After buffing.

Its now back together, its been about a
12 days since I sprayed, and my new pinballs are leaving subtle scratches on the finish, should I wait longer before playing or is this normal?

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Yes wait longer, it is still soft.
If you press your nail against it (under the apron) it will leave a mark.
It will properly also stills shrink.

But you can always scratch it with the ball, but then you can polish it glossy again when it gets to much.

I've been restoring a playfield here in Panama with spraymax. I have no room for a spray room so I improvised. I bought a two man pop up tent and it's the perfect size for a playfield. I've been setting the tent up outside and putting a portable dehumidifier inside. It works great. Excellent finish without trash or bubbles.

Pinball in Panama, how cool
Sounds like a great improvised setup, too. Any pics of the result?

This is my current Spraymax project. There are 3 cans of Spraymax on this Fireball II-playfield. It has come a long way, but looks very good right now. Almost mirror-like. Check out the full project here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fireball-ii-to-turn-a-lucky-garage-find-into-a-living-room-pin
like a mirror
starting the rebuild
the shine in low light

Holly Molly! This looks incredible - the actual result and the pictures.

Someone pointed me this way - just finished up a Genie and used Spraymax for the first time.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/79-genie

I was happy with the results, but did experience some 'ghosting' (see pic). I'm curious if anyone else has seen this, or has any idea how to prevent it on future projects?

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Is it ok to use the SprayMax on a bare playfield prior to applying an overlay? Then clearcoat over the top creating an overlay "sandwich". I'm most concerned about the ability of the SprayMax to adhere properly to the bare wood playfield prior to the overlay application.

Clear is going to adhere to bare wood like there is no tomorrow.

Is the insert moving? Or did you re-glue them? Did they have tooth when you sprayed?

Yep - I suspect some of my inserts are still moving slightly. Vid stopped by my thread and confirmed - **I should have glued/secured all inserts before applying the clear**. ...suspect I also should have lightly sanded those to make sure there was enough tooth for the clear to hold.

I always seem to learn my lessons the hard way. Oh well, I'm still happy with it overall, and will do better nex time.

About to start CC my playfield tomorrow.

I was suggested to lay a wet coat (half the can), wait an hour and then lay another wet coat (rest of the can). Do I need sanding before those 2 coats? Or the second coat will blend in?

Why an hour? why not 2h or simply 15-20 minutes?

You shoot the second layer either before the first coat has dried to a point where the second coat can no longer fuse into it, or after it has dried and you have sanded it to create tooth for the next one to properly stick to it. Check the product sheet of what you are using for specifics. The PPG Shopline I use says two medium wet coats 2-5 minutes apart.

A full can seems like an awful lot of clear. The idea is to get a wet coat that covers the playfield and that's flat wherever the playfield is flat. In areas where the playfield is not flat, surface tension is going to create highs and lows no matter how much clear you shoot. And there is a limit to how much thickness you can shoot because at some point the clear will flow off the playfield or through holes. It's not like a bath tub.

The problem when you shoot two much clear is that it does have that glass like satisfying look when you first shoot it, but you end up having to do a lot more sanding. Sanding and cleaning is the part that takes an awful lot of time and it sucks.

I guess he implied some sanding between those 2 coats.

From what he suggested, especially if the playfield had some planking and valleys, 3 cans for the whole job should be it. Each can in 2 separate coats, sanding as flat as possible between each can. Does that make sense?

Wondering how many coats/sanding can be done within the same day?

Let's say I clear in the morning, when can I go back and sand before doing more coats?

I believe I should wait 1-2 weeks of curing before doing the final wet coat?

The problem is time.
You can sand it flat the same day if you want. But while it cures it shrinks. So what was flat is not flat 1-6 month later.
In my experience it is mostly around inserts you will see it.
So if you are in a hurry and above is ok, then you can do it. But if you want the best result, better wait with final sanding/buffing or extra clear.

If you got the instructions from Jappie, go with what he says. His result is impressive. Maybe 3 cans isn't that much after all. In terms of time, seems like 5-8 hours is enough before sanding and applying the next coat.

That's an excellent point. Probably the reason why shops such as HSA take 6-8 weeks to clear a playfield. And even then, I got a playfield from them that was dead flat when I received it and now has some very slight "telegraphing" (to use Vid's term) around some inserts. You have to look for it but it's there.

The application sheet says 10-15 minutes between coats. I would stick to that.

Yes, I found this data yesterday, I'll go with that.

I shall report back.

Got my first 2 coats (1 full can) on. I clean up my shed, made some room and hang up my light.

I waited about 12-15 mins between coats. Looking good except I made a mistake when I mixed my white paint using straight up flow improver instead of my homemade mix. Result, the white paint seems to want to wrinkle. I'll see once it's dry and sanded if I need to touch it back up...

Before, first time it sees the sun in months.
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My setup and condition.
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Let's take a last picture and get the f**k of of there...
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Wow! Looks nice!!!

Looks like you got a bit of orange peel with the Spraymax. There's a guy in this thread who recommends doing one heavy coat to limit the peel. http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=39399.0

Then again it could have to do with the nozzle.

Thanks. Overall I'm happy. Like I said, at a few places I got wrinkles in the paint/clear, we'll see how it sand. Mostly on white around the edges of a few other places/color as well.

For a first application. I think that's OK. Once sanded and after a couple more applications, that should level out nicely and a final buffing should do the trick.

I'll report back.

