Williams PIN·BOT (Williams, 1986) Mylar Removal

merkury

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Favorite Pinball Machine
Pin*Bot #549
So a little background... I bought a Pinbot about 10 years ago. It needed a lot of work, but it mostly worked. At the time, I just learned as I went along and I ended up pulling most of the parts off the playfield in order to clean it and replace the bulbs and rubbers. I played it a lot and I have even had it worked on by professionals a couple times. I had forgotten about him for a few years and then the other day I decided to flip the switch on. Well, the machine worked better than I remembered and the experience renewed my interest in finishing the job that I once started.

I have read a lot about removing the mylar from the playfield. I understand that it is inherently risky, so I bought a used Pinbot playfield on ebay tonight. I am comfortable with risking $150 on a really sweet playfield. I understand that there will be touch up to do.

With that being said, I want to chronicle the process here, and I would also like for anyone who has experience with this to please lend a virtual hand. This will be my first attempt at this, so I will need good advice.

As of right now, this is what I know. There are three methods of removal.
1) Hair dryer
2) Goo Gone
3) Freezing
If I were to start work right now, I would probably try a can of air held upside down first and if that didn't work I would move on to Goo Gone. I understand that I would need the Goo Gone anyway, to remove the glue after freezing. After the mylar is removed, I plan to touch up the playfield with paint and possibly clear coat it.

Here are the pics from ebay. I look forward to hearing from you all.

$(KGrHqFHJCUFB)ghfEVhBQlF7EeG5!~~60_57.JPG


$(KGrHqVHJDMFBl,wYNM-BQlF7ICdpw~~60_57.JPG


$(KGrHqRHJDQFBo6qHoS2BQlF7Me7Rg~~60_57.JPG
 
that is called a tee nut and actually holds a threaded bolt
NOT a screw they 'pop' out easily
they have three little teeth on their underside that digs into the wood
pop them out as evenly as you can to minimize chipping the wood around them
also don't forget to use ISO with the magic eraser NOT water
as water will raise the grain of the wood but iso will not
and those tiny rails I would leave alone if they are in decent condition
they come out easily but to put them back they may loosen up a bit
you must use either crazy glue or wood filler to keep them tight once removed
use 000 grain steel wool wetted with either naptha or Acetone to remove dirt/residue
then they should shine up real nice with any good metal polish
 
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man your play field is in much worse shape than mine is
to redo those faded lines you must either be damn good with a
PAINT marker (no sharpies as they fade over
time or soak too much into the wood grain leaving streaks of color)
or use good quality ACRYLIC paint to cover any scratches or missing lines
enamel again will either peel up the existing paint,
bubble over the paint that is already there or take forever to dry
often leaving marks as it does
usually it will just bubble up as enamel and most pf finishes do not mix
leaving an unholy mess to clean off
 
I tried the magic eraser with iso and I didn't have great results. It seemed to really dull down the finish in the place that I used it and I immediately abandoned the idea of using it. Maybe I am not brave enough to try it.

You mention the faded lines... Exactly which ones are you talking about, the general yellowing of the playfield or the microscopic cracking under the paint? I was feeling pretty good about the condition until you said mine was so much worse than yours. I guess it is all relative. I will try to get you a shot of the playfield currently IN my pinbot. You will fall to the floor if you should see it! :no:

Thanks for the enamel warning. Quite the picture you paint there. I may try some acrylic touch up and then have the whole thing clear coated. I am on the fence with that though because originally I though that I would be able to clean the yellowed areas and return them to their original colors. I have read that the lacquer finish is what turns yellow and that you can use "Mean Green" to remove the lacquer. Thing is though, it will also remove the paint if you go too far.
 
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Oh and the tee nut. It has a screw broken off inside of it. I think I could just bang it out by inserting something into the hole from the top. Someone drilled another hole right next to it rather than fixing it the right way to begin with. I hate it when people half ass stuff like that. Once again, you should see my other Pinbot playfield. It is full of ridiculous repairs.
 
