Discouraging...

FrizzleFried

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I take pride in the games I restore. So when product I use to restore said games self-destructs it discourages me from even bothering. Case in point... I have a CPO for a game that I installed only 6 months ago (2/21)... that is starting to crack. We're not talking about a cheap-shit Inkjet repro picked up on ebay (BTW... ironically EVERY GameonGraphix Ink Jet CPO I own has ZERO cracking and some are over 6 years old)... but rather proper silk-screened reproduction artwork created and sold by reputable sources (and yes, I have more than one issue with more than one restoration sold by more than one vendor)... it just makes me not want to bother restoring these games.

This shit is expensive stuff and it should last longer than 6 fucking months. Period. I have a Star Wars marquee overlay that started cracking in less than 6 months... here we are 2 years in and it looks like complete dog shit. I have another CPO for another machine that is about 2 years old and cracking at the bottom curve (thankfully) and it too will look like dog shit eventually. My latest discovery was installed 6 fucking months ago ... properly ... without issue... until today... when I noticed it is cracking at the top "front" curve. SHIT! This should NOT be happening to a product that is only 6 months old. 6 years... maybe... 6 months. NO!

The garagecade only gets to the mid-80's during the summer and lower 60's during the winter ... which isn't extreme... but I digress as this particular CPO only has experienced SPRING and SUMMER... it's not even made it to WINTER yet.

No... I am not going to expose what game it is... or who produced the artwork... I am just venting... but it makes it hard for me to WANT to spend my fucking time and money restoring a piece "properly" with "proper" silk-screened artwork when it self-destructs in less than a 1/2 of a year.

Damnit... I'm discouraged over this shit...
 
Damn, dude. That sucks. Knock on wood, but I've been pretty fortunate with CPOs/overlays that I've replaced. No problems yet.
 
No... I am not going to expose what game it is... or who produced the artwork... I am just venting... but it makes it hard for me to WANT to spend my fucking time and money restoring a piece "properly" with "proper" silk-screened artwork when it self-destructs in less than a 1/2 of a year.
.

I respect your decision on not outting the maker of this however maybe others that have bought the same exact thing can chime in on their experiences and/or you save someone else from having the exact issue and force the producer to check their quality.
 
No... I am not going to expose what game it is... or who produced the artwork... I am just venting... but it makes it hard for me to WANT to spend my fucking time and money restoring a piece "properly" with "proper" silk-screened artwork when it self-destructs in less than a 1/2 of a year.

Damnit... I'm discouraged over this shit...


Why the hell not? If the place cannot take constructive criticism or be informed it's just enabling more subpar shit into the hobby.

I think you should post method of application, pictures of install, cracking...

I would expect more for my money and I think it's inexcusable to not stand by the product and help improve it for the customer and others.
 
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Only buy and restore games that don't have a bend in the CPO. Problem solved, blood pressure down. :D

But seriously, I feel for you bro.
 
Only buy and restore games that don't have a bend in the CPO. Problem solved, blood pressure down. :D

But seriously, I feel for you bro.

I try to avoid games that need a replacement overlay in the first place.
 
I've had a few experiences with Star Wars marquee overlays over the years.

They never last long. Does not matter if you slightly heat them, etc. They just crack over time. Usually a short time.
 
What's worse is when you can't even get it outta the box without it being damaged. I bought this i think last year and just left it in the tube until I needed it this year. Looks like it delaminated itself on the crease marks.
 

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Didnt you blow your top about this a few years ago?
Not healthy keeping it bottled in for so long...










:D


Yeah, that was about the time the Arcadeshop Star Wars overlay started cracking on me... 6 months in.... and one of the reasons I avoid that vendor if at all possible...
 
Why the hell not? If the place cannot take constructive criticism or be informed it's just enabling more subpar shit into the hobby.

I think you should post method of application, pictures of install, cracking...

I would expect more for my money and I think it's inexcusable to not stand by the product and help improve it for the customer and others.

To be clear... the vendor in question hasn't "not stood by his product"... I've not heard from him/her yet... AND to be honest... in my email to him/her I didn't demand a damn thing... just vented... like here.

As for installation... I used a stripping wheel and stripped to bare metal... I then primed the edges and installed directly. This isn't my first song and dance BTW... I've installed more than once CPO over the years.

;)

I am a little less pissy now that I've walked away a while... but I am sure I'll get more pissy again when I go out and look at the CPO again.

:D
 
I've had a few experiences with Star Wars marquee overlays over the years.

They never last long. Does not matter if you slightly heat them, etc. They just crack over time. Usually a short time.

Yeah, I'd like to kick the shit out of the genius who thought it was a good idea to do marquee "overlays"...
 
What's worse is when you can't even get it outta the box without it being damaged. I bought this i think last year and just left it in the tube until I needed it this year. Looks like it delaminated itself on the crease marks.

I am having this same issue with a cpo I just installed two months ago, maybe. I have side art that is peeling off a cab restore I installed this past January that I noticed about three months ago. Forgot to mention I installed a PacMan cpo 8 to 9 years ago. Forgot the vendor, I think Twobits. That game has been in extreme temps, from low teens to high 90's all those years except 2. It still looks and sticks like new.
 
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I am not sure how it would be 3M's fault for a crack in the material... it's not coming unstuck... but rather cracking at the curves...
 
I am not sure how it would be 3M's fault for a crack in the material... it's not coming unstuck... but rather cracking at the curves...

The fault would be with whoever decided to use material X for something that had a curvature tighter than 3M allows for. It might actually be interesting to get out the specs on the material and see what bend radius it's specified to be able to take - it might be that the CP bends are simply too narrow for some of these materials to conform to without failures.

The annoying part is that it might actually be WORSE for a thicker material, which in many other ways would be 'better'.

I have no actual data here, just guessing and suggesting avenues for investigation.
 
The fault would be with whoever decided to use material X for something that had a curvature tighter than 3M allows for. It might actually be interesting to get out the specs on the material and see what bend radius it's specified to be able to take - it might be that the CP bends are simply too narrow for some of these materials to conform to without failures.



The annoying part is that it might actually be WORSE for a thicker material, which in many other ways would be 'better'.



I have no actual data here, just guessing and suggesting avenues for investigation.


Yeah, 3m doesn't fuck around with adhesives.
 
I am not sure how it would be 3M's fault for a crack in the material... it's not coming unstuck... but rather cracking at the curves...

Is 3M the maker of the material AND the adhesive? If the material is cracking and 3M made it what does the printing or the printer have to do with it?
 
I am not sure who makes the material...

...again, I am just a little pissy about this today... I'll likely get over it tomorrow but it still sucks when it happens.

It's happened across vendors too so it's not a quality issue with just one evidently but rather possible issues with the material or... maybe I am just freakin' doing it wrong... whatever.... lets move on.
 
I also think that it is a case of overlay material being used by a few vendors, not just one. As the other thread on this brought to light, there is obviously a material problem, as a number of people are installing these things properly and having identical issues.

For a long time I just expected this was something occurring from applying them wrong, until I saw how many people who know what they are doing it was happening to. Hell, I recently had one start to crack after 5 months after applying and handling it correctly.
 
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