Plumonium where did you get the thermometer? I need to get myself one of those

I used three cans of SprayMax 2K on my Q*Berts Quest playfield and followed the instructions as per the data sheet. It came out great and I really should post some pics

IIRC I did one light mist first followed by heavier coats. I didn't start sanding level until after the third coat.

I don't remember, I had it for ages. I'm sure you can get something similar of amazon.

I should probably have done that.

If you use spraymax before the overlay make sure and wait at least a couple weeks if not more before you install the overlay. When I did my comet I only waited 4 or 5 days before I installed the overlay and about 4 days later I had millions of tiny air bubbles under the overlay. I think the clear was not done gassing and the overlay just trapped the gas under it. Even tho it felt dry when I peeled the overlay off it had a strong chemical smell from the clear. I know you always have a few bubbles but I had to remove it and start over. The second time I waited a month before I installed the overlay and had no problems.

I've used it now for a few pfs and its killer! 70 degrees and 50% humidity seems to be the sweet spot for spraying!

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Your process?

-if you're spraying on a cleared pf sand with 2,000 grit and haze it so the new coats bite
-if you're spraying a bare pf use naptha and clean the pf vigorously with a sponge if necessary
-level the pf out in both directions
-use a tac cloth and wipe with naptha a few minuets before you spray
-spray in temps above 70 degrees and with low humidity 50-60%, the higher the humidity the longer it takes to dry
-spray in a controlled environment with a good exhaust fan and a clean floor
-I spray about 4-5 coats in total block sanding with 1,500 grit between coats the 1st coat is a light pass, the other 4 coats are heavy
-I spray in the longest direction of the pf
-allow to cure for 24 hrs
-final wet block sanding outdoors or in GOOD light with 2,000 grit. I use a mini block for sanding about 2"x3"
-I like to wait another 24 hrs then I use Megwire's Ultimate compound and machine buff the pf to bring back up the finish.
-then after 2-3 weeks apply a good natural carnauba wax made from 50/50 carnauba & bees wax like Blitz or I like Happy Sloth off Ebay

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Spraying in-itself is an art form almost like dancing, if you want to learn how to make passes watch this video!

Question for all of you.. If you have some material missing around inserts, what do you fill around the insert with prior to painting and
clear coat?

Do you let the coat dry completely before you sand, or is this sanding occurring during the "flash off" period of 5-15 mins between coats?

I allow the coat to dry for 2-3 hours, then dry sand with 1,500 grit then wipe off the dust with naptha before I recoat. The 2K has a 48 hour pot life, give the can a good 2min shake again before you respray another coat. A lite coat is one complete pass along the pf, to me a heavy coat is 2-3 passes on the whole pf. I use about 2 cans in total, applying 4-5 complete coats.

Also you need to make sure you are ordering the right stuff, the "Glamour High Gloss Clear Coat" is the best in my opinion.

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Got it, thank you so much! I did get the same SprayMax 2K Clear Glamour 386 0061 can, but it is called just Clear Glamour (this is the new name according to their website). Can't wait to get started on this Space Shuttle playfield!

That's where SprayMax could be a problem. You want to fill it with an eye dropper and the same clear. You would need to find a way to spray some in a container so it can be picked up with the eye dropper.

If the question is how to level sunken inserts with the rest of the playfield:
1. Spray the first bit of prepared Spraymax into the cap of the spraycan.
2. Fill the inserts using the spraymax from the can and an eye dropper (do this as quickly as possible).
3. Continue spraying the rest of the playfield.

It will take a few layers and sanding sessions before it's nice and flat, but this has worked for my Stern Lightning project.

Depends on how bad and how much effort you want to spend. As others have mentioned, if the amount of missing material is small you an probably get away with an eye dropper. If not, you'll probably want to use some sort of filler. You an check the restoration threads for different ways, but here is a link to a HEP restore that he did some filling:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-is-hired-to-protect-the-black-knight/page/2

Has anyone tried spraying regular automotive clear over Spray Max 2k? I have a playfield I started last year before I had a compressor setup that I sprayed with Spray Max. I did a lot of touchup painting on it, and am now ready to put the top clear coat on. Would i be flirting with disaster by using Omni two part clear coat over the Spray Max?

I saw your ad on CL earlier this week. Great work!!! I too am an avid user and lover of SM2k

I don't see why it should be a problem. It is just 2PAC clear - but in a can. Its not something more "strange" then any other 2PAC clear. So I don't think you should be more worried then if you spray over dimondplate clear. Let us now how it went

Well I went ahead and started the playfield with my last remaining can of SprayMax. I won't be able to get anymore until next week sometime....

So in the meantime, I am going to do an experiment. I am doing a Street Fighter 2 playfield (don't laugh). I have the small upper playfield already coated with SprayMax and I have done my first wet sanding on it. I am going to rough it up with 600 grit, and try laying some Omni clear over it. At least if it doesn't work for some reason, it's a pretty small area to have to sand down. Wish me luck!

I wish you luck ☺️
But I think you will be alright.
Remember to do real thin coats to see if there is any reaction.

Will be interesting to see. One problem you could have if the spray max is still fresh is the bottom and top layer cure and contract at different rates. Probably not an adhesion problem but maybe it means you want to wait a little before sanding flat and polishing.

How long do you suggest I wait before polishing?

Yes.
I have heard that can cause bubbles.

If the layer underneath is still early in curing and releases gases you can get bubbles.

Really hard to tell. I don't think it is only about the polishing. Depends on the results you are looking for. The clear continues to cure and shrink for a long time so some folks wait for several weeks before final sanding and polishing to get a really flat mirror surface.

If you're just worried about adhesion and clear compatibility I don't think you need to wait more thanks a day.