I can elaborate more, to put this to rest. When the CAD file is done (by Mike P) each hole is programmed individually by hand and micrometer. An initial MDF "test" wood is cut. Then laid over the factory original (out of a game - meaning it had hardware on it and it lived in a real assembled game, with all the parts on it. We don't trust undrilled, undimpled, uninstalled NOS). On a light table, every hole is viewed through by eye. Small revisions are made to move holes to match the underlying original. A second "test" wood is cut on MDF. And so on.

Mike does this meticulously over many many days, slow and precise (It's crucial) and ends up doing 7 to 8 "test" boards, with smaller and smaller moves each time. The final board is so precise, you can clamp it together with the factory original, and look through every hole and they are perfectly matched, top top bottom, left to right, and the entire edge all the way around. Essentially, a perfectly matched clone. Only then is the cutfile considered official and final. Then it is passed on for production cutting on gameboard wood.

Any variations are with your original board. All our repro's are identical. Remember, originals were made by Lenc-Smith, Churchill, TAG, and Sun Process. Each had their own character with slight variations.

Swapping can be done by first-timers and novices, but it's not going to be flawless and easy for any virgin attemptors. People say it usually takes until your third time (or so) until it becomes a little breezier. All I can say is, accusing our holes of being in the wrong places really makes us shake our heads, knowing what is involved and how we develop the cut. Let's not go there, folks. Be patient, go slow, make judgment calls, and assemble thoroughly and carefully. Remember, on the factory line, your originals were manually drilled and thrown together very very quickly. It doesn't mean a swap is going to happen like that - especially when we PROVIDE the holes and don't sell you a board with no holes (which we can switch to if y'all want them that way, but I highly doubt it.)

Seeing as how this swap in this thread came together, it proves that you WILL be able to swap your Whirlwind. Thousands and thousands of playfields over the last 8 years, I haven't seen one of our playfields that couldn't be swapped. So don't garner any "fear factor" from any tribulations that may be mentioned by those meeting difficulties. It's not scary. It's part of swapping. Your game WILL go back together, and be gorgeous. That's the whole point.

Truthfully, everything discussed here could also happen with an NOS playfield swap, it just rarely (if ever) gets posted about because nobody pokes at original playfields. There's nobody to blame, be responsible, or read about it, because the factories are dead/history. Their work is considered official and biblical. The statement "the holes are in the wrong places" and NOS would never be uttered in the same sentence. Odd, isn't it.

KEVIN
Classic Playfield Reproductions
http://www.classicplayfields.com