Started stripping the playfield on the Phoenix I just got, and I have looked around for suggestions on cleaning playfields.

Some different suggestions, some conflicting though 1 thing seemed to remain, using Novus #2 and #1 (Which I have) and absolutely no water.
What sort of material should I use? Would your standard fare sponge work? Rags not a good idea? (ie; bath towels I've turned into rags).
Should I clean with something else BEFORE starting with the novus, to get rid of grime and general dirt?

Some of my plastics have a slight warp to them upwards, I'm guessing from the heat of the lamps under them. How do I straighten them without damaging the art on them?

If you saw the playfield on this when Daniel brought it down, it looked pretty good...hard to tell with the glass on, but with the glass off it's REALLY good. No chipping paint, just 2 tiny wear spots and LOTS of ball swirls that need to go.

I recommend you buy TOP DVD's 3, 4 and 7 as a start... good info in all 3.

go ahead and novus the hell out of it.  That'll take care of lots of dirt.  Then use a Magic Eraser (carefully!) for some of the ball swirls, but some of them you just might have to live with...

As for plastics, I've done this about a dozen times, never a problem:
http://www.xmission.com/~daina/tips/pub/tip0018.html

Post some pics when she's cleaned up!
Daniel

Quoted from ken_cinder

Started stripping the playfield on the Phoenix I just got, and I have looked around for suggestions on cleaning playfields.

Some different suggestions, some conflicting though 1 thing seemed to remain, using Novus #2 and #1 (Which I have) and absolutely no water.
What sort of material should I use? Would your standard fare sponge work? Rags not a good idea? (ie; bath towels I've turned into rags).
Should I clean with something else BEFORE starting with the novus, to get rid of grime and general dirt?

Some of my plastics have a slight warp to them upwards, I'm guessing from the heat of the lamps under them. How do I straighten them without damaging the art on them?

If you saw the playfield on this when Daniel brought it down, it looked pretty good...hard to tell with the glass on, but with the glass off it's REALLY good. No chipping paint, just 2 tiny wear spots and LOTS of ball swirls that need to go.

Quoted from McMean

go ahead and novus the hell out of it.  That'll take care of lots of dirt.  Then use a Magic Eraser (carefully!) for some of the ball swirls, but some of them you just might have to live with...

As for plastics, I've done this about a dozen times, never a problem:
http://www.xmission.com/~daina/tips/pub/tip0018.html

Post some pics when she's cleaned up!
Daniel

Oh snap! Books? WTF are those? lmao (I'm serious...) My daughter has tons of books, guess I'll stack a whole bunch of them to make them "heavy", I honestly don't own any, unless a DigiKey catalogue counts as a "book"!

I used a hair dryer... easier to control than an oven.

Never tried that method.. how long does it take?

Quoted from Monkeybug

I used a hair dryer... easier to control than an oven.

Heat gun works great. I put it on the lowest setting and it takes less than a minute per plastic.

I've done the oven method before but I like the heat gun way better.As for PF's I allways give them a good going over with magic eraser and 99% rubbing alcohol and then use the novus.

Thanks guys, the consensus here and other places seems to be Novus+soft rag and a magic eraser. I was worried about a rag being too rough, but a magic eraser is like fine sandpaper...so I'm just being too worried I guess.

Just getting my camera charged, so I can take pics of the playfield, so I can just yank it all off and look at my pictures to put it all back on with new rubbers properly.

Quoted from McMean

Never tried that method.. how long does it take?

It takes a bit.  Depends on the hair dryer.  And like TinyRodent said, a heat gun works just as well.  Keep on it, til the plastic arcs up then drops.

Interesting, I'll have to try it sometime when I only have one plastic to do.  The thing I like about the oven is you can do pretty much the whole machine in one go.  The link I posted warns of not letting them bubble, but I've never had even remote problems with the oven.  I just pull up a chair, watch with the light on, and as soon as they droop, pull them out and flatten.  Super easy.

I don't even know where our hair dryer is..... I have no hair, really.  

Quoted from Monkeybug

It takes a bit.  Depends on the hair dryer.  And like TinyRodent said, a heat gun works just as well.  Keep on it, til the plastic arcs up then drops.

