Finally ready to polish. Here it is sanded up to 3000 grit. Filling inserts worked out.

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Looks sweet

Tell me how you polish! What pads, how long, what compounds.

When the playfield is under my halogen lights micro scratches really show up, in a halo pattern. Seems like I have to polish hard and long to get rid of them. Using M105 and M205. If I do it outside I think it’s good but under the lights inside — nope.

This looks helpful: https://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/polishing-how-to-with-meguiars-m105-m205/

I have had some scratches as well but usually for me, it was that i didnt change the sand paper soon enough.
The paper got clogged and the goobers were what caused scratches.

Guys,

Last weekend, I wet sanded and used naptha before applying the last 2 coats of spraymax. This was following the previous weekend's initial spraymax coats. So, I may have sprayed too close (5") to playfield based on a few comments regarding a better or smoother finish. That couldn't have been further from the truth for my situation. The orange peel looks even worse...or maybe there is some contaminants that I accidentally sprayed over? Anyways, my goal is just to do the best with what I have since I'm out of clear. In your opinions, should I wet sand soon (like today or tomorrow) before letting this clear set for the next 6 to 8 weeks? It's been 6 days since the last coat was applied. Either way, should I wet sand and polish once the 6 to 8 (maybe even 12) weeks pass? I probably should not have cleared a second weekend in a row but this is my first clearcoat project, and with an overlay. I appreciate all your feedback!

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The puddling in the reflection at the bottom isn't what people refer to as orange peel. Orange peel is the rough surface.

That is the clear puddling and retreating from spots. One PF was doing that here, and the guy spraying just went for the 'flood it' approach and just sprayed heavier until it filled in. It's something like fish-eye you'd expect from contamination, but we didn't have a reason for it either. Just press on. If you are already out of clear, try to sand it smooth. Assuming you have some layers below it.

Looks like contamination but it's weird that it is on both the wood and the overlay. What is your source of naphtha? I guess that is the only thing on this playfield other than SprayMax?

I bet the rag I used to clean with naptha was contaminated with something...maybe novus 2 or something else used in the past. That has to be the issue. Ugh...back to sanding this crap down and seeing what's left. I appreciate the support, everyone.

So I,ve stripped my EM play field (front and back). Cleaned with magic eraser and polished wit( novus 2. Pulled all inserts and have replacements to be glued in etc. Scanned and and recreated all graphics for water slide decals.

Gluing the inserts with epoxy and primer. Once all all installed. I’m going to spraymax the playfield before touch ups and decals. What grit sandpaper can I use over playfield and inserts for tooth for spraymax? The entire playfield I’m referring too.

Once lockdown is complete I want to paint and lay labels. What grit do I use to get level but still smooth enough for paint and decals to hold without ghosting/clouding? I’d like to get it sanded smooth enough for next clear layer to bite but not cloud up the decals.

Make since?

See post #1 in below link. I use Meguiars compound (for cars) after initial sanding and it worked like a charm
Pics included in post

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/3-years-for-my-bride-of-pinbot

Edit: Deleted entire post on question related to time-frame for bringing spraymax 2k cleared playfield into home. I'm going to contact spraymax and post any info I receive.

Spoke to the Spraymax representative in my area. He didn't have exact numbers or figures to reference, but he felt 7 days after polishing/finishing would be safe to use the item (to put back into service). Now, he referred to marine projects, so this may not apply 100%...but he felt based on his 30+ years of experience that the effects of outgassing would be minimal. Just passing this info along. Whatever anyone decides on this issue, please be safe. I'm going to wait another week or two before bringing my playfield inside (once cut/polished).

How long have you waited before polishing?
Because the total cure time is very long - if you go for "perfect"

Since this is my practice playfield, I'll probably wait a few more weeks before polishing. I know this stuff shrinks back and I should probably wait 12 weeks to cure, but I'm at the point where this thing needs to be installed so that I can test all the other parts. My spare playfield will be a future project, and will allow me to swap and redo this playfield. Also, having the spare to perfect will keep me from waiting to test, play, and enjoy this machine. I've already created a planned installation process and it should be pretty straightforward with all the advice and pics from other owners. I'm just looking forward to getting this pin ready to play.

Ive had great results final sanding and mirror polishing at 10 weeks.

Ball bounce test shows its hard enough for play.

12 months/50 weeks later no more die back but a much harder surface.

OK,
Read a bunch of this post, but honestly, an index would be helpful.

I've isopropyled, touched up, naptha'ed. EM playfield.

Ready to spray.

Should I sand and naphtha (ready tac) first?
800 grit dry?

Light spray, wait 15 minutes, heavy spray.

Sit a week, sand (800-1000-3000).

Reapply 2 heavy coats.

Sit 10 weeks, buff/polish?

Set me straight folks.

All sanding is wet sanding 1/2 tsp dawn to 2 qts of water.

rapid prep and then naptha for cleaning.

