Journalist Tool

Kineticist

HDashboard
IItems
↓Ingest
SSources
KBeats
BBriefs
RIntel
QSearch
NName Review
+Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

How To Install Pinball Art Blades: A Step-By-Step Guide

Flip n Out Pinball·video·9m 57s·analyzed·Jun 27, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Step-by-step tutorial for installing interior art blades on pinball machines using wet adhesive method.

Summary

Zach from Flippin' Out Pinball provides a detailed tutorial on installing interior art blades (side rail artwork panels) on pinball machines. The process involves removing the playfield glass and lockdown bar, using a wet method with Windex spray adhesive to position the decals, carefully aligning them with bolt holes and glass channels, and tilting the playfield to complete installation on both sides. The presenter emphasizes proper technique to avoid air bubbles and damage to the decals.

Key Claims

Interior art blades should be positioned slightly below the glass channel to prevent scraping when the glass is reinstalled
high confidence · Direct instruction demonstrated multiple times during installation process
Using the Windex wet method allows repositioning of art blades before the adhesive dries, providing a window for adjustment
high confidence · Core methodology explained and demonstrated throughout the tutorial
Each pinball machine has slight variations in playfield positioning (approximately a quarter inch of play) that affects art blade installation
high confidence · Physical demonstration showing left-to-right play in the playfield
Forcing the playfield over the back hump when reinstalling increases risk of skewing or tearing art blades compared to a softer bump method
medium confidence · Presenter's opinion based on experience, not empirically demonstrated

Notable Quotes

“The point of no return, baby.”
Zach@ 2:57 — Humorous moment when removing the adhesive backing from the art blade
“there's an art to it and because it's still wet we can manipulate where it's going”
Zach@ 4:53 — Explains the key advantage of the wet method for alignment and adjustment
“you don't want it to be right on top of the glass channel but right below it”
Zach@ 4:20 — Critical positioning instruction to prevent decal damage during glass installation
“The process can be intimidating, I get that, but it's not that bad, especially these newer art blades that they're pretty thick, so you can kind of move them around pretty well”
Zach@ 7:10 — Reassurance to viewers about difficulty level and modern art blade durability

Entities

Zach MinneypersonFlippin' Out PinballcompanyThe Pinball Showorganization

Signals

?
community_signal: Flippin' Out Pinball providing educational DIY content for pinball machine owners/enthusiasts, supporting aftermarket customization and restoration
high · Detailed step-by-step tutorial with clear instruction and multiple demonstrations of the installation process

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.030

Hey gang, thanks for checking out the video. I'm Zach with Flippin' Out Pinball straight down the middle and the pinball show. Today I'm going to show you a quick and easy way to install art blades for your pinball machine.

make sure the power of the pinball machine is turned off and for safety precautions just unplug it from the wall as well next remove the playfield glass as well as the lockdown bar put them to the side safely also make sure to remove the pinballs from the game so the gist of it is we're going to take the adhesive off of the back of these things we're going to spray it down this is a wet method spray down with windex and then we're going to shimmy that in there with the playfield up and we're going to rotate. I'll show you how to do that. But what I wanted to show you guys is on each pinball machine, there are a little bit of variations sliding from left to right. Like I've pushed it all the way over and it's not much. It's not even a quarter inch. See, there's just a little bit. That little bit is actually going to be important as we're installing these art blades. So as we prep, if we're starting on this side, we're going to try to shift that whole thing over so that leaves us as much room as possible. We're going to pull it out, not all the way, because then we can't sit it down, but we're going to look under and it's got rubber stoppers down there that we're going to sit it down. So that is securely into place. And as I said before, kind of push it over just to do a test run. Remember, we're going to take off the back of this adhesive. We're going to spray very liberally and I'll show you that in a minute, some Windex. then we are going to shimmy it and you'll see this movement because the back will be wet and it'll give you time to apply and adhere and then again this is the dry run so I'm just showing you how to do it with the back still on there's a hole right here see that that's going to line up with the head bolt hinge hole so that's going to kind of be your starting point see so far pretty simple Well, the next step I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put down some, you can have a towel, paper towel, because as we're spraying Windex, you don want it to get on the floor especially hard surfaces you might slip and fall So we are going to spray this thing with the windex and then we kind of going to shake it out a little bit and that shaking part you just kind of get the rest of it off onto the paper towel or onto the towel a lot of people ask like does it matter what kind of windex i honestly don't know just use some regular windex here and as to which side you hold on to as you're spraying it don't it doesn't matter like it really doesn't matter we're going to take the adhesive off i'll show you guys All right, we're going to take the adhesive off here. The point of no return, baby. Oh, satisfying. So we're going to take it off like that. Kind of hold it up there like so. Discard that. Now see, this is the sticky part. I'm going to take this. See that? I think it shows. You can just spray it very liberally everywhere there. Now, next part. Now you're going to kind of make sure that that Windex is kind of, I use my fingers, just make sure it is everywhere on that art blade.

