KBS Diamond Clear Coat Preparation & Application

[Retropin]

Ive only ever used them once for this disaster..



I used a 1 pac clear over the top  thinned with All Purpose Thinners and it didn't react so KBS should be the same

[48]

Great info Retropin...

Is there any one that sells stencils for circles and triangles around inserts as it is impossible to cut a perfect circle by hand

so it can be air brushed instead of using decals

Thats the things that gave me grief. They lift on the edges ever so slightly and you can actually feel them sticking through the clear.
As Retropin said they can be sanded down and I got away with it but I still feel clearing over a decal is a no-no

[Slash]

Been a while since I posted an update so thought I would share how the last 3 odd weeks have gone.

Here is my DIY spray (well roller) booth.  Was $12 from Kmart   Although it actually worked pretty well




Obviously after cleaning the surface as well as I could I gave the first light application of the KBS.  I used it with about 30% thinners.  The first coat I did was really light.  I applied it with a small foam roller which appeared to go well.  After it was touch dry the one thing I noticed was it looked heavily dimpled in some areas.  These areas seemed to be ones that were particularly "thirsty".  Most of these thirsty areas were ones that I had sanded back heavily to try and get rid of the ball trail as it goes up the shooter lane and around the top. I have tried to show this below.  There were some other areas like that on the playfield but I wasn't too worried yet as it was only a first coat and I did it very lightly.




So the following weekend I put a second coat on a bit thicker (again with the roller) this time on the Saturday then another on the Sunday and this seemed to get rid of most of those areas except for a few indentations/dimples that didn't seem to want to fill in.  But over all it was starting to look pretty good.

Fast forward to this weekend and on the Saturday I put another coat on this time using a brush so that I could target a couple of areas that simply didn't seem to want to fill with the foam roller.  This worked really well.  I also used the brush to drop extra bits of clear on any cupped inserts or other oddities I could see when looking at the playfield on an angle.

I just put a light finishing coat on with a brush again this morning (Sunday).  I started with the foam roller but it seemed to leave a funny finish (like the finish you would get on a rollered wall) that wouldn't self level, so I switched to the brush and that seems to allow the liquid to settle better for some reason.  Here's a photo after applying the final coat.  Although it doesn't really show much.  I took some close ups but was basically getting all blue reflection from the "spray booth" and your can see the reflection of my white t-shirt in the shooter lane (I suppose that's a good thing).  So I will get some better ones in due course.



Next weekend I plan to start cutting and polishing it to see how it finally finishes up.  I will post pics once that's done.

So far I'm very happy with it and the clear really makes the playfield and my touchups looks heaps better!!! It really eliminates any differences in thickness/height between brushstrokes that you could see in some spots where I had touched it up.

[andypinboy]

Wow, that looks great Slash    Thanks for posting - look fwd to some pics of the final after it's cut & polished.

[plong]

Looks good ,did you sand between coats.

[Slash]

I did a v. light sand after the first coat because I wasn't happy with those dimples, but I don't think it was necessary and in hindsight I could have left it and just done the next coat.  I didn't sand between the other coats as I hadn't seen any significant imperfections or fish eyes etc that I thought needed sanding out, so decided it was better to leave it rather than create any more work or chances to screw it up.

[oldskool1969]

Good stuff Dude.

[Retropin]

Rollers are a really bad idea for a CC... they leave lots of air pockets in the clear and if its not thin enough, then they never come out... never use a roller!

The "thirsty" areas are bare timber soaking up the clear.. this will lead to "grain raise" and will need to be sanded smooth.
Also, make sure the PF is dead level when using KBS.. because it is self levelling ( another phrase for thin and takes a long time to start setting).. it will slide to the lower edge and youll have a thicker coat one end to the other.

[pinball god]

Been a while since I posted an update so thought I would share how the last 3 odd weeks have gone.

Here is my DIY spray (well roller) booth.  Was $12 from Kmart   Although it actually worked pretty well




Obviously after cleaning the surface as well as I could I gave the first light application of the KBS.  I used it with about 30% thinners.  The first coat I did was really light.  I applied it with a small foam roller which appeared to go well.  After it was touch dry the one thing I noticed was it looked heavily dimpled in some areas.  These areas seemed to be ones that were particularly "thirsty".  Most of these thirsty areas were ones that I had sanded back heavily to try and get rid of the ball trail as it goes up the shooter lane and around the top. I have tried to show this below.  There were some other areas like that on the playfield but I wasn't too worried yet as it was only a first coat and I did it very lightly.




So the following weekend I put a second coat on a bit thicker (again with the roller) this time on the Saturday then another on the Sunday and this seemed to get rid of most of those areas except for a few indentations/dimples that didn't seem to want to fill in.  But over all it was starting to look pretty good.

Fast forward to this weekend and on the Saturday I put another coat on this time using a brush so that I could target a couple of areas that simply didn't seem to want to fill with the foam roller.  This worked really well.  I also used the brush to drop extra bits of clear on any cupped inserts or other oddities I could see when looking at the playfield on an angle.

I just put a light finishing coat on with a brush again this morning (Sunday).  I started with the foam roller but it seemed to leave a funny finish (like the finish you would get on a rollered wall) that wouldn't self level, so I switched to the brush and that seems to allow the liquid to settle better for some reason.  Here's a photo after applying the final coat.  Although it doesn't really show much.  I took some close ups but was basically getting all blue reflection from the "spray booth" and your can see the reflection of my white t-shirt in the shooter lane (I suppose that's a good thing).  So I will get some better ones in due course.



Next weekend I plan to start cutting and polishing it to see how it finally finishes up.  I will post pics once that's done.

So far I'm very happy with it and the clear really makes the playfield and my touchups looks heaps better!!! It really eliminates any differences in thickness/height between brushstrokes that you could see in some spots where I had touched it up.

excuse my ignorance but I thought this was a photo from Stern's cc booth. On closer examination I can see I'm mistaken as there are no Stern logos present.

[big dog]

great and glad to see it went well , now its locked in you can do any thing to it.
most of all the colours in playfield must look awesome.
 

[Slash]

Well after doing a sand with 1,200 wet dry then a cut and polish I wasn't happy with the finish.  It still wasn't smooth enough and it was mainly where I had put some touchups on pretty thick and so when the clear went over it, it was ever so slightly lumpy in that area.  Plus I had only put on pretty lights coats of the clear to date so I didn't want to sand it back too hard and leave it with no clear in some spots or worse take paint off. 

So I went and put 2 more coats of clear on.  Then sanded again with 1,200 and then cut and polished it finally putting some Kanuba wax on too.  Overall I am very happy with the finish.  It's not entirely perfect and maybe if I put one more coat of clear on then sanded back again etc it might get even better but right now I'm happy with how it looks and nothing should effect the ball travel etc.  Here are a couple of pics.





As I said it's not perfect but I'm happy with the result for a cheapy pin and particularly compared to what I started with.  I made sure the whites when I repainted them were quite off white/cream so they didn't stand out against the other whites that had yellowed over time too.

[Crashramp]

Very nice work. I'd like a Buck Rogers some day.

[Retropin]

Looks great!

The ball should fly around now... ive got KBS on my Amazing Spiderman and the clear takes the game play up a level or two

[andypinboy]

Nice work slash. That's come up very well indeed! Let us know how she looks when back together & maybe a before & after shot side-by-side would be nice?

[pinball god]

Great first up effort. The next few games will enable you to perfect the technique