You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider lonzo.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Quoted from Superchicken:Yeah, I saw that one. The data sheet said it was specifically for superglue type products. The 3M Tape Primer 94 looked to be a more generically compatible adhesive primer.
That one sounds like it is for use with the 3M adhesive tapes.
Quoted from ArcadiusMaximus:Thanks for the tips. Yea I know the 8x10 will be rough so I'm going to do a test board to see how it goes. Any tips for squeegeeing water out of larger decals? I was going to wrap my rubber squeegee with a paper towel but if you have other suggestions I'm all for it. The last thing I want to do is mark the decal with streak marks or rip it by pressing too hard.
I sure Vid has some good info in this but I don't use a squeegee. I uses wet towel to work the bubbles out. I keep looking at the side reflections to see any bubbles. As long as you clear your decals good enough you shouldn't have any trouble with the ink coming off. Just be gentle with them.
As far as size. The more complex the cut of the decal the harder it is to work with. If it is a simple circle or square you can go bigger and it's not to bad. Just don't get in a hurry and make sure the decal is ready to come off the paper.
Quoted from 2RustyBalls:A guide would imply Vid is going to show us how to do a playfield restoration. Snap a picture of a playfield does nothing. Why not show how you've sanded, repaired, repainted and cleared coated? Where are all the playfields you've done with before and afters like HEP? Starting to wonder...
You must not know how to read and have a vision problem. There are before and after pictures all over this thread starting with the very first page. Not every playfield has the same problems so many different examples are used to show all the different techniques. If he only use one playfield from start to finish you would only get to see those problems fixed. All your doing is trying to create drama just like your post on the HEP forum. If you don't like this "guide" then go create your own on how to clean 2 rust balls.
I have learned a lot from this forum. Keep up the great work Vid.
Play Pinball
I use Createx paint as well and I have had issues with the paint drying darker than it is mixed. It may not do it as much as other acrylic paints but it does change. Some people say that it dries the same color as mixed but that is not my experience. I just keep working it until I get a good dry color. Frustrating but no other option at this point.
Quoted from Hatska1:Here's a cheap way to make a spray booth. Easy to disassemble when not needed.
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Paint-Booth-in-Your-Garage
Scroll down and you can see my portable paint booth. Works great.
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/back-to-the-future-restoration/page/2
Quoted from MinnPin:Vid or any of you awesome folk with experience,
There are a couple of small areas on my machine that are too detailed to airbrush, so I purchased a nice hand-scanner and decided to go the water-slide decal route. I am already good with Photoshop, so fixing the art is a non-issue. I did three specific areas and then brought them to FedEx Office to have them color laser printed onto the decal material.
Obviously I will finish any touch-up airbrush painting before I add decals. Also, these are NOT insert decals, they are decals for the surface of the playfield. Can anyone give me a run down of the process for applying these, starting with how the playfield should be prepared?
I would imagine I can't place these down on smooth paint. But how should the surface be? How see through (or translucent) are these decals going to be? Will I see color and details through them once I apply them? I've got really high end (900dpi) decals made, they look awesome, and of course I could reprint them if necessary, but I really just want to get it right from the start.
Thanks!
Did you have them printed on clear or white? If you did clear then you will be able to see everything through them. This is how I touch up a faded cabinet. It brings all the colors back out. If you printed then on white then you should be good except that you will see a white outline of where you cut. I try an cut on a black line and then carefully paint the white outline.
Are you going to clear before you put them on?
Quoted from Leo13:So in summary you won't use a decal for this fix, right ?
I've never done air brushing in my life, so it sounds scary to me to do it on a TZ playfield.
Also, in the blue area, there are some white dots I would prefer to reproduce to have the best result possible, and painting for this tiny details sound almost impossible to me.
Thanks for the advice on naphta/bondo.
That's one of the great things about clearing a playfield before you start to work on it. If you don like how it is turning out then you can just sand the paint off at start over.
That's a bummer. I got mine from zero tools and it was a lot cheaper. Although two ounces should last forever.
