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Playfield protection

bluejonny

bluejonny

Registered
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
259
Location
Southampton, UK
Hey everyone

Posting this here as I have a trawl through the forums, and couldn't seem to find anything on the plastic playfield protectors being sold off FleaBay. I did see a review by Martin on Pinball News when fitted to a HS2 but wondered if anyone else has bought one and their thoughts? I have a machine, stripped, redecalled and with the wear painted, polished up and looks great. I was thinking about a Mylar sheet (didn't want to go Clearcoat), but now I am debating on whether or not these plastic cut to size and shape sheets are a good investment.

They seem a relatively good price (£109?) and simple to fit (much more than Mylar I guess) but any comments or advice very welcome.

Cheers

BJ
 
I have one on my bsd (not from ebay tho). Yeah they are ok I found you have to make alot of switch adgustments to get it playing right tho
 
RudeDogg1 said:
I have one on my bsd (not from ebay tho). Yeah they are ok I found you have to make alot of switch adgustments to get it playing right tho
Click to expand...

I don't mind some adjustment, I am not sure I want the hassle of either clear coat or mylar on a refurb playfield...!
 
bluejonny said:
Wow! That is some restoration. Not entirely sure I have the skills to cut my own sheet though! But seeing what you did makes me think it's probably worth a go. Where do you get the polycarb sheeting from? I assume it must be .5mm in thickness?

Cheers

BJ
Click to expand...
It was a labor of patience.

I'll check thickness when I can get on my emails but it was from a plastics supplier in Essex and the least thick available. In hindsight I would probably go with slightly thicker and more stable to environmental changes.

You can cut the sheets with scissors and punch holes with eyelet hole cutters so if you spend the time making a paper template there is nothing stopping you making the protector off game.

£100 is 10 hours work. If you don't wish to add this string to your bow buy a pre-made as overall it may take longer then the time is worth and you have to add the cost of materials and frustration.
 
cooldan said:
I don't like them
Click to expand...

I don't like them either but they are a great way of protecting a playfield until something proper can be done.

My second attempt took about 2 hours to make including striping the playfield top and bottom and cutting the sheet. 3 hours including reassembly.
 
I got one from https://www.playfield-protectors.com/ for my F14 and I love it to bits. I can see why people would not like them, the biggest aesthetic consideration is that they will rob you of the ball-on-wood noise, if that is your bag. Playing consideration is that it is more like playing on glass than wood - like a fresh clear coat.

But for a game like F14 that is basically bare paint covered by a lot of mylar, once you remove the aged mylar and touch up the paint, the protector gives you the awesome gloss look of a clearcoat, and the dynamics of the protector versus bare wood very much favours F14's playing style.
 
I'd clear coat it! Or rather I'd get an expert to clear coat it for me lol

Take a look at the threads on pinside on pinball wear there is a stern Star Trek and MMR that an op is posting updates on I think they are close to 10K plays and they are fine. Home use machine will be lucky to see a thousand plays a year I'd guess? Less if you have more machines. My Star Trek tng is in my office and in 3 months it's only just got over the 2000 plays.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I have one in Tommy, and HATE it!

Totally not needed in the home environment, but I wanted to try one out.

Gonna cut mine out.
 
I have one on my ToM and it certainly makes it shiny!

Only adjustment needed was the entrance to the wire ramp caused a ball trap so had to pad it with a few nylon washers.
 
Neil McRae said:
I'd clear coat it! Or rather I'd get an expert to clear coat it for me lol

Take a look at the threads on pinside on pinball wear there is a stern Star Trek and MMR that an op is posting updates on I think they are close to 10K plays and they are fine. Home use machine will be lucky to see a thousand plays a year I'd guess? Less if you have more machines. My Star Trek tng is in my office and in 3 months it's only just got over the 2000 plays.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
You're not wrong in that buying it to 'protect' anything in a home environment is a mistake.

I went for it because being able to take it off again to get back to where I started is a huge benefit for me - if I wanted to clear coat later or just play bare then there you go - and until then I get to enjoy the glossy look and the glassy ball dynamics.

Being able to take it off again is especially useful in my case because my F14 field was very paint-worn when I got it, made worse by the Mylar removal. I did some very okay touch-ups across most of it but I didn't do a perfect job, and I completely buggered up one of the insert sticker replacements. But I wanted to be able to play my damned table instead of leaving it until I could scrape together the motivation to finalise the whole job. While a new playfield is very hardy as you've noted, paint that has become thin enough whereby you start revealing white during the simple act of trying to clean it is more concerning - and chipped paint spreads like cancer. And hand-painted, one layer acrylic is not exactly the most hardy of paint jobs, lol

If you have any interest at all in future playfield modification, the advantage of the protector becomes obvious over a clearcoat, in my opinion. But the reader will know themselves whether this niche angle applies to them.
 
I think on my SpSt it needs something and I will get to touch up the paintwork in the future, so having something removable is a good idea. The other question is (cheeky I know) do we as a community get discount on any of these types of site?!

Cheers

BJ
 
Granted on a billiard flat diamond plate newer playfield it's really not needed in the home.

On a pre diamond plate worn playfield with some slightly raised inserts, they're a god send
 
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