Hit it with Naptha and it looked ok (sanded area didn’t stand out from the rest). First layer of clear down. I went with Createx UVLS Gloss and not 2pac auto clear is that I’m just after a clear
coat to protect the existing artwork before I paint.
I will definitely use 2pac once all the painting / colours are done).

You can see the sanded area distinctly from the rest. It actually looks like the UVLS clear didn’t adhere to the sanded area as much as the other areas.

So, my options are now to either:
1. Leave it be and just start painting (not my preference)
2. Sand the entire area that is wooden and hit it again with 2pac when I’ve finished all the painting
3. Use shellac on wooden areas

What do you guys think?

Also, I was a bit disappointed in the Iwata LPH-80. It’s an awesome airbrush however the 1.2 needle didn’t provide a wide enough fan for applying clear. I lost count of the number of passes I had to do.
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Curious about the lph80.
Have you tried adjusting the settings? Should have a fan of about 7 inches.
Was it set up right?

It absolutely wasn’t set up right haha
I should have played with the fan pattern

If it is water based clear, sometimes the areas that were thicker are whiteish and cloudy until it dries out more. I can’t really tell from your photo if that’s what is happening.

I’ll hit in again tomorrow after playing with the airbrush settings. It took wayyy too long with a narrow fan pattern. Would you suggest sanding with 400-600 grit before laying down colour?

Maple darkens under UV exposure. You can see how your sanded area looks more like the very edge. Needed the shellac to match the colour.

I do see it! So can I put the shellac directly over the clear? Or do I need to sand again then apply the shellac ?

Applying shellac over clear, from own experience , would not cut it. To resolve this You should , carefully , sand the whole wood area paying great attention not to remove any art. 400 to 500 grit would be fine. Then apply multiple LIGHT layers of shellac solution just to the lighter part where your problem was. you should manage to match very closely the damaged area with the rest of the wooden area. Now , in order to really make everything look the same , apply very very light solution of shellac on the whole wooden area. Pay great attention to areas that seem lighter and apply some more shellac there. The trick is to go light and multiple times. This way you will make the correction seamless.
A more "aggressive" approach is to sand the whole wood area until you get the same tone of wood , and then darken the color with some light layers of shellac , then lightly sand (500 ) and clear .

You can also buy shellac flakes of different colors and dial in a better match. I’ve had good results adding some amber flakes to get a more orange look to match older playfields.

does the clear attach well to the poly, what poly do you use,. Shopping for poly is like shopping for caulk. lol 1000 versions

awesome thanks,
would it be wise to do this on the shooter lane of more modern game, for example a 90s (lol modern haha, like me) or a newer Stern...
I have to do a shooter lane soon, that is in really good shape, just maybe a little bit of black stains from the ball but not much, I have never attempted painting a lane like HEP does to 'camouflage' the wood, I just have zero knowledge in colour matching and looking at all my options. I am also terrible with colour, they all look the same to me.

Ask a girl ... They have all the answers
Girls can recognize more colors than boys !

Thanks everyone (and Vid!). So what I took from that was 1. Sand back the clear I applied yesterday with 300-400 2. Apply the polyurethane 3. Sand with 220 when dry 4. Clear with 2 pac.

Sanded all wooden areas and then brushed on Oil Based Clear Poly. I’m still seeing a distinction between the ball path and everywhere else. I’m not sure if this will resolve itself when I lay down 2 pac clear after all the artwork is done. Damn hope so

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After sanding and before applying poly you should get an even tone on the whole wood area. Maybe more sanding was needed ?

Any suggestions what I can do about this?

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Resanded…. 120, 240 then 320. Then reapplied the polyurethane

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This is what always happened when I try this. The ball trail is so deep I have to remove a ton of wood, and it ends up looking splotchy anyway.

Comes out better if I blend it and fill, then hide with translucent paint like HEP does.

What paint do you use? I have seen HEP and looks great.
Is it a mix of white and brown?

I used a layer of candy, custom mixed to a wood tone. The candy lets the wood grain show through. I suspect this might be what HEP does but not sure. I've only done this for two playfields, and both times I had a guy at a body shop mix me up a little to match (a mistake because now he's gone and I don't know how to mix it).

When I did my Countdown, it had dirt ground into a deep ball trail, and I fixed that with solid paint touchups first to match the grain. Then the candy hid the repair great.

