I'm assuming you use the "soak in boiling water dye/mix" technique?

If I dye the insert and match the color, then sand the dye flat to the top of the playfield (after clamping/epoxy), sanding will remove that dye color... I assume.

Thoughts?

Thanks, I need a set of these.

How thick is clear coat on modern reproduction playfield compared to NOS diamond clear coated playfield?

What could cause and how to fix peeling 2PAC?
Surface was prepped and cleaned as this guide instructs.
Temp of pf and 2pac were equal at approx 70F
No noticable problems occurred during initial sanding after about 4 days of cure, only upon removing frisket from first airbrush touch ups did the clear begin to come off in sheets.

Thoughts on remedy, sand down and just start over?

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Was the original surface sanded to provide tooth?

Based on possible items above, remedy?

I suspect this is why some guys shoot a layer of adhesion promoter before the first coat of clear.

So do you not recommend fish eye reducer? I have used it for years with no issues.

Hi—

I hope I am not breaking rules by posting this here.

I recently acquired a Stern High Roller Casino pinball machine. I have it working 100%, but when cleaning the playfield I decided to remove a damaged piece of mylar between the bumpers. But when I did this, the clear surface and paint came up on the play field and on an insert. My son and I are very sad, because we have this machine humming, but stupid Dad (me) couldn't leave well enough alone. I am posting a before and after image, as well as the piece of mylar with paint. Any advice or commiseration would be appreciated! I can fix anything mechanical, but my artistic skills are pretty non-existent.

Aside from this, the pinball machine is in great shape.

Many thanks!

Larry M.

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Newbie here...looking for some guidance. I'm prepping my Mata Hari playfield for a hardtop install. I've got the inserts and surrounding areas sanded down, but also had to sand an area near/under the apron to get rid of a blemish on the art that the hardtop will replace. That sanded area is a bit whiter than the rest of the wood area. I put some napthia on it, and it looked ok before it evaporated so I sprayed some Krylon clear on it. Look pretty good for a few hours, but overnight it was back to slightly white again. Some of this wood area will be seen thru the hard top, so I want it to look ok.

How do I remedy this? I'm thinking I'll need to:

1 - Sand all of the areas of natural wood so it's consistent. What grit do I use on my orbital sander to do this? 220?
2 - Apply polyurethane. I'm not equipped (equipment or skillz) for 2PAC so I'm hoping I can get away with poly in a rattle can. Which one? Minwax semi-gloss oil based ok?
3 - I'm assuming the wood will look not white/a bit yellowy after drying, correct?
4 - After applying poly, do I sand again? What grit?
5 - Next step then is spraying clear? I'm using Krylon Colormaxx General Purpose Flat Crystal Clear Spray. Would something else be recommended?
6 - After clear cures, sand again? What grit?

Thank you....

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Thanks! I wish I had known that rule! I would not have touched the area if the mylar wasn’t bubbled up and curling on the edges. Since the rest of the play field is in excellent shape, is there no way to do a spot repair, like with a decal, without disassembling the entire play field? Are there people who make decals like this? I am new at this... thanks!

I filled several inserts last night with 2pac. Today I noticed a couple of them are still a little cupped. How long do I need to wait before I can fill them again? This is for a 77 Jacks Open.

Vid,

I came across this HP printer today... Says white toner.

https://www.uscutter.com/HP-M452dw-Printer-White-Ink?trk_msg=H6CFIG19AFHKT05OHTN7646SC8&trk_contact=JRAQR5NQDHBBA1MBI9EVNR4PA0&trk_sid=UVV84RB15JJ9ALK74E2E3KG2BO&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=HP+Color+LaserJet+Pro+M452dw+Printer+with+Ghost+White+Toner&utm_campaign=Tax+Reinvestment+Sale&utm_content=%3CSawgrass%3E%3CJoto%3E%3CUninet%3E%3CGhost%3E%3CHP%3E

Any comment?

Unfortunately not cost effective to make a few decals... I mentioned this to a guy who was in business printing reproduction decals for rockets, but his last Alps printer croaked with no one to repair it. He said he looked at it but it wasn't cost effective even to make a business out of.