I use compressed air after wiping.

Use cheap non ink or perfumed paper towels

Sand with 800 grit light gray pad.
Wipe and chemically clean etc.

Mist coat wait 7 mins
Medium coat wait 7 mins.
Medium coat.

Next day block sand flat with 550 or 600. Then 800

Wipe and chemically clean.

Light coat and drip to fill voids.
Wait 10 mins

Medium coat

Wait 7 mins.

Medium coat.

Next day, 600 grit block sand flat straight lines.

800 grit pad, straight lines.

Wipe and chemically clean.

Drip to fill voids

Wait 7 mins

Medium coat

Wait 7 mins

Medium coat

Wait 7 mins

1 heavy coat

Next day

Block sand flat 800 grit

Chemically clean.

Check and fill voids.

1 heavy coat half a can.

Wait 10 mins

1 heavy coat do not go to the end of the can it will splatter.

Wait 7 days check die back.
If too severe block sand flat and apply 2 heavy coats, filling low areas.

Should be good to go.

Wait 10 weeks

Optional if its not perfect enough:

Wet Block sand with 1000 and cascade up to 4000. Straight lines or orbital machine

Polish to a mirror.

Thats it. Should take 3 or 4 cans.

Damn! Thank you for that write up!

Check the SprayMax datasheet for spray distance and flash off time.

Anyone else find the cans don’t spray consistently? Some cans are great, others spatter.

I had that happen.

Now i store the can in hot tap water in a home depot bucket.

I dry it off with compressed air then puncture and shake.

90 degrees makes the can spray properly.

Im also making a dam with a paper towel and rubber band 3/8" above the upper rim of the can to protect against drips. Not high enough to affect the spray.

Too many times a perfect job was ruined at the last munute with a stupid drip ftom the channel the cap sticks on to.

I change it between coats.

No problem, i hope it helps you to get started.

Just did a cabinet with it this past weekend.

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Nice ! What game is that?

Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom

Hey everyone. Great thread. I have learned a ton.

I decided to clear my Eight Ball playfield. The previously filled inserts shown in the pictures were filled prior to the first coat of clear and now remain “high” compared to the playfield. Any suggestions for sanding these flush with the playfield without going through the clear?

Also, have one stupid bug stuck in the clear . Thanks everyone.

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If its just the clear thats high, block sand it flush and go onto the next coat of clear.

Block sanding and flattening are part of the process.

If the inserts are high thats a whole other discussion.

tagged for interest

Hey I am doing my 4th playfield and have switched to the 2k system simply for the convenience. I also came up with a simple paint booth that works really well and I thought I would share. I have a wood shop in half my garage and I had a home-made dust collector hanging above my work table. It is just a box with two Walmart box fans and four 20x20 air filters on it. For this playfield I added a skirt around it the same size as my work table and draped some plastic around. When the fan is on it sucks air from the room through the filters and blows it down across the table. I keep a gap in the front and lean in to spray. It is not a lot of air flow but enough to keep the fumes out and away from my face. It also allows me to keep my garage doors open for full ventilation as the clean air inside is at relatively positive pressure so no outside air should get in. It is also great because you can fold up the plastic around the skirt when it is not needed. It takes a bit to build but is really convenient as I don't need to build a new booth every time I want to spray.

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Killer workshop!!

Cool thread. I redid my Trident with Spray2k recently. Really convenient stuff.

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Not my first time using SM2K, but first time in this specific situation so Id like some advice. I'm making a new Whitewood / playfield for my homebrew game. This playfield is NOT the final one, so perfection is not required. However, I am bringing it to Expo in Chicago. (73 days away but who is counting) I need to start reassembly as quickly as possible in order to be ready for the show. Assuming the game will not be actually played for ~5 weeks, how long would you let it cure before putting it back together? Really just need to avoid catastrophic / gameplay ruining failure. Most of the information in this thread is about long term perfection. Curious to see what people think when speed is the goal.

I think you can put it together about 2 weeks after spraying.
I did volcano quickly. The down side is that in that time frame, if you go with more than a thin coat it will dimple.
Volcano dimpled for the first few months.
I do not buy into the wood dimpling on a 40 year old game. It was the clear.
But, if you only go with one coat i think you will be fine.
All strickly opinion.

Anyone have success spraying spraymax as a last finish coat over previous coats of varathane polyurethane?

I haven't tried it personally, but if the surface prep is done correctly, I can't see why it wouldn't work. I would wet sand it with 600, check for shiny spots, clean it well, and give it a shot. That's my plan anyways for a spare Meteor playfield I have kicking around that I used for some tests while restoring my Trident playfield. I have a leftover spray2k can and was thinking about using it on that.

I restored an EightBall about 4 years ago where the graphics were process ink printed onto the playfield. I was worried about 2PAC reacting with it so I protected it with Varathane, then used 2PAC (not Sparaymax). No issues at all, just a light sanding then sprayed it on.

