Done with my second playing field replacement with step-by-step pdf

[emmadog]

Wow! I'm extremely impressed with both your quality of work and this PDF file.
I just have one recommendation and that is to cover the playfield with Mylar. After going through all that work it's cheap insurance to protect the play field. Granted, our machines aren't in heavily used commercial settings but I don't know how well unprotected vinyl will hold up. Plus if you ever have to remove a feature or something with a tool and slip, that soft vinyl will be gouged.
In fact, mylar is used on high-wear areas on many pin balls. A 3 mil adhesive sheet big enough for a pachinko costs about 10 bucks and won't yellow over time. Something to consider.

[cardwwi]

Wow! I'm extremely impressed with both your quality of work and this PDF file.
I just have one recommendation and that is to cover the playfield with Mylar. After going through all that work it's cheap insurance to protect the play field. Granted, our machines aren't in heavily used commercial settings but I don't know how well unprotected vinyl will hold up. Plus if you ever have to remove a feature or something with a tool and slip, that soft vinyl will be gouged.
In fact, mylar is used on high-wear areas on many pin balls. A 3 mil adhesive sheet big enough for a pachinko costs about 10 bucks and won't yellow over time. Something to consider.

The vinyl comes laminated already from the company that prints it for me. However, I have considered putting in an additional layer of 5 mil adhesive backed mylar over the playing field but sheets that are large enough to cover it in one piece are unavailable locally. I can't find a company online that sells it at a reasonable cost, they sell a lot of similar products that I haven't researched the durability of, but not mylar. I've played it for several weeks with no visible damage to the vinyl due to the laminated protective layer on top of the vinyl. It is not as thick, it's probably about 1 mil. But it seems to work just fine.

[emmadog]

Good to hear it's held up well.
Any semi-specialty or specialty item I've used in my refurbs have all had to be ordered. Almost nothing available for me locally either.
The mylar sheet goes by the name "Duralar" and is available at dickblick.com
A 40"X25" 5mil adhesive sheet is a little over 8 bucks.
Both my T-Bird Power Flash and Jan Ball Dragon have mylar.

[cardwwi]

Good to hear it's held up well.
Any semi-specialty or specialty item I've used in my refurbs have all had to be ordered. Almost nothing available for me locally either.
The mylar sheet goes by the name "Duralar" and is available at dickblick.com
A 40"X25" 5mil adhesive sheet is a little over 8 bucks.
Both my T-Bird Power Flash and Jan Ball Dragon have mylar.

I will look into it, but I think I have emailed this company and have not received a reply.

The material is fairly durable, it's the same material that they use to wrap cars in. It's washable, waxable and does take some abuse.

[ShopratFab]

A little bit more on the palyfield removal technique MX is describing. This is mostly concerning the Nishijin machines (or those that have water staining) The playfield graphics are basically a piece of wallpaper glued down to the beechwood plywood with the mylar set over it. So treat it as such to get as much of the glue/paper off and you won't have to deal with clogged sandpaper. It usually takes less than 30 minutes to do. One tip- don't get too agressive with the putty knife, just let the water soak a little longer. Try to keep the playing surface as smooth as possible.

Once removed, the woodgrain will be rough due to the water & scraping. Then we sand it with 220 grit to smooth it out, wood putty in any divits, and then coat it with sanding sealer or polyurethane. Usually 1-2 coats with a sanding of 320 grit or finer after each coat. You do not want to have any rough grain showing or the vinyl will pick it up. And don't leave the poly/sealer glossy, the vinyl needs a slighlty rough surface to stick best.

So far this has worked great, total time to new graphic down is about 2-3 hours (Not counting breaks for drying time)

[mdothop]

Dude. That is beautiful. Some of the best work I've seen. Very nice work.

I don't do vintage (yet), but that .pdf seems sticky-worthy to me.

[ACMech]

Wow is all I can really say, I thought the machine my dad had that I grew up with was pretty much a write-off, but this gives me a lot of hope. I thought I'd have questions, but the pdf was well done.

Thanks, you