Shooter Lane Repair

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Pinball Machines: Sales, Service, Restorations.

We purchase good quality, used pinball machines, then restore them to pristine condition for you to enjoy in your home for many years! We've been in business for over 15 years and are well-known for the quality of our work, and attention to detail.  Also, if you have a game that's needs some TLC, you can send it to us, and we can work our magic on your game as well. From Minty Fresh, up to a Supreme Restoration.

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We also can restore & clearcoat your pinball playfield as well. Jukeboxes, and even SS, EM and Woodrail games are no problem for TreasureCove! Call us today for a quotation! We'll get that Jukebox rockin' like it's supposed to.

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Shooter Lane Restoration


Any game, if it's been on a route for some time, will always have wear in  the ball shooter lane. Don't you just hate that?? Well, today I'm going to show you how we repair these on one of our pins. Items you'll need:

1) Hair Dryer
2) Instant Dry Clear Lacquer Spray from Ace Hardware.
3) sandpaper, 60 grit, 250 grit, & 1500 grit.
4) Masking tape and some newspaper.
5) small piece of mylar.



Here's a ball shooter lane that's pretty trashed!  :(







Take off parts, exposing the area where we'll be working.






Pretty nasty wear area!



You'll need 2 different sandpapers, 60 grit and 250 grit.



Fold up the 60 grit as shown, and start sanding down the bad area! Be Careful! Don't sand over into the painted areas of the playfield! We'd like to keep this area level, with no 'dip' or 'valley', so sand the whole area down as level as possible. In "this" case, there's so much wear that it's not possible, but on most jobs, you'll be able to sand this area down nice, level and smooth to keep the original appearance.



Sand it down, then every minute or two, put some water on the area. Doing this will bring out the grain, or dirt and show you what the final result will look like. Sand until it looks nice and clean with water on it!



fter you've got it to where there'll be no black/dirt marks, finish up with some fine 250 grit sandpaper!



Next , tape off the area like this!... Carefully note the position "ABOVE" the lane of the tape... upper left, ... and how it comes to a point. We do this so that when you're spraying lacquer from above, ... it will FEATHER out as it hits the shooter lane, and NOT have a  noticeable lacquer line when you're done!!! Also notice how I lay down the tape thru the hole and 'edge" around the playfield black paint line.



Another view showing how we position the tape coming to a point ABOVE the surface so that the lacquer, when sprayed, will "feather"!!!!






NOW for the spray lacquer, .... you'll notice that I had the clear spray lacquer in one hand while I have a Hair Dryer in the other hand. (I keep the hair dryer on the LOW speed while spraying) The main reason for this, .... is to make the lacquer "hit" the surface even dryer than it already is, ... and NOT PUDDLE UP!!!!   If you spray too much on at once, it will puddle, and won't look right!!!    so .. DO NOT try this repair without using a hair dryer!!!! Keep the hair dryer focused on the area while you "lightly" spray "mist coats" onto the wood. 



 just remember, ANYTIME you spray, have the Hair Dryer on low speed also pointed at the work area!!!  We also use this technique when repairing outholes as well!!!!







After you've put on several MIST coats, ... it won't look smoothe, but will look sort of grainy like above.  This is GOOD!!!!  ... .just what we want .... the lacquer goes on dry and won't puddle on the wood. Take a break now for 10 minutes or so, and go post some flames on Pinside   :)

NOTE: This shooter lane repair was done almost 9 yrs ago. Nowadays, if we have a shooter lane with this much wear, we would just lightly sand the area, then fill over with wood filler, then paint with a wood tone, lacquer and then apply a mylar patch.  As you can see in these photos, we took off way too much wood ..  :(   you want the area to remain original, ... so a light sand, fill, paint is the way to go.







Come back and do it again ... USING the DRYER in one hand, while you spray the lacquer in the other hand!!



When I'm using the dryer, I'll put on about ten light MIST coats at one time, ... then go take a break for 15 minutes
Remember, it won't be smooth now, .. but will look grainy...




More spray, ... make sure you don't hit your FAT belly when you're putting on the lacquer. See how I'm aiming the lacquer down on the area where the two pieces of tape come together ... Spraying from this position will insure that the lacquer feathers out properly!!!



Now after you've done this for an hour or so, .... get out that 1500 grit sandpaper, ... get the surface WET, .... then lightly begin sanding down the area to smooth out the lacquer, ... Easy Does IT here folks!!!  take your time and lightly sand


 

Wet sanding the area!!!!  After you're done, dry off the area and you'll see that it's dull.

Put some Novus 2 on a rag, rub down the area ... and you'll get a nice HIGH GLOSS!!!











When done, ... it will look hundreds of times better than it did!!!  Also, I don't recommend using the Machine polisher on repairs like this, ... as the polisher will cut thru the lacquer unless you have another 30 coats sprayed on!!   Just use Novus 2 after you've used the wet sandpaper!!!

And there you have it, .. another tricky technique, but easy to do, in order to make those ball shooter lanes look NEW!!!!!!!




It's also a good idea to put on a small piece of mylar over your touchups,
just to keep the area looking nice and new!


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