Also it seems that some people will confuse a "coat" with a "session"
I may not be doing it right but I learned from a guy that used to paint cars. For each clear coat "session" I do I start with a mist coat and then I put 2 normal coats on. These coats are usually 15 min apart and the clear is tacky with no strings when you touch it. A lot of the clear is block sanded off and then repairs are done. I may do this 4 times for a playfield with all the different paint and decals that need to be applied. I also dont wet sand until I am finished with the last session and sanding for that perfect look. I dry sand between sessions.
I have had great results but I look forward to learning more from this guide.
Vid,
If you use water slide decals for the insert text, wont the black be washed out when a light is on?
Thanks
Quoted from vid1900:You can turn the "darkness" knob on the inside of the laser printer up as dark as you want.
Ok. I have only used Inkjet. Any transparent decal paper has always had transparent ink once the white paper was gone. I will have to research the laser. I have used black vinyl several times with good results.
Quoted from vid1900:Inkjet fades really fast.
Laser you will find is the way to go.
Will the inkjet still fade under Auto clear? I thought it had UV protection. I have a playfield with inkjet decals on it that was auto cleared a couple of years ago and still looks as good as the day I did it. Of course all machines are in a pretty dark room as well. I am still going to look in to a Laser printer for future decals.
Vid, Maybe you can shed some light on where I went wrong.
I have a playfield that has very yellowed "white" areas that are under all the plastics. I have not airbrushed on a playfield before so I thought this would be a be a good time to start. I cleared the playfield using Auto clear and sanded the entire surface with 320 grit paper in preparation for the artwork. Here is what I did.
1. Layed Friskit out and traced around all the white areas. Even all the black circles around holes and lights.
2. Sprayed with undiluted Createx white yesterday.
spray.JPG
3. Used a heat gun(not sure how long to use it to make sure it is cure)
4. Needed 3 coats to completely cover so coats two and three were sprayed and dried the same.
5. Waited a little while and then tried to pull the Friskit off and the paint seemed rubbery and would stick to the mask in some places and start to lift from the playfield. I decided to stop and wait till today to pull the rest off.
lift.JPG
6. The paint was the same way and was sticking to the mask and lifting from the playfied. I even picked a corner of the paint up with my finger nail and was able to pull a 2 inch strip off before it stretched and broke.
pull.jpeg
This was not localized to one area. All painted areas were like this. So I took all the paint off mainly by just rubbing my fingers aggressively over the edge and "rolling" the paint off. I also was able to put a piece of tape on the paint and pull it off when taking the tape off. From the posts I have seen you are supposed to be able to paint multiple colors and mask over paint but obviously this would not have worked in this case even if I would have been able to get the mask off without lifting the paint.
So I guess these are my questions.
1. Did I not sand aggressively enough to give the paint a bite?
2. Did I put the paint on too thick and if so, how do you get coverage without doing so? Also is it better to spray 1 thicker coat or many really thin coats?
4. How hot do you need to get the paint and for how long (Heat gun vs Hair dryer). Friskit seems to be susceptible to shrinking with heat.
3. Did I not dry enough between coats which made the final product not able to cure due to the multiple coats?
5. How long before you remove the Friskit? When I mask a backbox with oil paint, I wait till it is completely dry and remove it and it comes off perfectly. Is there a difference in use between oil and acrylic? After 24 hours it also left some glue residue on the playfield that was easily cleaned with alcohol.
Did I make some other mistake that I am not thinking of?
The white area would have looked great so I am excited to get this figured out but right now the playfield looks exactly the same as it did 2 days ago and I have lost many hours and have several blisters on my fingers from taking the paint off. I don't want to do it again until I figure out what the crap went wrong.
Thanks for any input you have.
Well. It looks like it was just not fully dried paint. I did all the other stuff you mentioned as gas as cleaning and prep etc.
For a layer of paint. How many typical coats do you spray? And do you do them all at once? Spray heat spray heat etc?
Also, do you thin the paint at all?
