I agree with some of what the guys are saying but I would love to be involved in the preservation of pinball and some of those classic playfields. I agree the hours of effort to reproduce the playfields graphically would be huge per playfield and you may want more than just 1 playfield in return. The work in drafting the playfield for cnc is also very important as both the front and back need to be considered which I am sure where things may go a little pear shaped.
Having my own cnc I understand the need for accurancy to then be able to repeat something especially a pinball playfield as your reference point for cutting and printing need to be the exact same point and if the playfield is rotated just a degree items at the opposite end of the playfield start be misaligned. Thinking about it, I think if you were going to reproduce a playfield and you want to minimise the in-accuracy of reproducing a playfield you would have to:
- take a photo or 2 of the graphic side with parts, then again without parts to allow the knowledge to pass on to another person who may be doing the artwork or the cad work
- take a photo or 2 of the underside with parts, then again without parts for the same reason.
- scan the graphic side
- scan the underside
Note: this should be all from one playfield so this playfield can be reproduced because if you scan one and then work from another for the machining things can start to get messy.
- then work can start on the graphics and cad, based on one single playfield.
So I don't know what John thinks but maybe if people want to help that if not supplying the playfield as much detail needs to be gained so guys know why a hole is for something and what to avoid. I am sure there were variations in the playfield from the original production of the day as press stamps would wear etc all contributing to mm variations etc.
Let us know what you need John and I sure people can help, I know I have a Totem playfield that I could get scanned both sides and send to you.
