Tech: Fixing Cupped Inserts
PinZach
Minwax polycrylic gloss clear and sanding.
My question is this:
I won't be clear-coating the playfield afterward (like Cliffy did) so
I'm wondering once I sand the Minwax (on the inserts) to level, will
it look okay to stop at that point? If I'm able to sand without
taking off any of the playfield, will it look clear (not clouded) &
correct to just dribble the Minwax and sand it down or do I have to do
something else to make it acceptable.
I'm not intending on clearing the whole playfield, I just want to fill
some inserts.
Thanks,
PZ
12Volt
Hey PZ, I am working on some cupped inserts right now myself. I am
removing them and sanding them flat then reinstalling them. I am lucky
that there are no decals on these ones. Unfortunately, since your not
clearing the whole playfield I don't think you have too much chance
of success unless you remove them first. If you can get them out
fairly easy I would do Cliffy's method and it should turn out fine.
Good Luck,
12Volt.
KC_Masterpiece
It would look nice. If you did a good job, they would be very shiny.
Your only problem is you will have to sand them with finer and finer
sandpaper until you can polish them to nice shine. Are you going to
remove them to do this? I always use a heat gun on the underside with
constant motion, and then once everything is nice and hot (but not
bubbling!) you can push up on the underside of the insert and pop it
out. Your goal is to melt the glue and not the insert. It can take
considerable pressure to pop some of them out. Sometimes you can
correct the warp with the insert in the machine. Othertimes, after
you get it out, you will have to use the heat gun again on a flat
surface and make them flat. Just make sure that the tool you use to
push them out with or shape them is smooth and rounded, or you will
leave imprints in the plastic.
I haven't heard about cliffy's method, but I would pull the inserts,
but them on a flat surface and use a pipette to fill the void. You
will certainly have to overfill. Then I would block sand them flat
and glue them back in with superglue. I do hope we are still using
that to install lifted inserts, and I haven't missed some sort of
service bulletin describing something better. Just remember that all
this polyurethane shrinks quite a bit. What might look nice and flat
will certainly be concave again in a month unless you let the clear
cure a long time between sanding.
I have done probably 30 inserts with a heat gun, and I will say you
have to be really careful not to get them too hot. Now that I've
heard about this filling technique, I am going to try that on my
Firepower project.
Sean Kavanagh
I did kinda what your thinking about on my first attempt at Cliffy's
method on a Bly Sky Kings. I just wanted to practice, so I choose an
everyday title I had in stock. I found it very difficult to sand them
down flush without marring the original surface around the insert. I
think it's more important to lay a coat of clear down before you fill
the inserts than after. But the after-coat help cover the whole thing
with one layer. Why don't you try it without, then clear after if you
have to?
They will dry completely clear, but they can take a long time to dry
depending on the thickness of the Minwax and the humidity. In my case
it took a couple weeks to dry enough to sand easily.
I'm really glad I tried it out on a practice game first. It turned
out OK, but the next attempt on a Roto Pool came out much better. The
little things I learned are hard to enumerate and recall, but when I
go to do it, it's easy. No guides or newsgroup description in the
world can compete with experience.
Sean
c...@provide.net
I use Autoclear instead of the stuff cliffy uses.
the auto urethane dries WAY faster and way
harder. But i also clearcoat the whole playfield
when done too. there's a complete description
of this procedure in a couple places, but here's
one link (about 2/3 the way down):
http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/jspin.htm
Terry
method. I don't think there is any way you will be able to sand the
insert flush and NOT damage the surrounding playfield if you haven't
sprayed a couple of coats of varathane or auto clearcoat on the
playfield around the insert before filling it. Even with 4 coats of
varathane on my (entire) playfield before filling the inserts, and
careful sanding, I broke through at least one layer of varathane on
the playfield before getting the insert semi-level.
c...@provide.net
like you said, it's not worth it. the risk is too great.
If you're using auto clear, which is very high solids,
just don't over-fill the cupped inserts. then spraying
the playfield with auto clear "melts it all together."
it really comes out well. you can DA sand after it's
all done. just be careful. and you may be looped into
spraying another coat or two after the DA sanding.
http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/jspin.htm
PinZach
<c...@provide.net> wrote in message
news:eec81919-c6c2-45f0...@j27g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
>If you're using auto clear, which is very high solids,
>just don't over-fill the cupped inserts. then spraying
>the playfield with auto clear "melts it all together."
>it really comes out well. you can DA sand after it's
>all done. just be careful. and you may be looped into
>spraying another coat or two after the DA sanding.
>http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/jspin.htm
Thanks for all the input, everyone.
One question, when you talk about spraying the playfield with the auto
clear, I presume you are spraying the whole playfield, correct? Or are you
actually spot clearing just around the fixed inserts?
c...@provide.net
see the link above. but yea spraying the
entire playfield. doing spot clearing doesn't
work very well in my experience.