Cleaning pinball balls

dyno

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Just finished waxing my Judge Dredd playfield and was just wondering what to use to clean the actual balls for the machine? I am thinking of buying new balls where is a good place to get them and does Judge Dredd just use regualr steel pinballs?
 
You can probably polish them up with any normal metal polish method, but replacement is pretty cheap..... every pinball place carries them for about $1 each. Normal steel balls are fine. 1-1/16"

-Hans
 
I've never tried to polish one - seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth. Just buy new ones. You should never use worn or damaged pinballs as they'll wear and abrade the playfield. For the buck or two, nice shiny new ones are your best bet.

-Ian
 
Ya when you buy some other pinball parts online it's always best throw new pinballs in the mix. With shipping charges close to to $10, it's best to shop wisely.
How many pinballs do you need for High Speed?

Glennon
 
I've found polishing to be okay, but it doesn't remove the dents and dings in balls. Better to just get new ones. The re-polished balls seem to get dull again quickly.
 
I ordered new ones, the uber mirror ones.... While waiting for them to show up I hit them on the buffing wheel of my grinder. Mine look better. I polish my balls everytime I have the glass off now.
 
Don't listen to any of these guy's. Polish the ball yourself using a bench buffer wheel and white compound. You can get it to a luster that will exceed any store bought ball you can get. It just depends on the love you put into it. The longer you polish and stand the heat from the friction the highter the shine. You can get it to shine till the gods need sunglasses.
 
Don't listen to any of these guy's. Polish the ball yourself using a bench buffer wheel and white compound. You can get it to a luster that will exceed any store bought ball you can get. It just depends on the love you put into it. The longer you polish and stand the heat from the friction the highter the shine. You can get it to shine till the gods need sunglasses.

No way of getting pits and deep scratches out and thats the reason to get new ones, not because of shine, its about the wear. I just use my dremel with buffing wheel and "Mothers" metal polish on my pinballs, theres no heat or friction and get them real shiny too.
 
So this thread stuck in my head. I am having some friends house sit and wanted the BorKade to shine. I took all the balls to the bench grinder with the buffing wheel.

A few balls actually had pits. I buffed them down a bunch so they would not scrape and beyond. Those divots will cause wear in the form of extra friction. Nothing like a rough ball, but more than I feel comfortable with.

So I guess keeping good balls shined with a buffing wheel is awesome, but some balls cannot be saved. And at a buck a piece it is a no brainer to replace.
 
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