Thanks so much for all the help you provide.
Great info.
Second attempt was much better but based on your feedback I need to practice on just the right ount of paint to put down each coat. I did the orange on the shooter lane since it was a pretty small amount and the only orange I needed to do. I think I did 5 coats because there was heavy ball marking (swirls) through the area. But there were probably extremely conservative because of what happened with the white. And a lot of heat between coats. Worked perfect though so I am learning. .
Only difference on these is I used Oramask and my vinyl cutter instead of Friskit.
You can see the heavy ball track on the lower left of the lower orange slice. The others probably didn't need as many coats.
My biggest problem is keeping the gun clean. I had to take the fun apart after the third coat because no paint was flowing. Any tips?
I have a HF gun that pulls the paint through the gun. Pretty sure it's just the paint drying inside the gun. When I spray oil based paints I never have an issue. But they take forever to dry.
Do you recommend the type of gun In your picture?
Vid, couple of questions.
1. If you had a choice would you use water slide decal or get vinyl printed for a large section in the middle of the playfield. I have the art done and ready to go with all the colors matched to my printer so water slide is ready to go. I could see a problem with color matching getting vinyl printed especially for colors that are on the decal are close to the original color on the playfield.
2. I bought a set of printed insert decals from a well known source. I planned on putting them on wet to make sure there are no air bubbles and placement in perfect. I know your recommend decal solution with water slide but what solution do you recommend for this? Vinyl application or decal application or something else?
3. Do you prefer to paint insert text or use thin vinyl? I have used vinyl and have had great results but sometimes it takes two sessions of clear (shoot, sand and shoot) to get it perfectly smooth. I have insert text that needs to go down before my decal. It is hidden by the decal until the light turns on and then the window lights up and the black text is shown from underneath. I am a little concerned that there might be a slight elevation change in the clear after I spray and not sure if that will show up when I place the decal.
Thanks
Vid.
Anything wrong with shooting an area of the playfield with auto clear witb an airbrush to get it ready for decal application etc if you plan to clear the entire playfield later? I need to paint and decal but obviously I can't do them on top each other.
When you fill with an eye dropper do you mean fill and let dry and sand before the next coat or do you mean fill to add clear and then spray the rest of the playfield immediately?
I have also had an issue with clearing over Createx paint. Sometimes is appears to gas a lot over the paint. Looks like little micro bubbles or something. Only happens over the paint and is most prevalent over black. It is usually not an issue as it is normally not my last clear so I sand and it is fine with the next clear application.
Any thoughts?
You talk a out sanding inserts with 1000 grit before installing insert decals. When you sand an insert it clouds up and then looks perfect when shot with clear. How does this work when the insert is covered with a clear decal with text? The clouded I sent is covered before clear so how does it look? Does the moist application take care of that cloudy look? Also will it make a difference if it is a water slide or adhesive vinyl insert decal?
Also when you clear, do you just spray one mist coat and then one regular coat? I have seen a mist coat and then 2 regular coats with allowing to dry to tacky touch (20 min or so) between coats. Is one way better than the other?
I understand the "you don't want too much clear on the playfield" idea. I may actually shoot a play field 3 or 4 times before I am done depending on how bad it is, but a lot of the clear is sanded off between shoots. Kinda like HEP does. (although I have about a 1/10 of the skill of those guys ). I do minor touchup and shoot the playfiled to seal it up. Then I do as much artwork as I can and then shoot again. Then I might do decals and other artwork and shoot again. May not be the best way to do it but I am learning.
I also do not lose sleep over things that will be covered up.
And just to clarify my question about the inserts. The sanded area is underneath the decal but it still turns clear after you shoot it?
The two decal thing is a good idea. I have had that problem before but have have not tried that. Do you do it at the same time or clear between decals?
Is there any disadvantage to shooting two coats with 20 or so minutes between coats? Maybe you shoot one coat heavier. I am still learning but I have been shooting a mist coat to lock all new work and then 2 coats allowing it to dry to tacky touch with no strings. I learned from a buddy that used to paint cars. I then sand it down and do any other work that needs to be done. Or if it was the last application I will wet sand and buff.
