I never really gave it much thought. Whenever I bought a new game, I always installed new pinballs. Why? Well the ones that were in the game always looked rather dull and damaged. And any pinball novice knows an old scratched ball will surely scratch the playfield. So it just made good sense to install new balls.

Buying new balls was pretty painless; I just called my local pinball distributor and ordered some new 1 1/16" pinballs. Typical price was $0.85 to $1.85 each, depending who I bought them from, and how many I bought.

Then came the "Mirror Glazed" pinball. Will the world ever be the same? Acording to Ken Iman at Ken's Amusements in Baltimore (http://mrgameroom.homestead.com/kens.html), no!

Initial Impressions.
In preparing for this review, Ken kindly sent me five brand new "Mirror Glazed" pinballs. Do they appear different than standard pinballs? Well actually yes they do. They definately have a better finish, smoother, glossier, more "chromey" than the balls I normally buy. This is a good thing. But frankly, I was not unhappy with my previous new ball purchases. At least not until I saw these Mirror Glazed balls!

Play Testing the Balls.
I didn't really see any huge difference in play between a Mirror Glaze ball and my previously purchased new balls. Some minor differences though; the spin on the ball seems to have less impact with Mirror Glazed balls. Is this good; well I'm not exactly sure. It is just different. Now your mileage may vary, but that's how it seems to me personally. The Mirror Glaze balls do look better in the game when the ball is in the shooter lane, or being held in the "V" of the flipper. But while the ball is moving, it is hard to visually see a big difference.

"Standard" Balls.
The balls I normally buy are from Pinball Resource. When I needed new balls, I just called up PR and ordered "10 balls". It turns out PR actually sells two grades of ball; a "standard" ball (that actually came from Williams), and an upgraded "shiny" ball. If no type is specified, the "standard" ball is shipped (which costs slightly less than their "shiny" ball).

The "Not a Ball Bearing" Claim.
Ken makes a pretty bold claim about his Mirror Glazed balls; that they are "not ball bearings", but are actual "pinballs". Hmmm, I found this claim very interesting. My impression of "pinballs" were they are infact just ball bearings. And I have no reason to believe otherwise (especially since I have bought a fair share of "pinballs" from Detroit Ball Bearing in Livonia, Michigan). Frankly, I am gonna ignore this claim as I find it to be, well, "marketing fluff".

The truth is all pinballs are ball bearings. There are many companies out there making ball bearings for thousands of uses. To imagine a company that makes balls just for pinball and no other use would be, umm, silly!

How are Ball Bearings, err, I Mean Pinballs, Graded?
Number grades are assigned to ball bearings when they are manufactured. This number grade basically goes from 10 to 2000, where the lower the number, the better the ball's quality. Basically the grade indicates the numerical value of the diameter tolerance. But the grade also reflects overall quality and finish on the ball.

So what does this all mean? Well first, the roundness (sphericity) of a ball makes absolutely no difference in pinball. The playfield is not a precision ground bearing race. It is a piece of laminated wood with car finish on it. It is hardly flat, even when the playfield is brand new. So how round the ball likely is makes no difference. But for completeness, grade 25 are round to 25/1,000,000 where grade 1000 are round to 1/1000 of an inch.

Likewise, diameter tolerance mean nothing too. If one ball is slightly larger than another by even hundredths of an inch, you and I will not be able to tell.

So the only really interesting thing about the grade chart is the last column, the maximum surface finish. This is an arithmetic average, with the lower the number the better the ball's shine.

Summarization of Ball Grades.
The following are generalizations about ball bearing (pinball) grades. This pretty much sums it up.

• Grade 10 & 25: used when extreme high precision is required. Grade 25 are usually specified for precision ball bearings.
• Grade 50: suggested for high grade ball bearing applications where extreme accuracy is needed.
• Grade 100 & 200: suitable for commercial ball bearing and heavy duty use. Have the highest quality alloy steel, but where accuracy of grade 50 and less are not needed (sounds like a good pinball application!)
• Grade 1000: balls produced are from the finest steel, but wider tolerances are permissible (again, sounds like a good pinball application).

For pinball, anything below grade 25 is kind of overkill. As a comparison, the "standard" balls from Williams are grade 1000. For a really nice ball, grade 25, 50 or 100 are quite beautiful.