Quoted from McMean

Interesting, I'll have to try it sometime when I only have one plastic to do.  The thing I like about the oven is you can do pretty much the whole machine in one go.  The link I posted warns of not letting them bubble, but I've never had even remote problems with the oven.  I just pull up a chair, watch with the light on, and as soon as they droop, pull them out and flatten.  Super easy.

I don't even know where our hair dryer is..... I have no hair, really.  

Hair is for hippies...or are we lacking in the hair department not by choice? lol

I smell two videos coming up... I will do them tonight. 2 easy subjects.

Quoted from McMean

Then use a Magic Eraser (carefully!) for some of the ball swirls, but some of them you just might have to live with...

Before using Magic Eraser (and after Novus or one of the other general cleaners) I tend to wipe down with Naptha (or lighter fluid), as this gets the last of the grease up but dries quickly and doesn't raise wood grain (if any is exposed).

Then if you want to remove ball swirls, use a lubricant like 99% Alcohol with the Magic Eraser.  Magic Eraser is a micro abrasive, like sandpaper it takes down the surface. Using it dry will cut and clog too fast. You may want to work on an area under the apron to get an idea of how fast it cuts.  Then go slowly and carefully until the effect is "good enough".  You will know you have started to go too far when colour comes off in the Magic Eraser.

Now you have a couple choices, you can do a light clear coat, or put down a silicone based sealer (like a car wax pre-finish) and then wax, wax and rewax (because you have removed a good bit of the original protective lacquer clear coat).

As suggested by others, the TOP videos are best as yuou can see the process in action, but most of us study these tomes: http://www.marvin3m.com/fix.htm


with this one being of primary importance to you: http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/index3.htm#me and http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/index.htm

Just a quick note, if you're tackling a particular area on the playfield with a Magic Eraser for a while, be sure to look at the eraser itself.. if it's changing colour (other than dirt), you're bringing up some paint and that's usually a good indicator that you can't go any further with it.. unless you're good at touch-ups.  

.. oh, and buy bandaids... your hands will get chewed up.  

Enjoy!  

Quoted from machine.slave

.. oh, and buy bandaids... your hands will get chewed up.  

Enjoy!  

ALWAYS wear latex gloves.

Playfield stripped as far as I feel I need to go, targets and switches aren't exactly "in the way" talk about dirty...even spiders in there! Of course the apron still has to come off...
Not sure if I should try my hand at touching up the little wear spots near the flippers, or just leaving them for now.



P.S. I have real man hands...no bandaids required  

I'd take off anything that is sticking up through the PF IMO.

My old saying is do it right and do it the first time.  Leaving the switches and stuff like that sticking through means one of two things.

A) You not going to really be able to get in and clean in those areas as you are going to keep snagging on those things

B) While trying to clean everything, you are going to get crud all over the switches and assemblies which when you reassemble will transfer back onto the PF once the ball starts rolling over them again.  

When I do a shop job, everything gets removed, then I give the PF a real nice cleaning, everywhere.  Then anything that ever touches the ball gets cleaned as well.  I wipe down every switch, every target and every assembly that ever touches the ball to ensure that there is no dirt on any of them.  That way your machine stays cleaner longer.  

I intend to remove the switches and coils after I've cleaned the PF and clean and polish those too. I'd rather just leave them in place for now until I put everything back on the playfield, so I don't have the entire machine torn apart all at once.
Pretty much if it's "not in the way" for cleaning the PF itself, it's staying on until the PF is done.

I just removed the apron and all metal around it for cleaning and polishing.

Edit: On second thought, I started wiping things down...the hell with that, EVERYTHING is coming off!

Quoted from ken_cinder

Edit: On second thought, I started wiping things down...the hell with that, EVERYTHING is coming off!

I think that's a good idea. Like Adam said, it is much easier to clean. I just finished stripping one of my pins and made sure I took plenty of photos along the way.

One thing - what is the best way to remove those stubborn, little metal rails. I think Pinrepair suggests using a soldering iron to heat it up while prying with a rubber-tipped pliers. Any other suggestions?

I've never really had a problem getting them out of any of my machines.  I usually just use my hand and I'm able to pry them out.  

Quoted from Vengeance

I've never really had a problem getting them out of any of my machines.  I usually just use my hand and I'm able to pry them out.  

Me too, I just pulled all mine out by hand. They were in there pretty good, but some good force with both hands and they all came out.