From my experience. For some reason, matching grey is very difficult. Hope you have better luck than I am. I am still working on it. Almost any other color I have been able to match but grey sucks. Lol
For the Bride of Pinbot guy, I will let vid give the professional advice but the very first playfield I ever auto cleared I did the exact same thing you did except I didn't sand first. (Because I didn't know what I was doing. Lol)
I sanded the best I could without messing up the paint. I shot the playfield and had a ton of fisheyes. After it dried I sanded it and eye dropped the fisheyes and cleared again. The playfield looks amazing now with no hint of my mistakes.
I was using another brand of clear so I cannot comment on any adverse reactions it may or may it have.
You might have to do some leveling since the wear areas are probably lower than the rest of the playfield so you will probably have to shoot it again.
I am not responsible for anything I just said.
Quoted from radium:I've used that 2-part spray clear. To give you an idea of how great it is, I'm setting up a spray booth in my garage and buying a 60-gallon compressor.
Slow down and do some homework before you try anything.
I agree. Here is my booth. Takes about 30 minutes to set up. If painting is all your doing then 60 Gallon is overkill but rather have to much than not enough. I have a 27 gallon and it works great.
image.jpg
Quoted from asay:Not yet, I'm definitely going to give the flour a shot though.
Just curious, what issues did you have with it?
Don't wait too long. The glue will harden and make it much more difficult.
Quoted from MT45:Vid... probably not but will this compressor work for clearcoat with Harbor Freight gun? 21 gallon, cast iron, fits in my car? And on sale $165 this week at HF.
1407602992564.jpg 217 KB
That's what I have and it works fine. Make sure you break it in as the manual says.
Quoted from Anth:The thread police have arrived. Everybody scatter!
And I am pretty sure that someone has said that before so if he would have read the thread he would have known that.
Quoted from asay:Well I read all Vid's posts in the thread and he hadn't responded to the discussion about spraymax, which is why I missed it. I did a search for my other 2 questions and no one else asked them. I don't think I was disrespectful/off topic by asking about mylar, alternative clearcoat types, or whether everything needs to be stripped for flouring....but I guess I'll make a new thread for every little question I have in the future
I was actually talking about the guy that told people to read the thread, not you.
Did you really mean "a 1/4 drop" of liquid dish soap or was that a typo?
I'm not even sure how you would do that.
Vid,
I have a decal question for you. I have a larger area in the center of the playfield that I am putting a waterslide decal. I decided to cut it up into smaller sections so it is more manageable. I have the first decal applied and it looks great. My question is how long should I wait to apply the second decal. The decals will all be "touching" each other but there should be no overlap. Just worried about the new water messing up the dried decal but it seemed like putting 4 wet decals next to each other and trying to get them all flat and positioned seemed like a nightmare. Or should I airbrush clear over each one before I move on to the next one?
The playfield will be getting a full clear coat if that makes a difference. I have already cleared it during the restoration and will have to do it again. So I am not worried about spot clearing. I know that is not something that looks good if nothing else is done.
Thanks
Any advice on decals not sticking very well. I let decals dry for 6-7 hours and when I go back it takes almost nothing to get them to start lifting. For instance if I want to trim one with an exacto knife it takes nothing for the decal to come up. I have also lost decals by just blowing air over the playfield to blow the dust off. I am using a popular paper and am even putting some Elmer's glue in the water to help adhesion. I am worried about larger decals delaminating over time after I clear coat.
Any advice?
I am using pretty new paper from Papilio. The instructions only mention water so that's what I used. So do you soak them in water and then put the Microset on the surface before you out the decal on? Can you "re activate" a decal once it comes up?
The surface is clear that has been sanded with 320 grit.
I have some decal mounting solution but it says nothing about what is in it and it doesn't say anything about setting. I put it on all around the edges that came up when I trimmed. Kinda got sticky as it dried. No idea if it is the same stuff or not. I also put some all over the rest of the decals and edges and let it soak for a bit and then wiped the decals down.