After seeing grade 25, grade 50, and grade 100 ball bearings, in my opinion, I would say "Mirror Glazed" balls are grade 25. Though grade 100 is very nice, Mirror Glazed balls are just a hair smoother looking. Additional Note: Scott Gallagher's competing "mirror balls" he says are grade 10. And he then goes one step further, and vibrate/polishes them (as does Ken).

Types of Pinballs.
Pinballs basically come in two different materials; carbon-steel and chrome-steel. Carbon steel has less ability to retain magnetism. Chrome-steel can hold magnetism very easily (and quickly). Generally speaking, chrome-steel balls shine better than carbon-steel balls. Pinball Resouce for example sells a highly polished ball (certainly less than grade 100!), but warns these should not be used in games with magnets. Their "standard" ball is made from the less magnetic, but less shiny, carbon-steel.

The Non-Magnetic Claim.
Mirror Glazed balls also claim these balls are less magnetic than other balls. To test this, the best test I could come up with was to use these balls in my 1995 Bally "Theatre of Magic". I have owned this game for several years and have found it can magnetize a ball. When this happens the game has problems with the balls rolling through the ball trough (and yes this happens even with a brand new ball trough installed). Theatre of Magic is maybe an extreme sitation, as the game has at least four magnets, and has this newer "rolling ball" style ball trough.

I found the Mirror Glazed balls to act just like they should in my Theatre of Magic. That is, they did not become magnetic (this is no different than the "standard" pinballs I used previously in this game; "standard" being carbon-steel balls, which I bought from Pinball Resource, specifically for games with magnets).

Another Test for Magnetism.
To further test balls for magnetic properties, I removed a magnet coil and core from my 1997 Bally Cirqus Voltaire game. I then connected the magnet to a 12 volt computer power supply, and placed a ball (one at a time) on the magnet. I let the magnet stay energized for five minutes with the ball attached (even though the magnet was designed for 50 volts, I was amazed how "sticky" the Cirqus Voltaire magnet was with 12 volts). After five minutes, the magnet coil got a bit warm (if I did this with 50 volts for five minutes, I would have probably melted the magnet!)

After turning the magnet off, I used the ball to try and pick up some light weight metal filings and washers. Neither the Mirror Glazed ball or the Pinball Resource "standard" ball retained any magnetism in this test.

How Are "Mirror Glazed" Pinballs Made?
Ken in no way hides how he has these great looking balls "made". Basically he buys good quality balls, and then "vibration polishes" them for 8 hours to give them their nice sheen. This got me thinking; why couldn't I do the same thing with "standard" pinballs?

For a comparison, I ordered five new "standard" pinballs from Pinball Resource. Remember, the standard ball from PR are resistant to magnetism (carbon-steel), and are Williams' balls (grade 1000). These "standard" balls are not as shiny and nice as Mirror Glazed balls.

Then I got out my parts vibration polisher (aka "Parts Polisher" from www.berrysmfg.com, model 400) and some "corn cob" media. Parts polishers are the hot trend; this simple tool can take a worn or corroded part and make it look new or nearly new. I have been tumbling pinball parts for a few years now and really like this labor-less method of polishing parts.

So I took the 1000 grade, not so shiny "standard" balls and put them in my parts polisher overnight. I used the corn cob media (available from any gun shop). And low and behold, when I removed these "standard" balls from the tumbler the next day, they looked just like a Mirror Glazed ball!

Can I Polish a Used Ball to Look New?
Maybe this should be better asked, "Can a Turd be Made to Look like a Diamond?" The short answer is "no". But under some circumstances, a used pinball can be made to look new using a parts polisher. Starting with walnut media and Novus3, often scratches can be removed. Finishing with corn cob media will give the final shine.

But don't expect this to work miracles. Simply put, an old beat-up ball will never look new again. This is especially the case if there is rust on the ball. Rust causes pitting in the metal, which really can not be removed and made smooth. You can't turn a sow's ear into a purse.

I have personally had better luck getting old balls looking new by using a rag wheel polisher (use an old nylon solder spool to hold the ball on the moving wheel). This can be followed up with the parts polisher and walnut shells, and ultimately corn cob media. But is it worth it? Usually not.

