Freeze Spray - Mylar Removal

[Sinbad79]

Hi Team
just researching at the moment and have come across these two freeze sprays for the removal of mylar.
Curious if anyone has had any experience on them:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=NA1000
http://www.crcindustries.com.au/freeze-spray

or if anything else is recommended i'm all ears.

[joele]

What a rip off, don't do it  

I get mine from office works, one of these held upside down works great for me, done a fair few mylar removals now, even full playfields with this stuff... (though you may need a couple of cans for a full playfield)

http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/insystem-pressurised-air-duster-150ml-ra100150?searchTerm=compressed%20air

[Sinbad79]

Ouch
Glad i asked.
Thanks for the tip!

[Retropin]

When you remove Mylar like this you are taking a gamble on whether the paint is held on the playfield better than the Mylar to paint. if you get this round the wrong way you will lift paint. Freeze spray method is by far the worst you can do other than just pulling the stuff up. Yes, I know Clay has this as a removal method but that doesn't make it right.. in fact its VERY wrong. Its akin to cracking an egg with a hammer - you just wouldn't do it. Clay is an arse for recommending this and its been the ruin of many playfields, but because Clay says it works ( which it does but without any degree of finesse), it must be right.... it ISNT..
I wince every time I hear someone is about to do this to a playfield.. you have no guarantee how its going to turn out.. it is a complete gamble

[Sinbad79]

Ok well i've no idea who clay is, just seen this method on youtube.
How would you go about this process?

[dealers choice]

Some people use a heat gun to soften the glue. I havnt tried thatmethod but I did. remove mine on a day that was nearly 40 degreese in the shed and it came off with very minimal paint loss. Mind you my pin is 40 years old and every playfield is different. just my 2cents worth

[Pintoxicated]

How bad is the mylar on your playfield and does it have to be removed for the sake of game play or because you want to?  For me personally I am happy to put up with old mylar if it isnt affecting game play and means the playfield artwork will remain intact.

I have heard of guys leaving the playfield in the sun on a very hot day to heat up the mylar.  I have used the heat gun method but that was on a clear coated playfield and it worked well.

If you do remove the mylar just ensure you do it very very slowly.

[pinnies4me]

How bad is the mylar on your playfield and does it have to be removed for the sake of game play or because you want to?  For me personally I am happy to put up with old mylar if it isnt affecting game play and means the playfield artwork will remain intact.

I have heard of guys leaving the playfield in the sun on a very hot day to heat up the mylar.  I have used the heat gun method but that was on a clear coated playfield and it worked well.

If you do remove the mylar just ensure you do it very very slowly.

Spot on - if you don't want to risk the paint, and the game plays well, best left alone. There are techniques to polish the mylar to a nice shine that will allow if to look good and play faster.

For the few games I have done removal, I found freeze spray very ineffective. A heat gun works quite well, but you have to be prepared to go the next step either way - removal of the glue. The heat softens the glue, and allows the plastic to come away - heat and pull very slowly. I pull sort of "forward" so the lifting is minimal, allowing the pressure to slowly separate the two, rather than straight up.

Getting rid of the glue can be done with "Goo Gone" (Bunnings) but it takes a lot of effort. Some use flour and rub around to collect the glue, I tried that and it worked well too. I know someone posted a thread about that and they might be able to post a link as I could not find it.

[Boots]

I have heard that freeze spray works on newer machines but have never tried it myself
DO NOT use it on older machines as the guys suggest leave the of pfield in the hot sun or use a heat gun.
If you use a heat gun make sure you don't overheat or you will soften the paint and it will lift off with the mylar.
I used the heat gun method on a pfield that had Mylar put on after planking and paint loss had already occurred and I lost almost no paint at all.
White Spirits works great for glue removal it's nice and thin an gets the glue out of all the cracks.
It's also very cheap and available from any supermarket

If the Mylar is not lifting and is still in good condition then there is no real need to remove it
If you had small areas lifting at corners or something you could just trim them off with a sharp knife
Run around the edges with a rag and white spirits to clean up the dirty mark and you will be surprised how much better it looks, without the risk or stress of losing paint

[Sinbad79]

All very interesting, glad i asked.
The mylar is generally in good condition there are perhaps 1 or 2 areas where there is slight bubbling and another where some artwork needs to be repaired and some kind of mylar applied.

What im really after is to remove all mylar, make repairs where needed, then have it all clear coated. I'm modestly confident i can do a decent restoration, preservation of this playfield, but it seems the mylar removal is the biggest questionmark at this point.

The inserts are an issue as they disturb the ball, so i figured if i were to remove them for repairs, together with mylar, then i was 90% done with the playfield restoration

Now im not so sure

[Retropin]

White Spirit is the only method that actually turns the glue to a water like substance without affecting or having the potential to affect the paint. Heat gun works but it only softens the paint and turns it to a syrup like substance and as Boots says, overheat and you melt the paint too.
White Spirit is slower to do but safer.
Way to do it is to leave the PF in the machine while on its legs.. it has a natural slope down this way. Lift the very top edge of the Mylar very slightly and with a rag or syringe apply a little White Spirit to the join of Mylar and PF.. wait about 30 secs and youll be able to lift the edge a little further very very easily.... carry on down the PF, as you go further, the area you are applying White Spirit to  gets bigger so the process becomes faster as you move down.
Don't let the Mylar flop back down onto the PF as once the WS evaporates, the glue becomes glue again

[Sinbad79]

Is diggers white spirits interchangeable with mineral turps?

[studley67]

NO
 

[joele]

I don't get it???

I have used the spray method on 4 different 90s williams machines and it works VERY WELL...

I spray heaps of the liquid (can upside down) on and the mylar litterally lifts off (makes a crackle sound) and requires very LITTLE force and has never lifted ANY paint so far. In fact if force is required I stop and use much more freeze spray on that spot.. As I said I recently did a full playfield (dr who) that the mylar was bubbling on.. Of course if the mylar is well stuck and doesn't look bad I would probably just leave it...

I have heard though it depends on the era of playfield, on old playfields it is far more dangerous than on 90s playfields..

Heat can be very dangerous too, I have heard of plenty of people using too much heat with heat guns and damaging the playfield, the best method with heat I heard is leave the playfield in the sun on a hot summers day and then peal off carefully...

[Sinbad79]

NO
 

Haha, noted!