I'm having trouble determining which parts are plated, steel or stainless steel. I have some Everbrite to use for protection on any plated or raw steel parts that I clean, but how do I know what is what? I'm pretty sure ball guides are stainless, but not sure about various metal posts and especially much of the hardware on the underside of the playfield.

Is there a guideline for what I should concern myself with protecting after an ultrasonic cleaning, tumble and/or buff?

Stainless won’t be oxidized and cloudly.... the zinc plated stuff will be dull and matte looking - like galvanized. Even polished the zinc plated stuff will look dull unless the plating is sanded off.

Pretty much only posts and ball guides would be stainless. Plates and brackets are normally always plated in games games since the 80’s.

Hello vid, I have read all your topic, I am taking courage to remove myolar ...
As you can see the painting is all cracked where it does not have myolar protecting.
I wanted to remove the myolar and do the entire restoration process but I'm afraid that all the ink out of the inserts will come out. and what should I do to lower the inserts?
In the latter case what to do to restore the cracked paint without removing the myolar ...

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I am working on a BSD. So one interesting thing is that I have removed mylar and underneath is nice shiny clear coat. Looks like the day it was made. Everywhere else (and I mean everywhere that was not covered by a post or rail -- under plastics and areas the ball would never go) is uniformly dull. Almost looks like exposure to air just ate away the clear coat over time. Just wondering if this is a normal phenomenon. Note: the scan is before mylar removal. Overall though I think the playfield is in decent shape.

A few questions! These images are after a good cleaning with naphtha but nothing else.

How level should inserts be? I have a 0.002" strip of spring steel, the inserts that feel slightly raised are no more than this. I will clear this playfield with SprayMax 2K.

There are various spots where assemblies had rust and there is rust really bonded to the playfield. Suggestions on how to remove it?

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Suggestions on how to clean general grunge on the playfield? ME + alcohol? Sand it with 600 grit to remove surface junk before clear?

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Anything that can be done with this ball trail? Looks like a previous owner maybe caused some planking when trying to clean it:

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The wood is dirty and a little eaten away here. Is this practical to fix or is it best to just leave it?

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Any other observations are welcome!

Scan of the entire playfield. There are some artifacts from stitching it using Microsoft ICE...but I don't have Photoshop.

https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/09qyBJ8I-xWirloHbXUtUgbzg#bsd50

I’m trying to understand the need to sand original art off on a hard top install.

If you put down a layer of clear, does it really matter? As long as it’s flat.

Since Vid seems to be on hiatus (hopefully a well deserved vacation!) I'll answer one of my own inquiries.

I tried several things to remove the rust stuck to the playfield: pulling it off with duct tape (got maybe 5-10%); magic eraser (nope); chisel-blade exacto knife; single-edged razor blade; naval jelly -- all a no-go.

Finally had success with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Excel-55678-Sanding-Stick-Extra/dp/B0006N738S/ref=sr_1_11

Pretty neat tool used by modellers, you can just rotate the belt to a fresh piece and because it is small you have very fine control.

This might be a pretty stupid question. I'm trying to clean and strip a playfield and I'm wondering how to get the wodden "frame" of the playfield off? The left, wooden rail of the shooter lane was screwed on from the back, so no problem, but the frame pieces don't have screws on the back. Are they nailed on the playfield from the back? If so, what is my best option to get them off? Pulling on the painted wood with pliers seems not optimal.

Frogger1108 - when you reassemble, consider using screws instead of re-stapling. Some Bally machines I've seen that were stapled actually had screw holes pre-drilled (empty) on the frames, right next to the staples. Probably a MFG cost-cutting move at the time.

For those that use Createx paints, do you or have you ever used a base first prior to applying color? For example, let's say you have a blue color that you want to restore but the hue of the old paint varies due to variations in exposure (mylar). Would you just use Createx blue or would you consider doing a white or blue base first, and then the color?

Or are Createx opaques so pigment rich that the base doesn't matter?