I found this much harder to do well than when you see HEP do it in his videos. I need to find a new source for the paint and practice on some scrap because I'd really like to start doing this again now that I have a better spray setup. I've been afraid to try it on my nice playfields.

I know mate, I feel like giving up haha

I tried the Naptha before I applied the poly and it looked fine

can you use the translucent createx to give it the same look that HEP gets? I want it to camouflage but still see the grain underneath

Here is one place he discusses his technique.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/7#post-4611432

Before doing anything drastic , why don't you locally apply shellac to the trail ?it is easier than trying to match colors with painting , if you don't like the result then just wipe the shellac away and proceed otherwise.

ahhh! that makes sense. Did not think of that!
Thank you

Please help! I was screwing in a post into my new Sorcerer playfield (CPR), and the post sheared off, leaving the threaded part in the wood!! The post on the right is what a new post looks like, the post on the left is my sheared off post. How do I get the broken threaded part of the post out of there??? I pre-drilled the hole before screwing in the post. I did notice this CPR playfield wood is harder than what I am used to. Please, help, I"m about to cry or scream or...

IMG_1387 (resized).jpeg

There are bits for this job that are hollow, juet big enough to drill around the screw.
You will then fill the hole with a dowel, and reinstall the post. I would explore replacing these with another option that attaches with a nut or tnut. Cleaner install and more reliable.

I am sure someone else will come out with the bits needed for the removal. I had the link but lost it.

Ironic this should come up just now. I only yesterday discovered that a High Speed I've own for 25 years has a similar problem. A previous owner broke the screw holding a plastic part, and "fixed" it by cutting a different plastic, doing a lame paint job on it, and mounting it using a different post. I'd always just assumed the plastic was replaced because the original broke, and finally got around to buying some reproduction plastics for the machine and discovered the broken screw when I went to install the new plastic. So I'm in the same boat, figuring out what to do.

Anyway...

I've never heard of the hollow bits described in the other reply. Would be great if someone could post a link to a supplier.

Other methods:

* Screw extractor. These are special tools, come in spiral- and straight-fluted varieties, used like a tap, but backwards. You have to drill out the interior of the screw first, with a small enough bit. Best to use a center punch on the screw first, to make sure the drill is centered and cuts out exactly the part you need. Once the screw is drilled out enough -- doesn't take much, just enough to get the extractor in -- you use the extractor, twisting it counter-clockwise onto the screw so it can turn the screw out (the spiral-fluted extractor has reverse cut on the flutes, so that it digs deeper into the screw as you turn it).

* Drill four holes directly adjactent to the screw, to make room for needle-nose pliers and to loosen the wood around it, then you can just pull the screw out. You will need to then select a large enough dowel, drilled a new hole just the right size for the dowel, glue the dowel in the hole, cut it flush with the playfield, and then once that's all dry you can start over drilling a new hole for the part that's supposed to go there. If done carefully, this can even be done from the topside of the playfield; mask around the area to work with tape, make sure you only drill into areas where the post will cover, and when it's all done, the post will hide everything.

* Variation on the above is to come at it from the bottom. This can be tricky if the screw doesn't penetrate all the way through the playfield, which of course is the case for most screws. If you can locate the screw's position with a high level of confidence, you can drill carefully into the underside of the playfield with a larger bit, stopping as soon as you hit the screw, and then from there you can use the "drill on the side" approach to get the screw out. Depending on how deep you had to go, you might not even have to fill the hole, because there will be enough solid wood at the top to hold the new screw. But if not, you can do the whole "drill a bigger hole, fill with a dowel" thing, and since you're coming from the bottom, the playfield will look like nothing happened. Just be careful to not drill too far; I suggest the old trick of marking the depth on the drill bit with masking tape.

Here are some web pages I found useful when I was researching my options:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/broken-screw-on-playfield.27550/
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/-nrSQi8PO0c/m/w8i0j2iHGQMJ
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/KwBfN1pJplM/m/Nn5YiqWCMiEJ

Same thing happened to me restoring my Meteor last year....busted a screw-in post right off in my brand new CPR playfield. I fretted over it for hours - thankfully, with the help of other pinsider posts, I got pointed to a solution tool that (after 3 days of shipping time) pulled out my sheered off post in seconds and I was back in business.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1979-stern-meteor-project/page/2#post-6423303

ALL IS NOT LOST ! This happens all the time.

Find a piece of steel, stainless or hard metal tubing that fits EXACTLY the diameter of the threaded piece in the wood on the inside of the tubing. Thin wall size is very important.