Testing Ball Hardness.
Now that I had mirrored (pun intended) the Mirror Glazed balls in finish, I wanted to test my "new & improved standard ball" with Mirror Glazed balls for hardness. This test involved my vice. My bench vice is a nasty animal. Big, with teeth like a shark. This would be the ideal vehicle for me to test ball hardness.

I put a "standard" ball in the vice's teeth. Then I turned the vice's jaw closed as hard as I could. I leaned and grunted and got that vice to close its jaws as far as possible on the ball. I then repeated this test with a Mirror Glazed ball.

My "toughness" test, in a nasty old big-ass vice, with big-ass teeth!

And what defects did this "jaw breaking" processor produce? Frankly, not much! (This really shocked me; after all, just how do pinballs get so banged up?) There were some very small "jaw marks" in both balls, but neither ball showed much damage. "Inconclusive" is the best I could say; neither the polished "standard" ball or Mirror Glazed ball had any more or less damage from my vice jaw test.

Defects put into the two balls by my vice (inside the blue circles). I could hardly find them!

Conclusion.
If you don't have a parts polisher, or you just don't want to be bothered, Mirror Glazed balls are a reasonable deal at $2 each. After all, they are a really nice looking pinball, for not much more than the cost of a "standard" pinball. For those that want a good ball and convenience, the Mirror Glaze ball is certainly an alternative.

Will your friends notice any difference in your games with Mirror Balls? Maybe not. But to someone that has seen both "standard" and Mirror Glazed balls side-by-side, the difference is obvious. Also remember Mirror Glazed balls (Ken Iman, 7449 Durwood Rd, Baltimore MD 21222, 10 balls for $20, plus $5.75 shipping) are not the only show in town; Pinball Resource's $1.85 shiny ball rivals the Mirror Glazed ball (except for maybe the magnetic issue). Also Scott Gallagher sells his own version of "Mirror Balls" at an attractive price (Scott Gallagher, 1509 Liberty St, Braintree MA 02184, 10 balls for $13, plus $5 for shipping).

Should you buy a cheaper ball and polish it yourself to a Mirror Glazed finish? Well that's up to you. For the average pinball owner/player, just buying a pre-finished ball like the Mirror Glaze is fine. But parts polishers are available in the $50 to $100 range that would allow self ball polishing. Ken even sells a parts tumbler on his Mirror Ball website. Other tumbler makers include Berry's Manufacturing at www.berrysmfg.com, in their online store, Accessories-Cleaning part of the web site, model 400 tumbler, #965-555. And finally Vibrashine at www.vibrashine.com, in the Vortex tumbler section, model VS30 (all three of these tumblers have a huge capacity bowl, allowing large parts like ball shooter assemblies to be polished).

As a note, the Berry tumbler and Ken's tumbler seem to be identical (but Berry sells their's directly for less money, about $50 including shipping). The catch is this; Ken has worked out an agreement with Berry's that if their model 400 "gun cartridge polisher" is sold directly to the pinball user, and is used to polish "pinballs", the warranty is void! But if you buy the exact same tumbler from Ken (and hence pays more), Berry will honor their warranty, even for pinballs. Hey, there's some marketing for ya (advice: buy the Berry tumbler directly, and if it breaks under warranty, say you were polishing brass gun shells!) I have been using my Berry tumbler for about a year now to polish pinballs and other pinball parts, and have had NO problems with it.

Local hobby shops sell rock tumblers (parts polishers) too. The "tumbling" style of polisher works well too, but it is not as aggressive as the "vibration" (Berry) polisher. This means for really corroded parts, the vibration style polisher works faster.

While buying a parts polisher, get some corn cob media, walnut shell media (for polishing more corroded parts), and some Novus3 (for an additive to the walnut shells, a squirt or two at first, additional squirts every now and then). I would suggest buying the Corn Cob media (which does not need the Novus3) locally at a gun shop, as there won't be any large shipping charges. Likewise for walnut shell media, except that can be purchased cheaply at a local pet store.

For me, I will continue to buy "standard" balls and polish them myself. After all, it really takes no effort to polish balls myself (fill the polisher with corn cob media, add some balls, let it run overnight). I might as well save my money for something else. But I already own a parts polisher, a luxury many people do not share.

One tumbler I used to polish my "standard" ball. This is the tumbling style,
not the vibration style. The vibration style is more aggressive.
Also the two medias available (on the right).