LOTR - large round ring insert is sunken on one side.

I have leveled raised inserts using Vid's guide and had good success.

I am terrified that attempting to raise this sunken insert so it's level with the playfield will have this result another LOTR owner had:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-lord-of-the-rings-journey-begins-members-club/page/12#post-3064623

What do I do with this to fix it correctly?

Thanks,

RussM

It sounds like that person just pushed on the insert without anything providing counter pressure... You could either attempt to physically move it by properly use a C clamp with a block on top to prevent the insert from just popping out completely. Or you could level the insert with drops of clear, though it is a pretty big insert to do that with -- I'll let more experienced folks chime in on that option. Final option is buy a full playfield protector

Thanks. You were right, the side was stapled on with 7 stables and they had pre-drilled holes for screws. I removed them and drilled holes for new screws, makes one wonder how much money they saved by that ?

You should be good with the opaque colors, particularly since you're not doing a color change. The main risk is to spray too thick instead of doing a few light coats.

I would use a white base under yellow, for any other color I think you'd be fine without. Same goes for any brand of paint I've used.

A white base is helpful. It doesn't have to be bright, stark white. A light mist will do. Keep your paint layers THIN. Thinner paint layers are less prone to lifting and do not express their edge as much when cleared.

Echoing both lb1 and polyacanthus comments. White under yellow only. And VERY thin coats only. With a blast of hairdryer heat set between each coat.

I appreciate the input, thank you.

If I am painting a large area (i.e., the white border on a JOKERZ!) will Createx blend fine as I do a small section by section job (even if I cure it)?

No issues blending white into white. Just make sure you feather one section into the other.

Not sure why you would be working section by section though.
When doing this kind of work, 80% if the labor is masking.
So mask the whole pf but the white and spray the whole area at once.
Dont forget:. Many many many thin coats and heat set all of them. Be patient and dont get lax and start making your coats thicker.

By the way, white, i find, is the hardest color to use in an air brush. The pigments are quite big and make the paint quite thick compared to the other colors. This constantly clogs your nozzle not to mention that this acrilic paint dries up pretty fast on the needle not helping the clogging issues at all. If its the first time you use createx white, don't get discouraged with that. You'll be clearing you airbrush quite often.
If possible, start with another color to get some practice.
Or test on scrap. Black sprays nicely, you can try out with that one first.
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Soo...Createx explicitly warns against heat curing, yet we're all still doing it?

The last restoration I worked on I did not heat cure. I set up a box fan and let it dry that way; while waiting a few minutes for curing time, I would work on whatever other things I could on the project. (Fixing broken solder joints, replacing lamp sockets, whatever.) There is nothing scientifically verifiable about my experience, but I had a ton of masking involving small, delicate areas, and didn’t have anywhere near the lifting problems I have had on other playfields. This could be me getting better/more disciplined about putting down very fine coats, or it could be that I’m being more thorough about scuff sanding. But it could also be that air curing allows the paint to adhere better. I’m disinclined to buck the advice of the manufacturer, but then again, Stern says to clean their playfields using freaking Novus, so clearly manufacurers’ advice isn’t always to be trusted...?

Createx has several lines of paint, which are you talking about?

https://creatextech.com/pdf/app-guides/Createx-Colors-Textile-Application-Guide.pdf

Right, good question. My experience is with Createx Airbrush Colors.
When i first started using these paints, I definitely had major issues with peeling. I corrected my technique with thinner coats and curing. Problem solved. But i cant really say which of my corrective actions really solved the problem. . I like to think its the combination of both...

My paints literally say on the bottle to heat set for curing... What are you talking about? Lol

Ok thanks... Makes sense.

I bought some of the Created Balancing Clear 4030 which supposedly helps adhesive and durability while also helping the flow of the paint.

I stopped applying heat as well. Learning to airbrush better and apply the paint super thin is the key to success. Applying heat while your vinyl mask is in place also increases the risk of increasing the bond between playfield and mask, thereby increasing the risk of pulling up precious layers of paint or clear.

Paint thin to win!