Best Way to Remove a Small Portion of Mylar???

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Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I need to only remove a small portion of mylar to do some touch-up work
underneath on a non-DP playfield. I do NOT want to remove the entire sheet
so that's out of the question. This mylar was apparently purchased and
installed later and not at the factory.

What is the best way to remove a 2" x 4" piece of mylar??? Can I cut a
guide line into the mylar first without damaging the pf then use the heat or
freeze spray method?? I do have a black line on the pf to follow.

Thanks for any input!

--
Mike S.
Kalamazoo, MI

Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
--------------------------------------------
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I've never done anything like this, but before I'd try it, I'd have to
be pretty comfortable with the idea that the current state of the PF
bugs me more than having 4 extra seams in the 'replaced mylar' area of
the PFwill. Unless you have an extraodinarily precise way of cutting
the replacement mylar to match what you are removing, you are going to
get some hops and funny spins off the seams. Or maybe you've come up
with a way around this potential issue that my tiny little brain cannot
conceive...

Good luck!
Bob
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I would use some sort of guide to make a clean line cut into the mylar.
Then use the freeze method. I would never use a different method. I
have now done the mylar removal the freeze way 3 times and had zero
paint loss (except where I rushed and had one spot the size of the
pointy end of a needle come up) With the heat method, you have a huge
chance of losing paint. After the mylar is up, I went and put goo gone
on the glue and let it soak for about 10 minutes. then I found a tooth
brush I had for a really long time and where the bristles were really
soft. I used that to get the glue up. Worked like a champ. Did not
leave any scratches on any of the PF's. I have so far done this on a
Grand Lizard, Judge Dredd and Black Knight. So you have a DP pf and non
DP pf and neither had the paint hurt with the tooth brush way. Saves
the fingers and fingernails. Once you get the glue up, wipe the goo
gone up, then wipe it again with Novus 1 and then go back with Novus 2
to get any glue residue you may have missed. Works every time!

Good luck,

Mike

Mike Schudel wrote:
> I need to only remove a small portion of mylar to do some touch-up work
> underneath on a non-DP playfield. I do NOT want to remove the entire sheet
> so that's out of the question. This mylar was apparently purchased and
> installed later and not at the factory.
>
> What is the best way to remove a 2" x 4" piece of mylar??? Can I cut a
> guide line into the mylar first without damaging the pf then use the heat or
> freeze spray method?? I do have a black line on the pf to follow.
>
> Thanks for any input!
>
> --
> Mike S.
> Kalamazoo, MI
>
> Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
> W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
> M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
> --------------------------------------------
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

A word of warning. It is extremely difficult to cut through the mylar
without cutting into the playfield.


Mike Schudel wrote:
> I need to only remove a small portion of mylar to do some touch-up work
> underneath on a non-DP playfield. I do NOT want to remove the entire sheet
> so that's out of the question. This mylar was apparently purchased and
> installed later and not at the factory.
>
> What is the best way to remove a 2" x 4" piece of mylar??? Can I cut a
> guide line into the mylar first without damaging the pf then use the heat or
> freeze spray method?? I do have a black line on the pf to follow.
>
> Thanks for any input!
>
> --
> Mike S.
> Kalamazoo, MI
>
> Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
> W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
> M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
> --------------------------------------------
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Definitly agree! Use caution. If your going to keep the game, (and if
it were mine) remove all the mylar with the freeze method. If there is
a place or 2 than you feel needs mylar, i.e ball drops, put fresh mylar
down there. Really a complete PF will only take you about 2 hrs or
less to get all the glue and mylar up.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Perhaps you can build some kind of a depth guide so that you wouldnt go
past the mylar. Of course the tolerances would be VERY tight.

It could be done though...Radial Keratonomy comes to mind. Back before
LASIK they would make cuts in the eye surface with such a device.
Wouldnt want to cut too deep on your eyeball either!

