SPACE INVADERS PINBALL PLAYFIELD OVERLAY
As featured on Pinside
A client recently brought me his 1980 Bally Space Invaders pinball machine for restoration. Based on the 1978 video game of the same name, it was the first pinball to be based on a video game. This machine was one of only 5 "wide bodies" released for production by Bally. Graphics for the game mashed up Space Invaders and images based on the 1979 film Aliens, resulting in lawsuits and ultimately the stoppage of production.
This machine had been played hard over the years and the playfield showed it. Most of the middle artwork was worn totally off and mechanically it was in desperate need of an overhaul.
Options for repairing the playfield was pretty limited. A completely new playfield from CPR was one option – however it was out of stock and a playfield swap was a daunting task. A Hardtop from Outside Edge would have been a great option… but not available for Space Invaders. I settled on a playfield overlay from Jeff at Classic Arcades on eBay. I did my homework and saw lots of differing comments and experiences with this option – most were not very good but I was committed to making it work.
Jeff was very helpful messaging through eBay and he shipped my overlay quickly in a heavy duty tube. The quality was excellent. Here are the steps (and lessons) I went through for this procedure, which spanned 2 months.
1. Playfield preparation – I took off all the plastics, rubbers, posts, flipper bats etc. from the playfield face and put each removed section in a separate labelled zip lock bag, including screws, plastics and nuts. TAKE A LOT OF PHOTOS OF EACH SECTION. Take multiple pics – with plastic on, plastic off, etc. and keep the removed sections small but complete. I had about 10 separate zip lock bags of parts when I was done. This helped tremendously when reassembling.
2. Removal of playfield - I disconnected all the cables to the playfield and carefully removed it from the cabinet. I used 2 saw horses and clamps to secure it. First I had it face down, and started to remove any switch, drop target, pop bumper assemblies that protruded through the playfield. PUT THE SCREWS BACK IN THE HOLES THEY CAME FROM – this makes the reassembly much easier. Light objects like switches can just hang, but use zip ties to secure the drop targets and pop bumpers so they don’t stress the wiring harness. Put painters tape over any holes through the playfield left where the item was, so when sanding, the dust doesn’t go through and gum up the mechanisms below.
3. Sanding – Flip the playfield over again and secure with clamps up each side. There is about ½ inch along each side so make sure the clamps are tight. Use an orbital sander with 120 grit paper and start sanding the surface to remove the original artwork. This is a slow tedious process so go slow and go light so as not to leave indents anywhere. Sand everything – including the inserts, but be careful. With a shop vac attached to the sander, there is very little dust – I did this in my garage. Let the sander do the work – don’t apply much pressure and keep the sander as level as possible. This takes about 2 hours to complete. I finished sanding with 80 grit and then a quick wet sand. Use a Tac Cloth to clean the surface and use your hand to test the smoothness. They used great wood which sands very smoothly. I polished each insert with 600 grit wet sandpaper.
4. Inserts – I was NOT expecting to do this, but I noticed a few inserts were loose. Sure enough, a light tap of each insert from the back popped each one out! I cleaned glue out of each hole, cleaned the edges of each insert and re-glued each one using Gorilla Glue Clear Grip. Let dry – Took about an hour to do all of them.
5. Sealing the Wood – Ok this was NOT fun. I set up a paint area in my garage using plastic drop sheets because the spray sealer really smells. I wore a plastic safety suit and a respirator and decided on Krylon Clear Coat. I stuck cheap ear plugs in all the lamp holes so they wouldn’t get clear coat in them. Use a level to make sure the surface was totally flat – my garage floor was on a slight incline so I used shims to make it level. I applied a coat of Krylon, let it dry for 2 days, applied a second coat, let it dry 2 days, then wet sanded the surface. There were some fish eye marks coming up, so I did my best to wet sand them out. Another 2 coats (and a week) and wet sand. Fish eyes were back and looked worse. Hard to see at first, so make sure you have an alternate light source off to the side (mine was sunlight from a window) that when reflecting, shows EVERY imperfection. Re-wet sand and apply 2 more coats (over another few weeks letting it cure). TERRIBLE! Maybe I should have sanded between each coat, but after 6 coats of this smelly stuff, I decided to re-sand it ALL OFF and start over. The second time I chose a different sealer – I used Varathane Fast Drying Professional Clear Finish Gloss. I put on the first coat, lightly wet sanded, and did a second one, and wet sanded. NO FISHEYES! I declared this a success and let the Varathane cure for 2 weeks. DONE!
