MIRRORED PLAYFIELD
MODIFICATION
I decided to
use one full piece of acrylic sheet to cover the entire playfield. From an engineering standpoint I knew that
there were some potential problems with this approach: the abrasion resistance of
acrylic, and the possibility of thermal expansion buckling the acrylic sheet as
temperature changes. I went ahead with
this approach because it is a lot less expensive and quicker to fabricate. If it doesn’t work I can do it over again a
different way. If it works I’m a genius!
So far the
game has had 305 plays at the Texas Pinball Festival. The acrylic does show some ball marks but
from the playing position it still looks great.
The mirror film has held up fine so far with the temperature changes and
the moving around to the show.
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Here’s the easy part; paint the entire
playfield flat black! Mask off the
inserts. |
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I used a 1/8” thick 24”x48” acrylic
sheet. The sides had to be trimmed slightly
on my table saw using a plastic cutting blade. Clamp the sheet on the underside of
the playfield and pencil trace all the openings so you know where to
cut. Bring it back to the top of the
playfield and re-clamp. Now all your tracings are right over the cutouts. |
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First drill holes through each traced
shape. This will be the entry point
for the router bit. I used a Dremel tool with a 1/8”
RotoZip piloted guide point bit. The pilot follows the original shape
in the playfield. Just zip it around
and your done. |
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All the cutouts are done. Next you have to peel the paper off of the
plastic sheet and place it back down on the playfield. You will need to center punch each screw
and bolt hole by eye. Then drill with a plastic drill bit or brad
point bit. This will take a while and is very
tedious. There are a lot of holes to
locate and drill! |
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This photo looks confusing because I
just applied the mirror film. All
kinds of weird reflections going on here. I used Gila Privacy Mirror film
available at home improvement stores. A caveat: They say not to use this on acrylic, it is
meant only for glass. But I did it
anyway. It sticks enough for this
purpose but doesn’t really glue itself down firmly, so careful handling is
needed. Applying window film is tricky and
requires practice. I went through two
sheets on this job, and I had lots of experience already with my house
windows and film. |
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Once the film is dry you cut out all the
openings, and there are lots of openings! |
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And you thought it was difficult
getting to this point! Now you have to
sink all the under playfield devices that are affected by the extra 1/8”
thickness of the acrylic! This is a pain. |
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COPYRIGHT 2010 BY ALAN LEWIS |
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