(Topic ID: 33446)

Vid's Guide to Ultimate Playfield Restoration

By vid1900

11 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 8,788 posts
  • 803 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 37 hours ago by vid1900
  • Topic is favorited by 1,972 Pinsiders
  • Topic is sticky in its sub-forum

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

20240415_125716 (resized).jpg
PXL_20240404_002101962 (resized).jpg
PXL_20240404_002010342 (resized).jpg
THUMP BUMP HOLE ENLARGE1 (resized).JPG
THUMP BUMP HOLE ENLARGE2 (resized).JPG
IMG_3225 (resized).JPG
IMG_3141 2 (resized).JPG
image (resized).jpg
Pinside_forum_1762038_386370 (resized).jpg
IMG_3141 (resized).JPG
PXL_20240304_203555066 (resized).jpg
20240301_160448 (resized).jpg
20240301_131123 (resized).jpg
IMG_2646 (resized).jpeg
IMG_3299 (resized).jpeg
20240129_160756 (resized).jpg

Topic index (key posts)

143 key posts have been marked in this topic, showing the first 10 items.

Display key post list sorted by: Post date | Keypost summary | User name

Post #7 Playfield damage assessment. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #8 Insert damage assessment. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #34 How to sand your new inserts flat. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #35 Cleaning old glue out of the insert holes. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)


Topic indices are generated from key posts and maintained by Pinside Editors. For more information, or to become an editor yourself read this post!

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider lee.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#444 10 years ago

Thanks for doing all of your guides Vid.

I would like to add, however, that when you are telling people to mix up and use auto clear coat, that they should be prepping the area well, before they apply clear/paint,decals,etc. Novus contains silicone, and most people wax their playfilds. All of this needs to be well cleaned prior to applying clear. Scuffing of the surface may be required as well for proper adhesion.

Lots of people toy around with touching up paint and adding clear to pinball playfields. On occasion, IMO, some of these playfields are being permanently destroyed.

#447 10 years ago

The water slide decal might lift over the years as well. Especially if it is large. Doesn't matter what is on top of it.

11 months later
#1192 9 years ago

Not everything needs to be airbrushed. Brush touching can be an effective way to deal with a small areas such as this.

People with poor color matching skills often airbrush a lot as it is easier to hide their mismatched colors.

#1196 9 years ago
Quoted from TrainH2o:

I know Clay (Shaggy) uses Water Thin Super Glue, in his This Old Pinball videos. I've never seen it in the store.

NEVER use Super Glue on a pinball machine. It is not a permanent repair as one day it becomes neither super or glue.

4 weeks later
#1266 9 years ago

Automotive clear coat is extremely volatile and will migrate. More fan power may help your situation. Keep the area upstairs well ventilated until the smell subsides.

1 month later
#1538 9 years ago
Quoted from MinnPin:

and the fastest hardener

Here's your problem. I'm not sure why a fast hardener is being recommended. Hardeners are designed to work in specific temperature ranges. A hardener that is too fast will start to cure before the solvents have time to escape. Solvent popping can and will occur.

#1543 9 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

The usable temp range is 70-85*F, same for all three hardener speeds.

Hey Vid,
I'm not trying to diss you here, but someone has been feeding you bad information and you seem to be passing it on to everyone here. Paint manufactures go through great lengths to produce many different products that work in a variety of different conditions. They make all of these products so that the end user gets good results. I know of no universal temperature range hardener(at least that I would use) being made. PPG doesn't make one. You may get away with a very light coat over your inserts and decals, but after that you should switch out to the proper temperature range product.

Here is the product Shopline catalog from PPG;
Clearcoat
JC660 Rapid Spot / Panel Clearcoat
Hardener
JH6670 Fast Topcoat Hardener 55-65°F (13-18°C)
JH6680 Medium Topcoat Hardener 75-85°F (24-29°C)
JH6690 Slow Topcoat Hardener 85°F+ (29°C+)

#1545 9 years ago

You do have a very good theory, but in practice people without a short wave IR curing lamp may have troubles with solvent popping.

#1551 9 years ago
Quoted from MinnPin:

Lee, you seem very tuned in the technical aspect of the product, but I would tend not to argue with the man who has been using said product for this very specific use for some time now and with a great deal of success.

