Cleaning my first pin

mikdawg

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Happy T-day to everyone and thanks for replying in advance. Just purchased a Data East Batman pin and got into the playing field this morning. What I thought was ball wear on the playing field is really only dust and a lot of it. A good wipe down is needed and it sounds like Novus is the stuff to use to clean/polish the playing field. Anyother tips or cleaning supplies that might be helpful in my weekend adventure?

Thanks
 
Do you have the novus already? It really works wonders. It cleans plastic ramps amazingly too.

After you get it all cleaned up you are going to want to wax that playfield. This thread covers wax.

But you are going to want to get a pure as you can Carnauba Hard Paste Wax in a can. Not something that squirts out of a bottle. Avoid anything with the words cleaner or polisher. Wax, let it dry, buff off with a soft cloth, repeat once or twice, and enjoy.

I wax often and I also buff my balls to a mirror. It makes the ball zip across the playfield and spin on the ball becomes very noticeable.

If you have dirty rubbers and no replacement you can clean them up a bit with white wall cleaner or lighter fluid.
 
I do not have it yet. How much do I need? Thanks for the advice about the wax, sounds just like waxing a car. Where are the best prices on the Novus and wax? The rubbers are very dirty, never thought about how to clean them but a white wall cleaner make sense. Great info beerorkid, thanks.
Anyone with any other tips?
 
To clean mine, I use magic eraser, cut into 1" cubes, dampened with isopropyl alcohol. Don't use too much pressure, you can take off paint.

Then I polish with novus 2 and magic eraser. 8 oz. squeeze bottle from pbresource.com/cleaner.html (a little goes a long way) .

Then wax and buff and new balls.
 
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To clean mine, I use magic eraser, cut into 1" cubes, dampened with isopropyl alcohol. Don't use too much pressure, you can take off paint.

Then I polish with novus 2 and magic eraser. 8 oz. squeeze bottle from pbresource.com/cleaner.html (a little goes a long way) .

Then wax and buff and new balls.
hmmm, never tried the novus on an eraser. I always used the magic eraser and alcohol and followed that with the novus 2 and a white t shirt, then a couple layers of carnuble.

if your rubbers are pretty nasty Id pull your playfield plastics (one at a time) and clean them to a shine, top and bottom with novus 1 and put new rubbers on while you have them off, kill 2 birds with one stone.

as said by the others, make sure your ball is clean and shiny, your playfield is only as smooth as the ball
 
I love the magic eraser but have never tried isopropyl alcohol though. Thanks for the tip. Wildwest, I like your idea of taking each plastic out, cleaning, and putting back. Being my first time, I do not want to get confused. Balls are always better when they are clean and shinny. HAHA!
So I will need some Novus 2, magic erasers, wax, metal polish, and rags. Anything else??

Thanks a ton guys, really help to have you all available.
 
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if you're going to clean the cabinet, simple green or similar works fine.

if you're going to polish any of the metal parts, get some metal polish. all the online pinball supply stores carry one kind or another, i think. i've been using X-treem, ordered from pinballlife: http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=1355&parent=80 and am happy with it. i've never tried it on the balls, but i suppose it might work.

as a final step, you might use a swiffer sheet to get that last bit of dust off the playfield, plastics, etc., right before you slide the glass back in. somebody else on the forum suggested that once, and i tried it the last time and really like it.
 
While you are taking stuff down make sure to take a million pictures. Stuff you are sure you can remember how it goes is suddenly a mystery when you go to put it all back together. I always do a full tear down since you want to wax the whole playfield I dont think taking off one plastic at a time, cleaning and replacing it works to well. JMHO


This is where I get to for cleaning and waxing. Just take tons of pictures and lay everything out on a white towel or something kinda how it goes on the machine.

IMG_3975.jpg
 
While you are taking stuff down make sure to take a million pictures. Stuff you are sure you can remember how it goes is suddenly a mystery when you go to put it all back together. I always do a full tear down since you want to wax the whole playfield I dont think taking off one plastic at a time, cleaning and replacing it works to well. JMHO

agreed - if you go the full teardown route take many pictures. seriously - take hundreds of pictures. *and*, take them from different angles for any complex area. nothing more frustrating than having a picture of the area you want during the rebuild, but not being from the right angle :/.
 
While you are taking stuff down make sure to take a million pictures. Stuff you are sure you can remember how it goes is suddenly a mystery when you go to put it all back together. I always do a full tear down since you want to wax the whole playfield I dont think taking off one plastic at a time, cleaning and replacing it works to well. JMHO


This is where I get to for cleaning and waxing. Just take tons of pictures and lay everything out on a white towel or something kinda how it goes on the machine.
actually thats where I go to as well when 1st cleaning a playfield. from his post though I didnt think he wanted to go that far.
 
Ya the first time I didn't want to either. Then after 20 plays dirt had come from under every little spot I hadn't quite gotten to. Pointless to not go full hog in my opinion. BUT i cant stand even a tiny bit dirty game.

My biggest piece of advice ever is never do anything with the power on. One misplaced screwdriver and you and the machine will be hating life. ;)
 
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The pic idea is great! I am still nervous about taking this thing apart but you guys gave me some great ideas. I may need to take a day off to do this, HAHA! Thank you very much.
 
I've never even so much as left a post on while cleaning a game I just got, the only thing that's ever stayed on has been any wood at the far edge of the PF.

I clean EVERYTHING, cause the dirt on anything you didn't clean, WILL make it's way onto the playfield through vibration alone.

And just replace the rubbers, if they're that dirty...they're stiffer than they should be too.
 
LOTS of pics are a must when you tear down a pin for the first time.

I highly recommend the use of baggies also!

- Don

IMG_4682.jpg
 
Baggies, good idea! Thay way my 4 years old will not play stack the pieces together. HAHA. I am going to replace all of the rubbers. I want to do this right! Fully tear down here I come. Pray for me!!!
 
when i did my first cleaning i used baggies and labeled each one with a sharpie.
 
Update

I spent 5 days over the holidays cleaning my data east batman and it came out great. It was super dirty and looks very respectable now. I took everything off the playing field and got it reassembled correctly. I did lose a small nut on one of the switchers but that was the worse thing that happened. Novus worked great, took lots of pics that helped out a ton when i reassembled it, baggies was a great idea, and all of your input helped!

You guys are always there to help,

Greg
 
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