If they stay down well enough to clear then will I be ok? Seems like I remember you saying the clear kinda melts into the decal. I really dont want to do this again as it looks so good right now.
I will definitely pick some of that setting solution up and I will sand the decal areas with 1000 grit next time.
Quoted from vid1900:I'm excited for you to smell the MicroSet
Its the little things.
Quoted from vid1900:I'm excited for you to smell the MicroSet
Man, reek is the correct word.
Vid,
I did a search through your thread on color matching and the only reference you made was a paint match in the sunlight. I am having a hard time matching a gray decal and was hoping you could help. For those following my restoration, this will look familiar.
I have a white painted area in the center that will be a smoke decal printed on clear waterslide decal paper. The gray color changes with different light so I am not sure what to do. Here are three different pictures of the same decal.
playfield sitting at the opening to the garage on a sunny day but the sun is not shining directly on the playfield.
garage.JPG
Here is the same decal in my work area in the garage with the door closed and the garage and work area fluorescent lights on.
Fl.jpg
Same decal with the garage door closed and normal incandescent bulbs from the garage opener and a floor lamp and the fluorescents are off
In.jpg
Kind of stuck and don't know how to proceed. I guess its gonna kinda suck to have the machine looking great and then suck in different lighting.
"Sorry, you can only look at that one with the lights off"
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks
Quoted from vid1900:Gray is a tough one, sometimes you have to add Yellow or Purple to match it.
One option is to scan the graphics and print a black only decal on clear paper. Then paint your gray on the playfield all the way up to some solid features. Then put your black decal over the gray.
Any idea why the color is changing on the decal with the different light?
Quoted from vid1900:Light can act like a filter, depending on it's purity.
Think of sunlight at noon being the most pure, then think of a sunset being orange.
Now think about a flashlight with a blue bulb shining on a blue wall (looks blue), now think about the same blue flashlight shining on a red wall (looks black).
So outdoors your gray matches in the pure light, but indoors with "warm" sorta yellow lighting, you notice that the yellow in one of the grays is emphasized and now stands out.
That's why when you touch up a wall in your house, you paint the whole wall up to the corners of the room. If you do a "spot" touch up, you might notice it under different light.
Makes sense but I guess I don't understand why the decal is the only thing changing color and not the playfield gray. I guess its the pigments acting differently. Will the clearcoat change any of these properties?
Thanks
Vid,
I went ahead and got a laser printer for my decals. Couple of questions.
1. Do you have to clear the decals printed on laser before you put them in water.
2. What brand of laser decal paper do you recommend?
Thanks
Quoted from MinnPin:A question, which maybe destroys all of the hope I broadcast in my last message (hopefully not).
My first coat of clear has been drying for 6 hours or so. It doesn't look mirror shiny like the Bride of Pinbot pics above or some Funhouse ones posted recently. It looks evenly dimpled, like it has goose bumps (over all of it). Granted this is the first coat, but is that wrong or messed up?
I wet sanded and dry sanded thoroughly with 800 grit. I did two thorough wash-ups with Naptha before clearing. Then I filled my cupped inserts and a short while later shot clear at about 45psi. Went back and forth over the entire PF maybe twice.
Vid will have an "official" answer for you but it sounds like not enough clear causing an eggshell finish. Also not sure about your pressure. I know all guns are different but that seems high. My gun uses 12-14 psi.
Quoted from vid1900:Just turn the bit by hand, you won't go too far.
Don't use that bit for anything other than playfields, because if it gets dull, it won't cut without chipping.
What is the size of bit you use for most holes?
Quoted from La_Porta:Actually, what he recommended to me was to insert fill first, then spray your first coat. After having just filled them, it makes sense to me why.
I tried that once but when I sprayed, it pushed a lot of the clear out of the insert. I prefer to fill 15 min after I spray my last coat. But I'm no professional.
Quoted from vid1900:Grey is the hardest color to match, so try not mess with it unless you need too.