6. Preparing for the overlay – This part is super important. The overlay has no pre-cut holes in it AT ALL! Once you stick it down, all those post holes, lane wire guides, lamp holes, drop target holes are all covered up. You really have no way of finding them again once the overlay is put down. Again – take a LOT of pictures of every single inch of the surface – which helps – but the best thing you can do is to make a hole template. I used a few sheets of 8.5x11 copier paper, taped together and lined up over the play field. I put a high intensity LED work lamp underneath that would shine up through the main holes. I then used a contractor pencil to TRACE each main hole and more importantly each screw/bolt hole that disappear under the overlay. This was my wife’s idea and I thanked her profusely afterwards because it made the reassembly a no brainier. Took about an hour or so to do the complete trace – then I rolled it up and put it in the shipping tube the overlay came in.
7. Applying the overlay – I have installed Side Blade decals on a few machines so I thought my experience here prepared me for this. I WAS WRONG. Side blades can be difficult to install because they go in the cabinet vertically and have to be lined up under difficult circumstances. Using the “wet method” for side blades was helpful – warm soapy water sprayed on the adhesive side (or Windex) allows you some adjustment room when the sticker is applied – ie when you mess up, you can try again. With the “dry method” you get one chance to stick it down. With the playfield overlay you don’t have those obstacles – trim the excess overlay parts off with a VERY sharp X-Acto knife first, and lay the overlay on the playfield. I let mine lay there for a few days in my heated garage (72 degrees) to let it acclimate to the surface. I let it lay there longer than needed – it was like the Schrödinger's cat experiment – it was perfect at that exact point in time. I used a long metal ruler at the top of the playfield with 4 strong clamps and started to line it up. Using the LED work light underneath (at night for complete darkness) I spent an hour getting everything to line up. The overlay is clear where the inserts are – except for the scoresthat are printed – so there are lots of reference points. This took 2 people, a lot of patience and trial and error. In the end, it lined up pretty well – secured at the top. I put some painters tape along the sides from the top about 1/3 of the way down for additional support before starting to apply the overlay. NOTE – I used the wet method the first time which resulted in terrible wrinkling and bubbling in some areas. It seemed to get worse each day. I believe the wet method weakened the adhesive in some areas where it pooled as I was applying it. Most of the wrinkling was in the centre area where I applied the first half, followed by the upper half. AS it dried, the adhesive dried as well. There is no really need to use the wet method – so don’t! Thanks to Jeff from Classic Arcades for providing me a discount on the second overlay. Ok – So long story short – I peeled off the overlay completely which left the playfield in good shape. I wet sanded it again and the Varathane surface was still in great shape. I went through the lining up process again re-applied the overlay, starting by peeling back the paper half way up from the bottom, cutting off the excess and with a gloved hand, slowly rubbing the overlay onto the surface left to right down to the bottom. Repeat for the top half.
8. Hole Cutting - I let the adhesive cure overnight and the next day started cutting out the holes with a #11 X-Acto knife. The blade gets gummed up so after each cut, use 99% rubbing alcohol to clean the blade and replace the blade often. I replaced the blades as I didn’t want to chance the alcohol method. Using the fine tip of the blade allows you to make the tight corners and switch lane cuts.
9. Using the template – Once the big holes are cut out, it’s time to punch through all the small holes. Take the template that was made, line it up with the cut holes and tape it down. I used a small sharp punch to poke each hole. This worked really well and saved a ton of time during reassembly.
10.While still out of the cabinet, I reassembled the mechanisms under the playfield and reattached the wood frame around the playfield. I then put the playfield back in the cabinet to reassemble everything on top.
The playfield looks BRAND NEW now – not a single wrinkle or crease anywhere. Thanks to Jeff from Classic Arcades for his help and support and to my wife, George and Matt for all their help and assistance.
I would highly recommend this option when you are looking for an affordable solution to a dead playfield.
This is what we had to work with!