600 seems a bit too much. I would lightly sand starting with 800 just in case the coarser grit telegraphs once the clear shrinks?
What do you guys think?

For the first mist coat 600 grit gives a good bite. I just press moderately on a fresh 800 grit, gray 3m sponge in straight lines.
Its rated at 600 to 800 depending on its use. When the sponges loose their grit I save them for later during finishing.

Chris Hutchens uses 550 grit, carefully.

for the second and successive coats 800 grit for block flattening, and so on.

with the mist coat, plus the first coat then sanding, if all goes well a second finish coat might be ok.

But really after flattening and thinning down the clear, a 3rd coat is what usually happens.

then buffing down the clear, or one more coat for die back, at about 10 weeks.

If I see substantial die back after 10 days, I put a 4th heavy finish coat, then sand down (flatten and thin) and buff out at 10 weeks.

How long do you wait between coats?

Mist coat then wait 7 mins then light coat. Never put much paint down on the first coat. It doesn't have to wet up.

Next day, flatten with 800 then drip into low areas, put 2 medium coats enough to wet up, 7 mins apart.

Next day flatten then lite coat wait 5 mins then a heavy coat. Nearly one whole can basically.

It really helps to rubber band a shroud of paper towel around the can 1/2" above the edge but below the spray pattern to keep drips from falling off the can edge.

This really screws up an otherwise perfect job as you will have to sand them out later.

I do it on all rattle can jobs that are above the work.

Its especially hateful when you get a big droplet onto a spatter job like a coin door.

Air blow and chemically treat before any painting.

Rapid-prep is better than naptha.

I use both, no fish eyes.

First naptha with a pure paper towel.

Then rapid-prep then air blow.

Thanks a bunch, this is really very helpful. I am about 95% done with restoring my funhouse playfield. It is my fourth one but I am still learning alot. Before I did the whole HPLV setup but it is a pain to set up and puts a ton of vapor in the air which seems much more dangerous than the 2k. I would really like to just use the 2k going forward.

I have had problems before with fisheyes and this time I really focused on cleaning really well before the first coat (prior to repainting). I used Rapid-prep on a buffer sponge and got no fish-eyes. I also put down a very light first coat just to cover the surface and I waited 2 weeks for it to fully cure. Now I am hoping I am good because the final clear will either be on the first clear coat or new paint.

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Rapid prep is the key.
Eastwoods has great info on auto paints.

They say to use cheap paper towels with no ink or dye on them.

Hopefully little lint.

I like the marathon tri fold towels.

The longer you wait the harder the finish is.

During the process I dont wait too long, it gets too hard to sand out by hand and have to use the orbital sander which is very scary but effective.

After the final process then I wait for it to cure, 10 weeks.

I got a old whirlwind playfield a while back from a guy who was doing a swap and I used as a practice PF. It was the first time I used the 2k and I had a weird issue. I was playing around with using clear vinyl stickers instead of waterslides. When I put on a layer of clear over the stickers everything worked fine. However, when I would spray a new coat the next day the stickers would "pucker up". I would sand it back but it happened a couple of times. I plan to use waterslides this time but I was thinking I would wait a week or so after the first coat so that I was sure the next coat would not have some weird interaction with the first. That was kind of an experimental PF so maybe it was some other variable but you have never had any problems with waterslides under the first coat after a day?

Poor surface adhesion. Adhesion promoter can help with stickers as well as rapid prep.

Generally decals and stickers want a shiney surface to adhere well.

water slide are the best as they melt into the clear and become part of the paint.

After putting down a lockdown coat of clear:

Start with a mist coat let to dry over the decals, then a light coat let to dry.

After that they should be set pretty good.

Still the surface tension of clearcoat can cause difficulties.

The same applies to overlays.

Okay, well I will follow your advice to the letter and hopefully don't have any issues. I should be able to do the final waterslides today and start spraying Saturday.

Is rapid prep made by the same company that makes the other one to remove mylar?

Yes.

These are the two I have used.

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It was the first time I used the adhesive remover and it worked great. I had a bunch of mylar to remove and previously I had used an alcohol/flour method which was a f'ing mess. I also used goo-gone but it seemed to have more of a residue. This one smells a little like goo-gone so probably has a citrus something in it.

Is the 10 weeks only for playing? Is it okay to repopulate the playfield a week or so after? Seems like it would but maybe the posts or something would introduce some kind of stress?

If it is okay to repopulate is it also okay to do a good waxing? I like to wax before I repopulate so I am sure I can get everywhere.

I wouldn't after only a week or so. Waxing too soon will mess with the curing process. Repopulating will see your posts and such sink into the clear.

Wait until the finger nail test under the apron no longer leaves a dent in the finish. I've waited 6 weeks with good results