Just because Clay wrote something doesn't make it right.... the freeze method really is a terrible way to try and remove Mylar.. hairdryer isn't much better.. its possible to overheat and melt the paint work.
Why anyone would risk the artwork is beyond me
+1
Mylar removal needs to be taken in context. Factory "Mylar" can easily be removed from a DMD era game with ease. I've never lifted a pinhead of artwork using the freeze spray on a DMD game.
Mylar was first installed in early SYS80 games. It would be a bloody miracle to remove mylar from titles such as Haunted House and Spirit. I dread the day I have to do it !
"Contact" was installed prior to 1982. I know, because I was there watching the same stuff placed on school books installed in NIB machines. I watched the contact installed on my Paragon the day it was removed from it's box. THIRTY years later, I removed the contact using minimal heat and not one pinhead of artwork was lifted.
The problem most have with contact removal is that MANY games had contact OR mylar placed on the machine AFTER the game started to show wear. This is where the debate over what method is best. Once the contact is installed, then time decides which is stronger - The primer holding the paint to the wood, or the adhesive on the contact.
If the game already had wear and ball swirl, then NO method will remove mylar successfully.
If the game already had wear and ball swirl, then it is possible to remove contact successfully. This is where the discussion become "personal choice". I would NEVER use the pipette and any liquid "injected" under contact or mylar. This method DESTROYED a perfectly good Bally Star Trek machine. The goof off or goo gone dissolved into the paint making a colorful soup and the next day I had pieces of artwork stripped off the playfield. Never again !
But that's based on personal choice. I take each playfield on it's own merits, and from experience, I can look at a playfield and simply not even attempt the removal using any method.
With the restorers that post videos of their methods - They will only post the "success stories".. You seldom see trashed playfields as no one wants to see that happen !
If the game already had wear and ball swirl, then NO method will remove mylar successfully.... I completely disagree here...
Choice of fluid is the problem of your Star Trek.. not method. Goof off and Goo Gone are products design to eat pretty much anything that they touch... White Spirit is also dry cleaning fluid and is perfectly safe on your playfield.
When you remove Mylar, the idea is to make the contact between the Mylar and the PF weaker than the paint and timber.. get this wrong and you will lift paint. White Spirit turns the glue into a water like substance for a period of time... mylar slides off like ice on a table at the lightest touch. White Spirit is a little like Turps.. both of which you can put onto dry paint for 100 years without ever affecting it.. difference is that WS renders glue to a tactless solution. It is the safest option out of all methods