Looks like only Stampede needs a decal, the rest look easy fix.
Omg, you are not kidding. Grey sucks. Lol
Quoted from La_Porta:Well, I did the wet sanding, polishing, and waxing last night. I certainly brought down the high spots and made everything uniform. However, I never really seemed to get rid of all the sanding tracks for some reason. I didn’t skip any grits. Maybe I didn’t buff long enough? If it’s stuck like this, I’m fine with it: I think ittl look good when installed. From what ou said, Vid, eventual ball swirl is inevitable, right? Isn’t this basically what that will look like?
How long has it been since you cleared? I let my playfields sit for several weeks after the last spray before I sand and buff. Before that it seems like the clear is to "soft" and will "scratch" even when wiping with a clean cloth or removing wax. Once I started waiting a while my results were much better. But I'm no professional.
Quoted from pinheadpierre:Evercoat Edge 2.1 102740 base with 102744 medium catalyst. I got it from a local auto body paint store.
Is this the first time you have used this clear?
What is the mix ratio? I would get a real mix cup from the place you bought it instead of the little cups. They have markings on them for all the different ratios available.
Something seems off here. I have cleared many playfields and I have never seen anything like that on a playfield that has been sitting 3 weeks. But I'm also not a professional.
Please learn about the stuff first. Can be very dangerous if precautions are not taken. Awesome stuff, just need to be careful.
Quoted from McSquid:Vid,
I've seen you recommend splitting large waterslide decals into several smaller decals. How big do you normally make your pieces? I'm redoing a Bally playboy center area. I sanded the art off and am planning on airbrushing white and decaling over it, but I only have experience with doing insert sized decals in the past.
Here is a link to the post in my Rire restoration that covers the center building area that might help you. One of the tricks I used was to use cold water. When I use warm water the decals would stretch as I put them on. With cold, they went on perfect. I also prep the area with decal setting solution to help adhesion.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-fire-restoration/page/3#post-1960065
Quoted from Walamab:Has anyone ever used a waterslide decal to repair a small portion of cabinet art? I'm thinking I could do this to fix the fade of the guy in the cryo on the sides of the Demolition Man cabinet. I realize it will be very be thin and prone to more damage...
Any other thoughts?
Here is a small thread I did several years ago showing some repairs on cabinets that did get completely restored. There is a mix of water slide and vinyl fixes.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/front-cab-art-reproduction-and-fade-fix
Quoted from La_Porta:Many thanks, everyone!
I've got a play field restoration type question now though: so, my FP got a few hundred plays on it at the show. It exposed a weakness in my repairs: The ball trough to shooter lane area that the ball hits, I filled it in with epoxy putty as filler, painted, then cleared it. Apparently, the putty does not hold up well after a few hundred poundings on it from the ball trough:As you see, the repair has crumbled under repeated bashing, but the overlying strip of clear is holding it together. Obviously, this will not stay together forever and needs to be repaired. I already took the step of ordering a protector from Cliffy that I will place over it so it won't happen again. However, I am not one to half-a*s things, and I want to repair the field underneath properly. I know that "spot-clear" does not work per your earlier posts. So, what should I do? Use bondo instead after opening the wound more, then sanding level? Or is there something better and more cosmetically appealing that you would suggest?
When I got my JP the inside was beat up just like yours. Mine was caused by the curve that is supposed to guide the ball out of the trough being bent back. That was slowing the ball you pop up and hit the top of the guide and slam straight down on the inside part of the shooter lane and chew it up. I adjusted the guide so it now curves out like it should and hits the metal plate on the outside and then sits nicely in the lane.
I used an epoxy putty to fix mine and with almost 700 plays at TPF there is not a scratch on it. Mine was cleared with autoclear but the only other thing I did was put a very small piece of Mylar over the repair because I just wanted the extra protection. If the ball is launching properly then I don’t think it would be required but I wanted a little insurance.
