Playfield material - ply preferred? why?

[Marty Machine]

Hi All,

I'm interested in churning out some playfield 'blanks' for my own projects and wonder why plywood is the referred sheet to use? (they must have used it for 30+ years for a reason).

Surely someone out there has made their own playfields?, and whether anyone has tried MDF (customwood) or anything else?

I imagine Ply & MDF are as strong and stable (warp-wise) as eachother, and possibly Ply would be easier to staple the GI wiring into? maybe MDF's too hard for stapling?

Thanx in advance.
Marty.

[pinnies4me]

I guess ply was the best material way back, and MDF is a pretty recent (comparatively) material. The stuff has been banned in the US I believe for quite some time due to poisons used in the manufacture. Given the way it fails to do its job all that well  in the building side (put a drop of water on it and watch it expand and turn into crap) I can't imagine wanting to use it in a pinball (not that water is used, but you wonder what some Novus 1 might do). I think ply due to its construction has a tendency away from warping.

[Marty Machine]

come to think of it, i was putting woodscrews into MDF last week and had to drill tiny pilot-holes 1st, what a pain.

Ply just lets me throw a screw in wherever i need to (quikly).


 

[Mr Pinbologist]

Hey Marty...

I actually used MDF to build the playfield of my home made "Vortex" pin project. I do think ply would've been better, as screws etc hold much better in plywood than they do in MDF i have found. Having said that, the playfield is as good now as the day it was made nearly 15 years ago when i built it.
The main reason i tried MDF was that the MDF had a nice smooth flat surface that didn't need much preparation for paint etc, it was cheaper, and that i had problems finding decent plywood at the time.

[Pinball Fixers]

I guess ply was the best material way back, and MDF is a pretty recent (comparatively) material. The stuff has been banned in the US I believe for quite some time due to poisons used in the manufacture. Given the way it fails to do its job all that well  in the building side (put a drop of water on it and watch it expand and turn into crap) I can't imagine wanting to use it in a pinball (not that water is used, but you wonder what some Novus 1 might do). I think ply due to its construction has a tendency away from warping.

My brother is a wood machinist by trade, and has said to me many times that MDF is illegal in Europe due to the poisons in the glue. The European version of MDF must use a water based glue.

I'm not 100% sure why ply wood is used either, but I do remember something about using "Marine Ply" to make pinball playfields... not really sure why Marine Ply would be needed though.

[Extra Ball]

i believe gottliebs volley has a chipboard PF

[Retropin]

Pinballs with chipboard ( particle board) i avoid like the plague.... one sniff of water and its goodbye chipboard!

The EM.. MARS TREK has an all partcle board cabinet - youll find most of these games with a crumbling cabinet

Some of the european manufacturers used a poly carbonate type PF that had the artwork on the underside. I believe this is what Mark C is referring to in another thread.
Its extremely hard wearing and because of the print on the underside, PF wear is pretty much negated, plus if it gets cloudy like Mylar does due to wear it can be cut back with T cut to a high gloss again.
RALLY games had this feature as well as many other innovations that were well before their time...


... oh to own a late 60's RALLY game... THESE are my holy grail!

Also - the quality of the timber will dictate the life of the PF - you wont see a 30's pin with flaking and cracked paint because the timber used is of such high quality - some of my 30's pins have hard wood PF's.
Zaccaria pins are FAMOUS for their PF's - REALLy high qualty timber and inks used, youll find most Zacs have excellent playfield artwork.

So to marine ply is used due to the lack of expansion and contraction as opposed to standard ply.
Most ply bought these days is still "wet" and hasnt been seasoned properly

[Marty Machine]

Thanx for all the extra responses, good to know.

I was looking into marine ply due to it's superior performance as opposed to cheapy ply, although any old board is good enough for working out a new design and angles etc.

I was also looking at gluing 2-3 wide hardwood planks together to tough lasting stable PF....another option 

Thanx again,
MM.