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Scratched my mirror blade

Vimtoman

Registered
5Years
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
1,500
Location
Wales
Damn scratched my mirror blade on the TAF.
That stupid bent piece of wire on the hinged flaps .
Put a piece of thin felt but looks like too thin

Anyway to buff that out or is it f@#%&ed
 
I keep putting off installing the set I have for my TZ for this very reason as there doesn’t seem enough room for lifting the PF
 
I keep putting off installing the set I have for my TZ for this very reason as there doesn’t seem enough room for lifting the PF

Yes the TZ has a similar flap thing on the right.
The wood and plastic stuff is fine its just metal items.
 
"Bent piece of wire on the hinged flaps".. what bit is that? I'm planning on installing my mirror blades this weekend on my TAF...

I've got some scratches on the right mirror blade on my TZ. Didn't even notice it had happened / was happening when I lifted the PF until one day, then I can't unsee it.

Incidentally - did you put anything on the diverter to stop it damaging the blade when it whacks the cabinet?
 
"Bent piece of wire on the hinged flaps".. what bit is that? I'm planning on installing my mirror blades this weekend on my TAF...

I've got some scratches on the right mirror blade on my TZ. Didn't even notice it had happened / was happening when I lifted the PF until one day, then I can't unsee it.

Incidentally - did you put anything on the diverter to stop it damaging the blade when it whacks the cabinet?

This stupid bit .

81744

Ive now placed a sticky tape felt over it but gave that section a bit of room to move. It needs to be loose.
 
Ahhh yes, that ****ting thing. There is a light score on the side of my cabinet from that bit. Thanks for reminding me that I'll need to felt up that area before fitting my blades (any tips/gotchas on fitting them on a TAF by the way?)

You can lift the playfield up and move it slightly side to side on the support bolts. There's not a lot of horizontal play in it, and you'll likely end up with the 3-layer telephone plastic rubbing the right side instead, but it might work?

And yeah, assuming the one on TZ is on the opposite side - it's scored my mirror blade a few times. Fortunately (?) for me it did it a few times before I noticed, and it's somehow less noticeable now that there are several than if there was just one. The first scratch is always the worst.

I doubt you'll be able to do anything to fix it to be honest, I tried and got nowhere. It will be deep enough not to be able to be polished out.
 
I looked up the polishing bit and you have to take it down with a graded paper then use a paste to buff to shine.
All using a orbital sander.
I may just try out a paste when I can be bothered.
just spent the last month getting this looking pristine :)

Theres a lot of play on these playfields. Pretty crap really.

I think I'm going to look at placing a plastic washer either side of the TAF hinge bolt to try and keep it central.
Other than that I'm going to slide a cloth between the playfeild and cabinet before moving it.
 
You can get these assembly blade guard thingy's to protect them, assuming you have space to slide them in
 
Did you do anything about the diverter or do you just let it whack the mirror blade?
 
Fitted my blades today.. I couldn't see on the left what could scratch it?

There was one of those ball gate blocker (?) things on the right which had a nasty staple as pictured above. It didn't look like it would touch the side on mine but I put felt over it anyway.

EA6B3B4E-7C27-4086-9C56-30FA5C199578.jpeg

@Vimtoman any chance you could photo or tell me where specifically on the left hand side of TAF the danger zone is?

Thanks.
 
Have you used ICE Blue leds at the back like me :)
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the fine scratch I have is next to the shooter gate. The bent bit of wire for the shooter gate caught the mirror blade.
It does not show up in the pics but it's there ....
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One thing I did do on the lef side is shorten the screw that screws in the top left metal lane .
The top exit from the cemetery l
It has two screws into the wood .
One at 9oclock and another at 12.

The only picture I have is this which shows you the start of the metal curved lane.
82035

Some bozo placed a longer screw which scratched the wood. Took it out and shortened it before .
 
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Ah yeah. The shooter gate is the one I put felt over. That part of the playfield was recessed a bit on mine, and I don't think it was making contact but better to be safe than sorry.

Yours is looking great! Looks like you've put in a lot of work (from what I remember when you bought it).

And yes - ice blue LEDs in the GI at the back. :)
 
It was a mess.
Totally stripped down, Mylar off. Big clean ,touched up two sections of the playfeild.
Cliffy's, new ramps ,new plastics,new side rails,rubbers,new metal chutes, led's ,playfield protector,Radcals ,mirror blades,flipper rebuilds,new legs,New anti reflective glass
all the pits lit. Just waiting for a colordmd ,Afterglow thing and thats it .
I'm done . just going to play it :)

Yours looks really nice.
Hows the bookcase lit blue? Is that a GI blue next to the flipper?
 
Yeah. I bought a load of mods from LeesParts.com, that was one of them.

Wish I had your skills, almost all of what I've done to mine is superficial stuff, and I paid for a already fully restored one

I have a flipper rebuild to do (EOS too short) and I keep putting it off because I'm intimidated :(
 
Just noticed from looking at your photo that I've got a red flasher and dome on the right at the end of the metal ramp for some reason... hmmmm...
 
That would look quite nice in green being near the swamp.

Flipper rebuild is pretty easy. The only fiddly bit is the soldering when the playfield is up.
The mech side is not an issue.
 
You didn't mean a green flasher did you?? :)

I have a green swamp LED too. Basically have two lamp sockets attached to one of the swamp plastic posts, illuminating green and blue in either direction.

I had a crack at doing my flipper today. Couldn't find an allen key the right size to remove the end stop, so fell at the first hurdle lol. Also think I need a stool to comfortably work on it. Oh, and I'm also worried about dropping any of the screws etc while the playfield is up. Stuff that's a walk in the park for most people on here lol
 
Dropping screws. Curse everytime I do it. Just part of the fun :)
All screws are imperial so you need a that set.
Just take your time. Its well worth doing the flippers etc.
Ive changed every leaf switch and target on this one.
Sort of made a decision to spend on all that rather than change the playfield.
 
Typical, weekend just gone I scratched up my TZ blade on the right where that sodding hinge sticky out bit is. I'd covered it with felt tape but pulling the PF out must've worn through it, as it was poking through. Not a massive scratch but it's there and of course the first scratch is the worst.
 
Crap design that bit. Really crudely done.

Mirror blades ,Love to have them ,Hate to scratch them.

I've given up worrying now scratched three being careful.
 
Well, to be fair, when these machines were made I don't think anyone imagined they would be jazzed up in this way.

But yeah, it's annoying when it happens. I donated my TZ scratched ones to my mate and put them in his FH, and bought a new set for mine, and of course now they're scratched too.
 
Just leave them in :)
Ive put felt on the playfield edge of my TAF which seems to it out to an extent.
I think when I do change the other scratched ones will do the same.
 
Given the huge deep scratches I've seen on the wood sides of some pins, I don't think any amount of anti-scratch coating would save mirror blades. The problem needs to be fixed on the playfield first before installing anything.

Stuff that hangs over the sides - be it plastics, screws, ramps, pins, flaps or whatever, needs looking at. Get yourselves some nice big files and start shaving the crap out of everything :)
 
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