I don’t think there is much that would stand up to direct ball hits in a corner very well so I think I would watch very closely to the ball eject and see what it is doing and then try and make an adjustment if possible to keep the ball from slamming the edge.
Quoted from La_Porta:Ok here is the video of the ball coming out from a few angles. The thing really has cratered into a hole to the wood now, as can be seen in the attached picture. I know I need to fill it in, just what will look/be best I don't know.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tmczc1fje7fed6c/MVI_4114.MOV?dl=0
It doesn't appear to be going across the shooter lane. Just seems to be popping out and rolling over the edge. Of course I am just talking out loud as I don't have anything to compare it too here. Have you looked in the manual to make sure the coil is the right size?
Quoted from TopMoose:Doing some quick online research, it looks like Finish One is a 2PAC system. Do you use FC710 with FH611 fast hardener? The spec sheet says it air dries in 4 to 6 hours.
How many coats to you typically use?
How do you find it reacts with waterslide decals? (Omni161 will sometimes melt them right off.)
I use the medium hardner. I have used it with insert decal, vinyl and water slides and have never had an issue with any of them. I typically spray a mist coat and then wait 15 minutes. Then I spray a normal coat wait 15 minutes and then spray a final coat. I usually wait 24 hours to block sand. A lot of the clear is sanded off and then I work on the artwork/repairs and repeat the clear process. The number of times I have to clear depends on how in depth the damage was. Sometimes you can’t do everything at once. On the final clear I will do a light sanding after 24 hours and then let it sit for a couple of weeks to let the shrink back finish. Then I sand it out buff it.
Quoted from kilmarnock1350:Fair enough!
Here you go.
Bally NGS. The original art around pops was heavily damaged from mylar removal. I recreated the art in photoshop, printed on white waterslides and put them down. Several very light coats of 2PAC as I always do.... however, after a couple of heavier coats, I got this bubble underneath.
I haven't cut it yet to see if it pulled the original art from the playfield. I sanded between each coat and this was sandwiched between layers of clear.
I don't know why/how I got this bubble?
Is is at all common with WS decals?
Thanks!
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Just curious if you used any decal setting solution. I have several decals that are probably about that size on my Fire and have never had an issue. I’ve used water slides several times. I would be curious to know if the decal came up or the later of clear below it. I know how much work went into that. Sucks.
Vid, I have a question about injecting ghosting inserts with clear. Obviously there was something that made the original clean not “stick” what is the probability that these will ghost again I the future. I have a future project that has ghosting on probably 75% of the inserts. My original plan was to just cut all the insert decals off and redo them. Just wondered how it would work long term to I ject them all. Save me a lot of work on the insert decals.
Quoted from vid1900:Usually they ghost when the insert moves, that's why we epoxy the inserts down before fixing the ghosting.
The next most popular reason is when someone pulls Mylar upwards, rather than back upon itself. This is a very unnatural stress on the clear, so it often lifts right off the plastic.
As long as there is no movement, the clear should stay stuck.
Will it last forever? Who knows. These games were only supposed to last 3 years....
That’s a good point. The inserts are flat but the Mylar was taken off before I got it so maybe that is what caused it. I might give this a try since I can always cut them out later.
Quoted from vid1900:Bad mix ratio
Gun contaminated with "fish eye reducer"
Bad 2PAC
Trap on air compressor full
Shop rags contaminated with dryer sheets
Mixed in reactive plastic cup
?
So do you not recommend fish eye reducer? I have used it for years with no issues.
Quoted from ktownhero:I'm planning on getting my first coat of clear on a JOKERZ this weekend... The playfield is a bit bowed though, is that something I should try to remedy prior to clear coating? It's noticeable but goes away when the side rails are back on -- Should I try to clamp it down across the length before clearing or just clear as-is and reassemble as usual? I know clear has a little flex so I'm sure it's ok, but would appreciate confirmation. Thanks!
EDIT: The bow technically makes it impossible to fully level the playfield
I built a box to hold my playfield while I clear. I supports the sides all the way down thus flattening the playfield.
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider lonzo.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
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=lonzo 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.