And then there's going to be leftover stuff. It's not going to feel that sticky anymore. So just shake out any residue because as we slide this into the pinball machine, there's going to be some Windex that goes down the side of the cabinet. We just want to make sure that we dry all of that up before we end the process and turn on the game. now i'm going to shift over now this is shaken out i'm going to shift over to show you guys how we're going to install this again make sure that it slid all the way to the side you don't have to be in a super hurry but you're gonna not want this windex to dry and see this is where i'm holding on this end and this end i'm taking it and kind of seesawing it and i'm looking to line up this hole right there with that so i'm gonna line up that hole number one and then i'm gonna look up here and I don't want it to be right on top of the glass channel but right below it and I'll just follow that and kind of just push it with my fingers make sure there's no air bubbles and then I'm gonna work my way up but I'm the whole time I'm making sure that this to the glass channel stays about the same see it's getting a little bit higher so I'm gonna Loosen it up up front, push it down a little bit.

And then you get used to like, I installed so many of these I kind of get used to there an art to it and because it still wet we can manipulate where it going So that looks good All that looks good And now I to about this point and I can't go any further, but that all looks good. It doesn't have any air bubbles. Now I'm going to tilt up this play field and finish up the front as you're tilting up the play field. Just be careful not because the front end is loose still on this. So just be careful not to tear up the interior art blade. Now that we have that up, we just start doing the same thing where we just kind of line up right here. See where we want this to go.

Just like so. Look at that, guys. See? Not bad at all. And then every once in a while, you'll get like a bubble in between where the play field is at that you couldn't get. Once we put this play field back in the position that it once was, then you can kind of manipulate where it needs to go. Look, that's about it. We're going to put this play field back in the other position. We're going to kind of shift it over as far as it can this side. We're going to wet that other decal and then we're going to apply it just like we did the old right side. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I always take a cloth and I just wipe down inside this cabinet to make sure that nothing uh nothing has dripped down onto any of the components i'm gonna flip it back up and do the same wipe down we're gonna kind of pull it over this way good okay gang i have liberally applied all that windex i'm gonna saw it back and forth into this little crack okay see saw see saw see saw again we're trying to line up that hole right here see-saw to the spot just in the general vicinity right about there and then I work off of this hole this looks good up here and then I'm going to make sure going this way it's pretty uniform that looks good and that boom bada bing bada boom looks good

Again, the process can be intimidating, I get that, but it's not that bad, especially these newer art blades that they're pretty thick, so you can kind of move them around pretty well Dang I just nailed that one Let flip it up While I at it I might as well just wipe this wipe this down lift it up okay now for the rest of it let's see if it lines up yeah that's lining up pretty good so from the top kind of working our way down but what we want to make sure to do is go from this way towards that way. I already see my Windex going everywhere. Just wipe that up. Okay now this side boy that I mean there's no air bubbles on this side. Look at that. And you see the decal is about a couple millimeters below that glass channel because when the glass comes in you don't want it to be higher than or you're going to start scraping off that decal. As always, whenever you do have an interior art blade, you always want to be careful as you're lowering this, not to scrape the sides with, especially these things. So you just keep your eye out for them and make sure that you don't have anything that's going to scrape them. I will tell you this for a lot of you guys that like to take this handle and get it over this back hump here. See, there's a hump. Watch. It stops right there. There's a hump to get over that. A lot of you that like to do that instead of going over that hump forcefully, I will say that you're more prone to going too far left or right and skewing and messing up these art blades by doing this method. It's a little softer on the system, but I mean, it's made to bump. It's fine. So that's why I usually do the bump because you do this and you're twisting it a bit and you're more prone to tearing up those art bl- I'm just saying. Congratulations! See, now you can say that you've installed successfully interior art blades for your pinball machine. It wasn't so bad and can we say world under glass? Look how great this looks. Thanks again for all your support and your continued support of Flippin' Out Pinball. Remember, for your next game or arcade machine, used, new, whatever it may be, all you got to do is go to FlippinOutPinball.com, follow us on socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, where else? What else are there? I don't even know. There's other stuff I think. The X? Is it the X? Is that one of them?