what you called a M12 hand polisher?

OP
Quoted from hockeymutt:
Wanted to share my tips and tricks for a quick and easy install. Not over thought just straight to it. Did this by myself in around 3 total man hours. Playfield was never fully removed from the machine and had no dust issues. I’m sure after this one I can have it down to around 2 or under 2. My sof will be that next challenger.
So first up disassembly, little pro tip I use and have been taught when I rip up floor panels in a helicopter is use a piece of cardboard as a template. No more guess where did this go, and no need for a million pictures just a few here and there.
[quoted image]
Now that you have all your star post and playfield parts removed time to sand, I went over my playfield with my hand and felt for any high spots. Noted areas and started at the inserts. An old timer at work taught me body work and he always insisted that an ungloved hand will be the ultimate judge of an uneven surface. Been using this technique for years and works out great.
[quoted image]
Sanding and sanding dust control, everyone that is doing this will be using a random orbital that almost always has a dust bag. Yank that dust bag off and grab your shop vac, attach the hose vac house where the dust bag was. Sometimes it just needs some 100 mph tape. Mine doesn’t and fits like a glove.
[quoted image]
Sanding I started at a 320 grit and worked down into the lower 200s for grits. Anything lower than 220 you’ll start to melt you inserts and will spend even more time trying to correct your issue with fine grit. Every insert got hit with the Sander to I felt they were level.
[quoted image][quoted image]
Time to make those inserts shine!
I looking into clearing but time is valuable with a toddler, I work on my games when ever she’s sleeping or when she’s not around.
Grab a rag with some naphtha or IPA and wipe that playfield down. You’ll pick up all dust particles that escaped the shop vac vortex. If you skip this step you run the high probability of polish micro scratches into those inserts( ask me how I know)
You’ll need 2 products novus 2 and 3m ultrafine finishing compound. Novus first then the 3m blue magic. NOTE: 3m ultra fine finishing compound will also take a full Mylar playfield to almost a full shine. I also used my m12 hand polisher with a cut pad on sanding speed followed by another round at polishing speed. Think they came out great!
Before
[quoted image]
After
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
(On my phone swapping to computer)
Finish product
[quoted image]
more steps and pictures to come
TBC[quoted image][quoted image]