Barry - NY
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

If it is a keeper and you will keep it clean and waxed (I could not
imagine you would not with the collection you have) just remove it all.
Why damage the PF? How much will you really play the game? I bet no
where near as much as will be needed to do any damage to the PF or
enough to waer any thing off the PF. Its not on route so its not
getting thouands and thousands of plays. Plus wax and new pinballs
will mean no wear.

I am getting ready to remove the mylar off my Mr/Mrs Pac next weekend.
Its really easy with the freeze spray!

Mike
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I've seen playfields where someone cut mylar on top of them. Not a
pretty sight.

By the way, I've removed mylar from 4 games at this point, and if it's
an early 80's Bally game, heat is the way to go, hands down. I've done
both, and had far far far greater success with a hairdryer.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Chris,

Can you tell me how the HD method works better? I have just looked at
it from a top level view. If you freeze the glue and allow the mlyar
to seperate, you can not lose paint because that mylar is not stuck to
the paint, the glue is. With the HD method, you are not allowing the
seperation to happen and actually pulling on the mylar which will bring
off some glue which could then bring up some paint with it. What am I
missing?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

You are missing the fact that on Bally fields from 80-81, when you
freeze them, you're destroying the bond between the paint and the wood
as well. In that era, that bond is very suceptible to the cold. At
that point it becomes a battle between which bond breaks first, the
glue to the mylar, or the paint to the field. I've just found, from
personal experience, that on fields from that era, I lose less paint
with heat than I do with cold. If you're talking diamond plate though,
it's freeze all the way.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Well that's a drastically different era at that point. For sys 11,
I've had the best luck with freeze.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Wasn't that 82ish? If so, I'd use heat, but you can always just start
with one, and if you start seeing paint come up, switch over.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I am thinking 82/83. For some reason i could not get ipdb to come up
or I would have said for sure. Good idea, I will start with freeze.
For the heat, do you just use a hair dryer?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

> Definitly agree! Use caution. If your going to keep the game, (and if
> it were mine) remove all the mylar with the freeze method. If there is
> a place or 2 than you feel needs mylar, i.e ball drops, put fresh mylar
> down there. Really a complete PF will only take you about 2 hrs or
> less to get all the glue and mylar up.

Thanks guys. I will mull it over for a bit yet to decide what to do.
Fortunately the piece that neds to come up is at an edge.

I figure if I cut on a black pf art line (that I can easily touch that up),
repair the part that needs attention and replace with a new mylar without
making it look too obvious. Hopefully I can use the old mylar as a template
for the new mylar.

I may just decide to pull the whole mylar...the game is a definate keeper
with the exception of this one annoying issue.

--
Mike S.
Kalamazoo, MI

Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
--------------------------------------------
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Yes just a hair dryer. ABSOLUTELY not a heat gun. You can try both
high and low settings on the hair dryer and see what works best. It's
really just such a specialized case by case thing. Remember how many
variables there are, including:

*How well the original paint was/is adhered to the field.
*Original topcoat
*How much expansion/contraction the field has seen over the years
*Degree of paint/topcoat curing before mylar was applied
*Mylar adhesive strength/type (I've seen crazy variations)
*Thickness of mylar

Also, when it comes to removing adhesive afterwards, I have found
naptha to work better than Goo Gone, but your milage may vary.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Just as a few data points in my experience:

Whirlwind(89): Freeze spray all the way, heat worked "ok", but freeze
worked better.
Cyclone(88): Same as above.
Fathom(81): Froze, no problems at all, but this was not full PF, just
slings/bumpers.
Centaur(81): Full playfield, freeze became a disaster very quickly in
one region, so I switched the heat and was solid the rest of the way.
EBD(81): Froze, but lost a few spots. In retrospect, should have
tried heat.
Nip-It(71): Absolutely heat. Freeze was horrible and caused a major
headache.

One thing to note, expect to lose bits in the black insert edges
regardless of method on these older fields. As inserts slightly
sink/raise, and the ball smacks those edges, the paint adhesion is
broken. You will find yourself having to do some black ring touchup
regardless of how perfect of a job you do removing the mylar.
 
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