Addams Family Pinball Advice Needed

[daverob]

How hard is flame polishing?

The flame polishing itself is not really that hard, working up enough courage to take a propane torch to a perfectly serviceable (if a little scratched up) plastic or ramp is where the difficulty lies.

You need to put in some practice on something that isn't important if you burn it before you try it for real. Ideally an old cracked pinball ramp that is destined for the dumpster is the perfect thing to practise on, but otherwise get some old scraps of acrylic or PETG plastic and try it out on them. You can haze them up with some fine wire wool, then give them a good clean (to make sure you don't have any dirt or wire wool left on them as it will melt into the plastic), then pass the torch flame over them and watch what happens.

Best to start off going too fast, as going too slow is likely to result in more permanent damage and always let the plastic cool down fully between attempts. You only want to melt the surface of the plastic, and lots of quick passes with no cooling down time in between will allow the heat to soak into the middle of the plastic, and then it will become all floppy (which is not good!).

[kkentert]

The flame polishing itself is not really that hard, working up enough courage to take a propane torch to a perfectly serviceable (if a little scratched up) plastic or ramp is where the difficulty lies.

You need to put in some practice on something that isn't important if you burn it before you try it for real. Ideally an old cracked pinball ramp that is destined for the dumpster is the perfect thing to practise on, but otherwise get some old scraps of acrylic or PETG plastic and try it out on them. You can haze them up with some fine wire wool, then give them a good clean (to make sure you don't have any dirt or wire wool left on them as it will melt into the plastic), then pass the torch flame over them and watch what happens.

Best to start off going too fast, as going too slow is likely to result in more permanent damage and always let the plastic cool down fully between attempts. You only want to melt the surface of the plastic, and lots of quick passes with no cooling down time in between will allow the heat to soak into the middle of the plastic, and then it will become all floppy (which is not good!).

THANKS! But YIKES! Flame polishing is serious business!

That said, I'm going to give it a try. I've welded and soldered (iron and flames) as well as flame toasted plenty of things that I think I'd be pretty comfortable doing it.

[hanabi]

Here's a link to one of Docs posts and video regarding Flame Polishing

Pinball Restoration (Jurassic Park)

[takethecastle57]

I used to flame polish clear plastic edges for a living 1990-93 for aquarium filters .oxy-acetil torch . you have to do it just right or the products junk .

[slothappy144]

I used to flame polish clear plastic edges for a living 1990-93 for aquarium filters .oxy-acetil torch . you have to do it just right or the products junk .

Stop BEFORE you think it is good enough. it takes a second to cool.

Strange words I have learned to heed:
In pinball restore remember better is the opposite of good.
We have made plastic key fobs, etc in shop class and flame polished the edges to finish. BTW we used Bunsen burners to flame polish glass after we cut it in chemistry class back in high school. About 100 years ago.