How to get a 'brand new' monitor screen?

[ckong]

since a few months I'm the proud owner of a used (obviously) New Astro city. It is in pretty good shape, although the (anti-reflection?) coating on the monitor screen had a little damage on two spots (sigaret burns?). This annoyed me. And there were of course uncountable very tiny scratches from cleaning (I suppose) the monitor all the years it stood in an arcade. Last week I visited a fellow cab owner who had his monitor cleaned profesionally (see http://www.arcadeotaku.com/forum/viewto ... f=6&t=1100) and it looked like new. The coating was gone, and all the scratches with it. I want that also!

So, because I have no glass polishing shop in the neighbourhood I went to a car shop yesterday and bought this:



I then just started polishing by putting a little polish on the towel and polish circle wise, and this over and over again. I first tried a little spot on the black edge of the monitor which is normally behind the bezel. This looked good and I then tried it at one of the damaged spots on the monitor screen. Also OK. Then I did put on the latest CD of Katie Melua (who looks very nice by the way), took a beer and and a deep breath and I continued right in the middle of the monitor:



It's pretty hard work, and I had to inspect the surface of the monitor closely with a lamp to see if all coating residu was gone, but half an hour later I was about halfway (left side done, the little spot on the right side of the screen was my second test):



I finished the job about half an hour later, and the results are amazing. The screen is bright and looks like new. There is not one scratch on the whole screen left, not even a tiny one. And the damaged spots are also gone. The game colours are more vibrant. I couldn't be happier There is of course a little bit more reflection, but I didn't plan to put the cab in direct daylight anyway. All in all I would recommend this to anyone who is unhappy with the way his monitor screen looks.

[grantspain]

good work and good info

[almighty]

Also started with this project and i can confirm that this works great.
Done this at my cab today and guess what? a brand new screen!

http://www.nozomi.nl/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 7&start=50

[Akraten]

I had the same results but i used a product called Novus number 3 heavy scratch remover.
http://www.modernplastics.com/novisplasticpolish.html"
i took all the scratches off along with the anti glare.
it took about 2 plus hours of buffing by hand but the results are amazing.

[dmauro]

Thanks for the tip on the Novus No. 3! I just picked up an 8oz bottle on Amazon for $15 shipped (shipping was pretty expensive ordering direct from the website you linked to). One of my monitors has some pretty bad abrasions and scratches, so I'm really looking forward to this.

[jonny5]

i can vouch for Novus 3 as well.....after akraten success with it i used it as well......and WOW .....it works a dream :!: :!:

if you have a monitor with a nice picture but scratched up tube this is a must :!:

is also awesome for taking scuffs out of the bezel on astro's.....made mine look brand new

i would suggest getting a hand buffer.....like one used for cars....makes the job much easier and quicker.....

[dmauro]

The Novus 3 worked out really well! I just did it by hand and spent about 40 minutes with it and it looks great.

[thegreathopper]

Are there any disadvantages with removing the anti- reflective coating? I would not think that Toshiba put the coating on for nothing. An engineer at Hantarex told me it was a very expensive process.

I have a few scratches on my monitors but they do not bother me and cannot be seen unless the cab is off, I can only guess your scratches must be very bad to show with a game running.

[thechop]

My atomiswaves screen has a few marks near the bottom where i assume in transit the bezel has rubbed against the lower edge and rubbed off the anti glare, there's only one bit noticable(see pic)
Anyhow i recently bought some of the Novus 123 pinball stuff and it is indeed great stuff but surely it'd be easier to put something on the light patch to dull it rather than rub it all off the whole screen
The screen on the AW is really bright already aswell so i think it'd burn me retinas out without the coating on

[thechop]

yeah mine was sort of a 'well is it really worth it' kind of post, as its a whole lot of work for a little mark hence why it'd be easier to cover the mark rather than furiously rub the screen for 2 days.
Also my fear would be that i'd get to the middle and there'd be a patch that would not budge and could well spell 'knob'

[thechop]

While i'm on, has anyone tried this(removing the anti-glare coating) on a SANWA 2931ES monitor?

[jonny5]

should be a fairly standard thing i would think.....

and i recommend using soemthing like a car-buffer or the like to do it....way easier on the arms and gets it done quickly

just apply a little novus and then wet it occasionally...you should only have to reapply once or twice

[dmauro]

My other monitor has plenty of scratches on it, but none of them ruin the image or distract at all. The one I used the novus on was really bad. It had a spot right in the center of the screen that made it look like there was water on the monitor.

[thegreathopper]

I would imagine you would loose blacks in the monitor image as the monitor in the pics has changed colour from black to a light green/brown, Is that so? or does it make no difference with the game running.

[dmauro]

Mine went from a purple-ish hue to a green-ish hue, but you only see that with the monitor off.