Cut a little single notch about 1/16" suare or triangular notch into the edge of the tube with a dremel to make a tooth. You can make 2 opposed notches if you want, but I dont find it necessary usually.

Chuck the tube into a drill motor, place it over the broken screw and run the motor BACKWARDS, until the screw is free.

Fill the hole with whatever epoxy filler you want, put in a new screw, or the next bigger screw size if available, or drill thru and use a t-nut or nut and washer for the machine threaded posts.

Very little damage (or none) to the playfield if done this way.

Luthiers use this process on million dollar instruments.

A set if these is sold somewhere on the net. Its a specialty item, not at lowes.
I posted it in this thread a long time ago, Vid might have a link.

I usually just make one up as needed.

I would try using a good quality drill bit... put masking tape around the area...
Drill down the middle of the post.. hopefully it would crumble...
I am experiencing the same problem... I used multiple size drills to do the holes and
used dry soap.. it is a wood lubricator. scrape the minipost threads against the soap then screw
into the wood hole... use caution... I hope this helps.

Brass tubing works really well for just a single screw.

Zero damage to the top of the playfield.

Either plug the hole from the top, or drill through and use a machine threaded post with a nut ot t-nut.

Its fast and easy and you dont have to fill and plug the bottom of the playfield when done.

Here is an example of screws broken off in hardwood:

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/NgjeBQAu

I just use a scrap of hardwood flooring sample (free at home depot) with a hole drilled into it as a guide.

You can put a piece of masking tape over the clear to reduce chipping and clamp it down and keep the wooden guide from leaving any scratches.

The key is to run the drill backwards and find a piece of tubing that fits the screw pretty snug.

I have used Roll-pins as an extractor, in a pinch, but they make too big of a hole most of the time.

The shoulder of the new post will hide the repair and you wont see it.

Thank you guys for all your replies on how to remove the broken threaded post from the playfield wood. It looks like the unscrew-ums is what I will try first. I am scared of the dowel method. It is comforting to know others have gone through the exact same thing and have been successful. I have to be careful as it is a broken in-lane post that is very visible and open (too bad it wasn't way in the back of the playfield or hidden under a plastic).

Added 50gm of this to 200-250ml methylated spirits (4 to 1 ratio). I stirred it, shaked it regularly and 24 hours later, most of it is still undesolved. Any ideas?

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Don't you use heat to melt the shellac? Wiki says to crush to fine powder then add
alcohol.

It is scary but once you do it once you realize how easy it is to fix this.
I recommend you scrap those screw in post and use a nut and washer. They are just a much better alternative for a post that gets banged 100% of the time. The screw in posts are weak and will bend, deform the wood, damage the hole etc.
Maybe this game plays in a way that is not an issue? I just dislike the screw in posts

That's the inlane divider, not going to get a lot of force on it. Screw in is fine. Any one that has the ability to get whacked directly by the flippers I'm all for the machine post as you say.

I do now drill the playfield holes almost to the size of the screw going into it, CPR's playfields have been using exceptionally hard wood for at least 10 years now. (Maybe for the cores where OEM would be softer).

Agreed, but I have seen them bent. Especially if he is now oversizing the hole, making the screw grab weaker it will have less stability. So unless he is going the extra mile and filling the hole, drilling and tnut or nut/washer is how I do it.

Yes, those are the exact tools for the job. I posted them here a long time ago.

they are basically a "toothed" roll-pin

If there isnt a perfect size available from them, certainly another roll-pin of a different size or brass tubing is available once you "get" the idea.

It similar to just using a piece of tubing, but more refined and very effective.

https://tltools.com/

I agree that the most sure fire method to ensure the post stays put long term is to now swap it out for one that attaches with a nut from below. Even with a hardwood dowel, the hole is going to be weaker than it would otherwise have been. Granted it isn’t getting slammed in the line of fire (any post that is should *definitely* not be wood threaded, I change them over all the time from factory), but a through-bolted connection will put the worry to rest for good.

I’m a recovering cabinet maker; whenever you pre-drill (and you should always pre-drill), make sure that the bit is the diameter of the core of the screw. The threads should be cutting a path but the body of the screw should not be getting any resistance. When in doubt, test it on a piece of plywood or hardwood scrap. It should drive comfortably without excessive force and when it’s seated it should be very firmly in place.
Not trying to make anyone feel dumb, not at all, just passing along something I learned in the cabinetry realm, it’s never steered me wrong.