For the cracking I'll share a hobby modelers trick I learned as a small kid. Take a smalll watercolor brush with black paint and dip in quickly in thinner. Now wipe gently across an area (cracked). Now wipe the area dry, as in wipe off the paint. This leaves paint in the cracks as you wipe off the excess over the uncracked areas. I used this for textured things, such as plastic grilles on cars, etc. It fills in the cracks. You can even take thinner to wipe the exccess off. It won't come out of the cracks unless you press into it.
 
Just finished a Naphtha wipedown. Found a broken screw. The nut on the bottom of the playfield should just pop right out, right? I plan to "punch" it out from the top using another screw or nail.

I'm going to try the magic eraser lightly on these swirl marks.
that right hand pic shows faded lines (missing paint)
the magic eraser must be used gently I used it with no problems
at all on my pf and it got most of the dirt and residue off
but to each their own... whatever works for you
and yes that tee nut should just pop right out
I also have weird fixes too or rather screws where bolts should be
and vice versa
man it sucks when idiots strip out threaded tee nuts
by using wood screws instead of the required bolts
 
flash cleanup

there are still a few areas that need a damn good cleaning up
like whoever decided to glue on all the flipper rubbers using lacquer!
also on some spots on the play field itself there is lacquer or
possibly varnish yellowed and cracking off
the pop bumpers are rusted on their insides
but since they will have caps on them
I ain't too worried on rust that won't affect game play and won't be seen
the play field cleans up real good again using a magic eraser and ISO
or just ISO and a green scrubbie sponge
 

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Have you ever considered using one of these on your metal parts? Like those pop bumpers?

Amazon.com: Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-Ez Case Tumbler: Sports & Outdoors

You put ground corn cob with a squirt of novus and screws / parts into it and a few hours later they come out like new again. I will probably buy the one I linked and my plan is to put every single metal part into it as I transfer from my old playfield to the new one. I read a lot about cleaning and it makes sense to clean everything. Otherwise the rust will go somewhere when those bumpers start popping like crazy. Next thing you know, your ball gets some dirt on it and tracks it all over the machine.
 
I think our playfields are about the same condition. Maybe yours doesn't have the microscopic cracks as much, but it looks like it has more regular ball wear. We both have a serious yellowing problem.

I think the reason I am afraid to use the eraser is that my playfield literally looks shiny right now, almost like it is waxed. I guess this is because I just pulled off the Mylar. This makes it to where I can see just how much scuffing the eraser is doing. Hell even the Novus 2 is leaving some marks. Are you going to try to "whiten" up any of the areas on your playfield, like behind the drop targets?
 
if novus 2 leaves marks switch to novus 1 which is a much finer polish
I am not trying anything to whiten any area
that is going to be hidden by either posts or rubbers and plastics
I will clean it a bit better using ISO but that's about it
this is my first real pin and my first restoration job as an owner anyhow
and yeah my pf has some serious yellowing to it all over
I thought it was just that varnish that seems to be on everything
even the metal ball rails have yellow crap that shows up in drips all over them
but the pf itself is yellowed due to either sunlight or age
 
as for purchasing a tumbler I am currently unemployed
so have no extra money for anything so everything I do to it
has to be done either real cheaply or by hand
 
Nice Work.....Looks Good.

I want to get the mylar off of my Champ....but I am scared. I have played with High Voltage.. 13800vac...No problem. Risking messing up my pinball machine.....scary.
 
Nice Work.....Looks Good.

I want to get the mylar off of my Champ....but I am scared. I have played with High Voltage.. 13800vac...No problem. Risking messing up my pinball machine.....scary.

Thanks!! That's why I bought this playfield and didn't try it on the one in the machine. Problem is that it worked, and now I have to transfer all of the parts to the "new" playfield. Oh well, it will be worth it. I'm planning to really clean things up too, as I make the transfer. I can't wait to play on it!! Seems so far off right now though..... :cuss:
 
Before you start stripping the old one and moving the parts to the new one, I would suggest building yourself a playfield rotisserie. You you can do one with easily available parts from any "big box' hardware store . I think I put around $60 of bought parts in mine....but I had a few things sitting around the house. I built mine on 2 about 2 foot long pieces of 4x4...which when I use them I just c-clamp them to my saw-horses...and when not in use they make a small pile in the shop...
 
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