When it comes down to it, in this forum, it only matters how the 2pac works for clearing a playfield -- with glue variances, material variances, paint variances and decals.

I am not arguing, I am trying to be helpful. I have worked using automotive paint for a living for the last 20 years and have attended numerous workshops at paint manufacturers technical training facilities. Something that most people that paint probably never get a chance to do. I also clearcoated my 1st PF around 16 years ago.

Just trying to be helpful.

1 month later
#1688 9 years ago

This looks to me as if the playfield was not prepped/cleaned properly instead of the painters gun not being clean.

#1702 9 years ago
Quoted from mrgregb123:

What is the proper method for cleaning the playfield before clearcoating it?

Vid's guide(s) are a great resource. He has a great depth of knowledge as well as a knack for sharing all of it. He makes things look all easy peasy for someone with no knowledge to try to do. That being said, sometimes it looks too easy. Questions like "Do I need to sand before applying clear coat?" make me wonder how many playfields may be ruined by well intentioned folks who are clueless. Clear can make a playfield look wonderful, but it will only last if the foundation has been laid and every step of the way is done correctly.

Simply wiping some Naphtha on a playfield is probably not going top cut it if the playfield has been subjected to a lot of silicones. Many of the wonder wax products contain silicone or teflon or one of it's slippery cousins.(One of the many reasons that I use only pure carnuba paste wax on my games.) The engineers that designed them worked hard to be able to make a claim of "Lasting up to a year" so a quick swipe with a rag may not actually clean all of the product away.

Let's think of how one would wash a dish or a floor with soap and water. Simply taking some soap on a rag and rubbing a soiled dish or the floor will not clean the dish or the floor. It will just leave a smeared slurry of dirt and soap. You need to follow up with something after loosening the dirt to remove it. Please note that this example is a bit different because dish/household soap is a surfactant which allows the dirt to be carried away by the water. However it is an example that anyone should be able to grasp.

Naphtha, and other silicone and wax removers, are great cleaning agents because they evaporates and leave behind no residue(or residue that does not mix well with clearcoat. However, when it evaporates, what may I ask is left behind???? Not everything is going to be picked up by a tiny piece of dampened cloth when the cloth has already been saturated with cleaning agent.

For my final clean before paint I start with two clean lint free cloths. I spray one with Naphtha or other cleaning agents(there are some water based products that contain much less VOC's). It does not need to be dripping wet, but not too dry. Wipe in one direction only with the damp rag in one hand followed immediately behind it with the dry rag in the other hand. Keep moving to a clean section of cloth and/or change to new cloths often(both wet and dry). Do not wipe back and forth on your final wipe down. Sometimes it may be necessary to scrub back and forth during an initial clean to help your product get into all of the nooks and crannies, but never do so on your final pass.

Pretty flippin long winded post on such a simple task as wiping off a playfield, but I am a firm believer in doing things right and proper prep work is truly key to having a good end product. The shooting of the clear is the easy part. Doing things right is the hard part and that is exactly what Vid tries to show us all of the time.

#1708 9 years ago

Your local auto body shop paint supplier will have lots to choose from.
3M makes a product that is mostly Naphtha if you cannot find Naphtha in your area;
http://3mcollision.com/3m-general-purpose-adhesive-cleaner-08984.html

The water based ones were produced to help reduce VOC's, but I prefer the hard core stuff especially for playfields.

1 month later
#1840 9 years ago

Don't use a drill!

Wrap some tape around the bit to create a handle and use your fingers to spin the bit gently.

Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
 
$ 27.50
Boards
Pinball Haus
 
$ 9.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
 
$ 27.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 22.00
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
arcade-cabinets.com
 
3,000 (OBO)
Machine - For Sale
Walnut Creek, CA
$ 179.00
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
 
$ 18.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
 
$ 76.00
Lighting - Backbox
Arcade Upkeep
 
From: $ 9.99
Eproms
Matt's Basement Arcade
 
$ 9.99
Eproms
Matt's Basement Arcade
 
$ 40.00
Cabinet - Other
Rocket City Pinball
 
$ 18.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 18.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 95.00
Cabinet - Sound/Speakers
Pinball Mod Co.
 

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider lee.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration?tu=lee and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.