wearing through Clear coat??

[ALJO]

Hi everyone.
I have done a few clear coat jobs on different PF's over the years and I was wondering how long an automotive clear coat job will last on a playfield before it wears through and gets to the art again?
My RFM has 8 coats but the guy who sold me the TZ says he applied 4 or 5 coats to it, what is the time laps, if it's played 1 hour every day, will it take to get through up to the art right in front of the flippers?
Has anyone here done an automotive CC job on a PF and played it until it wears to wood, if so, how much time did it take, how many hours of play do you estimate it needed to wear down to wood?
Thanks in advance for chiming in if you have experienced this.

 

[ALJO]

What's the difference between factory CC and automotive CC?
My RFM I just CC'ed last september had a small wear spot that the last owner mylared over without counting wear around the pop bumpers and it had 6000 plays on it, I bought a TZ about 6 years ago that was touched nicely before CC but it was slowly getting to wood before I CC'ed it, that's 22 years of playing to get to wood.
Is factory CC cheaper than automotive CC?

 

[MrMikeman]

Years and number plays are only part of the equation. The main one is maintaining the game (cleaning/waxing/changing balls). Without knowing how the games you mention were maintained you can't really say how long they will last without wear.

The factory CC is like an automotive CC but way thinner than what collectors do. There are no NOS playfields with thick cc and "glass like surface" from factory. I have a JP Pro NOS pf and the CC is so thin you can actually see the different heights in the ink layers underneath.

 

[Corrie]

Years and number plays are only part of the equation. The main one is maintaining the game (cleaning/waxing/changing balls). Without knowing how the games you mention were maintained you can't really say how long they will last without wear.

The factory CC is like an automotive CC but way thinner than what collectors do. There are no NOS playfields with thick cc and "glass like surface" from factory. I have a JP Pro NOS pf and the CC is so thin you can actually see the different heights in the ink layers underneath.

Yeah I was going to say how often you maintain and wax it will matter as well as wear patterns. If there is a ramp jump the location where the ball lands is going to be worn faster than places the ball rolls over

 

[Paul]

Years and number plays are only part of the equation. The main one is maintaining the game (cleaning/waxing/changing balls). Without knowing how the games you mention were maintained you can't really say how long they will last without wear.

The factory CC is like an automotive CC but way thinner than what collectors do. There are no NOS playfields with thick cc and "glass like surface" from factory. I have a JP Pro NOS pf and the CC is so thin you can actually see the different heights in the ink layers underneath.

So how often should your games be waxed ? And how often would you change the balls ? Does it depend on how much play theses are played ? like after so many hours played or by time, like every couple weeks or ??

 

[Corrie]

So how often should your games be waxed ? And how often would you change the balls ? Does it depend on how much play theses are played ? like after so many hours played or by time, like every couple weeks or ??

I've read a lot of people say every 200 games you should be cleaning, and then wax as needed. Check the balls just as often.

It does depend a lot on the game or how good you are. If you can make one ball last 20 minutes you should probably wax and clean in less games. Also games with more multiball modes probably need the balls changed more often since they are banging around more.

I'm a new owner so this is just what I've read. In my few weeks having a table I think waxing every 200 is too often, but cleaning that often makes sense. It gets dirty way faster than I expected. Also buying good balls seems to help. I used a microscope on some cheap balls and the ninja chrome ones I have and the cheap ones had tons of tiny scratches you couldn't see with the eye.

 

[MrMikeman]

This isn't brain surgery or rocket science. Folks need to relax!! lol

It's a machine that's meant to be in a bar/location and used all the time. In home use you could probably never maintain it and it won't show wear anyway. Shooter lane wear can be avoided/reduced by lowering kickout power. I don't use protectors or other things that affect ball travel or how the game plays. Older classic games with wear is a different thing.

I clean my games when I start seeing ball trails in the inlanes. It doesn't matter how long it's been or how many games have been played. Wipe down the rubbers too especially the flipper rubbers. No I don't turf them because they are dirty but once they start fraying then out they go.

When I clean it I run my hand on the pf to see if it could use a wax. If it's still super slippery I don't wax. Otherwise I wax.

Changing balls is the same thing. I just look at them when I clean the game. If they are showing a lot of microscratches then out they go. Just keep in mind that while chrome balls look shinier they will also magnetize much faster. My WOZ became unplayable after 1 hour with chrome balls. Too many magnets in this game. It's not just how many magnets are in the game but how often are they triggered. The witch and monkey trigger all the time on WOZ.

I play my games - EVERY day. I have well over 3000 plays on my JP since new (about 24 months) and it still looks great. I am putting as much plays on my other games as well.

 

[ALJO]

This isn't brain surgery or rocket science. Folks need to relax!! lol

It's a machine that's meant to be in a bar/location and used all the time. In home use you could probably never maintain it and it won't show wear anyway. Shooter lane wear can be avoided/reduced by lowering kickout power. I don't use protectors or other things that affect ball travel or how the game plays. Older classic games with wear is a different thing.

I clean my games when I start seeing ball trails in the inlanes. It doesn't matter how long it's been or how many games have been played. Wipe down the rubbers too especially the flipper rubbers. No I don't turf them because they are dirty but once they start fraying then out they go.

When I clean it I run my hand on the pf to see if it could use a wax. If it's still super slippery I don't wax. Otherwise I wax.

Changing balls is the same thing. I just look at them when I clean the game. If they are showing a lot of microscratches then out they go. Just keep in mind that while chrome balls look shinier they will also magnetize much faster. My WOZ became unplayable after 1 hour with chrome balls. Too many magnets in this game. It's not just how many magnets are in the game but how often are they triggered. The witch and monkey trigger all the time on WOZ.

I play my games - EVERY day. I have well over 3000 plays on my JP since new (about 24 months) and it still looks great. I am putting as much plays on my other games as well.

good to know about the advice on cleaning the game or NOT cleaning the games thanks, I don't wax my games when I strip my playfields because compared to clear coating waxing does not protect much, especially with canuba wax, it lays on much too thin to really protect a PF from a rolling metal ball, after all, Canuba wax is made for cars, it's shiny, protects against harmfull sun exposure and rain but not meant to protect against metals balls, I even once waxed a playfield I restored with a special industrial floor wax, (I've been working in the flooring business for over 30 years now) , which made the PF look like it was CC'ed but never did it stay as nice as a CC'ed PF and that's only after a few months playing time, so if the best floor wax won't even protect well, I don't think Carnuba wax will do a good protection job either. (my 2 cents).

 

[MrMikeman]

good to know about the advice on cleaning the game or NOT cleaning the games thanks, I don't wax my games when I strip my playfields because compared to clear coating waxing does not protect much, especially with canuba wax, it lays on much too thin to really protect a PF from a rolling metal ball, after all, Canuba wax is made for cars, it's shiny, protects against harmfull sun exposure and rain but not meant to protect against metals balls, I even once waxed a playfield I restored with a special industrial floor wax, (I've been working in the flooring business for over 30 years now) , which made the PF look like it was CC'ed but never did it stay as nice as a CC'ed PF and that's only after a few months playing time, so if the best floor wax won't even protect well, I don't think Carnuba wax will do a good protection job either. (my 2 cents).

I don't consider wax as protection against the steel ball. It feels like it gets dirty slower when waxed. I see it as protection against dirt that sticks. TBH I don't wax often as I don't feel it needs it. Plus there's always some white wax residue somewhere on metal rails, targets, etc that gets missed.

 

[ALJO]

That's something I never thought about, waxing for "protection against sticky dirt", you just gave me good reason to wax my PF once in a while.

 

[luch]

plus when a game is waxed it plays way faster