pinball glare from backglass

TheShanMan

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I'm sure everyone who knows anything about pinball knows the answer to this but unfortunately I don't know anything :eek: so I'll ask... My mr & mrs pacman pin gets a lot of glare on the playfield when the room is dark (when the blacklights are on). What kind of solutions are there for improving this?
 
When I had my pinball in the garage, I noticed that it put out a good amount of light around all the other stuff. Leaving blacklight effects overhead pretty weak. No way around that I guess.

The biggest problem I had was despite it being bright enough to overpower the dark room, if I didn't have some sort of additional lighting above it, I could barely see what I was doing. To help this, I placed it right next to a freshly painted wall. The lights reflected off the glossy paint next to it and helped me see my gameplay better.

In an ideal arcade setup, I think the best way to arrange pinballs is away from the video game area, in their own semi-lit space, so that blacklight effects still work well else where.

This picture kinda shows how the glossy paint rather than plain drywall or flat paint can reflect enough light near the palyfield without any other lights on.
picture.php


Not sure if this is the answer you're searching for.
 
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does yours have individual lights or one big flourescent (I can't remember)? If one big tube, some games (Sega?) had a tube cover that was opaque on the front and clear on the back so that the light shined back on the circuit boards and then lit the backglass for indirectly, thereby cutting down glare.

Otherwise, you can try something like this:



http://www.glarebusters.com/?SSAID=358497
 
I'm sure everyone who knows anything about pinball knows the answer to this but unfortunately I don't know anything :eek: so I'll ask... My mr & mrs pacman pin gets a lot of glare on the playfield when the room is dark (when the blacklights are on). What kind of solutions are there for improving this?
Probably have better luck posting this in the pinball section.

Glennon
 
If it's glare from the DMD you can try this:

http://www.wrongcrowdproductions.com/glareGuard.htm


Bill
Dont think thats it - mr & mrs pac doesnt have a DMD. I have one and its the same way - seems like alot of glare from the backlight - try turning it off (taking it out) and seeing if it gets better - then you can try a lower wattage bulb. - If your only getting the glare from the backglass that is.
 
I had the same problem with mine. It's a single flourescent tube and no matter how many lumens you get its still too bright (not to mention all the light is in the center). I went with a rope light, more dim, evenly lit and dosent put out any heat. And it pretty much eliminates glare on the playfield.

Heres a couple photos, think I also have this on my YouTube channel.
 

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I had the same problem with mine. It's a single flourescent tube and no matter how many lumens you get its still too bright (not to mention all the light is in the center). I went with a rope light, more dim, evenly lit and dosent put out any heat. And it pretty much eliminates glare on the playfield.

Heres a couple photos, think I also have this on my YouTube channel.
great idea! I have some rope light laying around - I may have to try that!
 
If it's glare from the DMD you can try this:

http://www.wrongcrowdproductions.com/glareGuard.htm


Bill

this is a great product for newer DMD games, but not for Mr and Mrs Pac. You can either use lower wattage bulbs or put the cover over the bulbs. There is one other product, but i dont reccomend it for your game. I dont know how nice your game is but i sell alot of pins and Mr and Mrs is not a real valuable pin. But the newest thing on the market right now is a speacial playfield glass that is being imported from germany. It cost 300.00 plus shipping per sheet, but it shows no glare. Some kind of special coating on the glass where it makes the glass "invisible" which i kinda thought glass was see through to start with. But this coating somehow shows no reflections/glare. The is a bunch of talk right now on RGP since someone is ordering a bunch to lower the cost of shipping
 
does yours have individual lights or one big flourescent (I can't remember)? If one big tube, some games (Sega?) had a tube cover that was opaque on the front and clear on the back so that the light shined back on the circuit boards and then lit the backglass for indirectly, thereby cutting down glare.

Otherwise, you can try something like this:



http://www.glarebusters.com/?SSAID=358497

I have black electrical tape covering the front of the bulb but that's not enough, and there is sheet aluminum directly behind the bulb so it still gets a lot of glare.

I had the same problem with mine. It's a single flourescent tube and no matter how many lumens you get its still too bright (not to mention all the light is in the center). I went with a rope light, more dim, evenly lit and dosent put out any heat. And it pretty much eliminates glare on the playfield.

Heres a couple photos, think I also have this on my YouTube channel.

That's a great idea. I seem to recall hearing of someone doing that, but given that black electrical tape on the front side of my bulb still leaves a lot of glare, I would think there would still be glare. What kind/amount of lighting do you have in your room?

Maybe a combination of rope lighting and the product mod referenced would work well.

I appreciate the input guys!
 
this is a great product for newer DMD games, but not for Mr and Mrs Pac. You can either use lower wattage bulbs or put the cover over the bulbs. There is one other product, but i dont reccomend it for your game. I dont know how nice your game is but i sell alot of pins and Mr and Mrs is not a real valuable pin. But the newest thing on the market right now is a speacial playfield glass that is being imported from germany. It cost 300.00 plus shipping per sheet, but it shows no glare. Some kind of special coating on the glass where it makes the glass "invisible" which i kinda thought glass was see through to start with. But this coating somehow shows no reflections/glare. The is a bunch of talk right now on RGP since someone is ordering a bunch to lower the cost of shipping

Damnnnnn! $300.00 for a sheet of glass!
 
The trick that seems to work well for me is to start off being really tall then adjust stance accordingly for best viewing angle so as to get less direct reflection, thus minimizing glare. Most important to this strategy is to continue growing to at least 6'6" or 6'7" if you haven't already done so. Of course, with this strategy you may encounter other game playing difficulties.
 
Great idea. I'll add about 8" and see how that goes. ;)

BTW, I wonder if the fact that currently there is a pair of blacklights directly above the pin makes it worse. Tonight I'll have to compare blacklights to no lights at all and see if that affects it. If it does, then maybe moving it out from under the blacklights would be another partial solution.
 
Great idea. I'll add about 8" and see how that goes. ;)

Sounds painful. Better work your way up to Big Bubba by starting with a peewee first.

BTW, I wonder if the fact that currently there is a pair of blacklights directly above the pin makes it worse. Tonight I'll have to compare blacklights to no lights at all and see if that affects it. If it does, then maybe moving it out from under the blacklights would be another partial solution.

Well, I don't know about overhead blacklights, but my biggest pet peeve when playing a pin at the local bowling alley is those darn overhead white fluorescents that shine off the playfield glass.
 
here is the info on the glass,
and here is the recent thread in RGP where some say they have put it in all there games. I have alot of $ invested in my machines, but im not gonna drop 5G to replace all my glass on my pins

That does seem kinda pricey. Maybe one pinball ok, but if you have a few that gets expensive quick.
 
That does seem kinda pricey. Maybe one pinball ok, but if you have a few that gets expensive quick.

Very pricey. But, I was at Mr.68's house on Saturday (he's one of the rgp guys that recommends it) and it's unreal. Looks like there's nothing there. My wife said, I shouldn't play this one the glass is off. I looked, wtf!?!, actually had to touch it to be sure it was there. He mentioned there was a price break at 5 sheets, maybe go in with some friends to lower the cost. If I had $$$ to spare I would get it
 
I'm sure everyone who knows anything about pinball knows the answer to this but unfortunately I don't know anything :eek: so I'll ask... My mr & mrs pacman pin gets a lot of glare on the playfield when the room is dark (when the blacklights are on). What kind of solutions are there for improving this?

Although the rope lighting is a great idea I just remember this game as having a lot of glare and that's the way I like it.
 
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