How authenthic is lexan use?

[Blanka]

I see most cabinets finished with lexan CPO overlays and lexan screen bezels. But how authentic is this? What was the first cab to use plexi/lexan for the screen cover, and what was the first to us it as CPO overlay?
I do my cab with a hardened glass bezel, and I think that looks way better. Lexan can look milky (captures more light) and gets tons of micro-scratches in time. So I wonder how the original cabs dealt with this aspect.
Same for the CPO overlay. Lexan seems very sweat promoting if you're in some tough battling. Didn't the original cabs have those wearing out on-metal prints CP's?

[patrickl]

This discussion has been done a few times already. It usually goes between "the classics didn't have lexan/plexi over the CPO and that's what I remember from the arcades" and "the newer cabs did have it on top and that's what I remember from the arcades". Mixed with "plexi is for lazy people" and "ha, but my print will be pristine when I change my plexi"

I have my CPO overlayed with a thin foil. I think most printers at least offer the option of protecting it with thin matte lexan. That way the print is protected, but it still looks like printed right on top of the CP.

[SirPeale]

Plexi wasn't used on classic cabinets.  The overlays were usually lexan themselves, though quite thin so they could be bent around angles. 

It was, however, used frequently when converting a classic cabinet.  That way someone didn't have to fill in the old holes.

Newer dedicated cabinets I've seen with plexi.  The artwork being used is cheaper, and this is a good inexpensive way to keep it cleaner.  Ones that come to mind are Terminator 2, Revolution X, the Buck Hunter series, Blitz series, newer Gauntlet series.  I know there are many more, but that's what comes to mind.

[Xiaou2]

 Plexi was often used in arcades because of the heavy abuse machines
took.

 In the arcade I worked at... games like Galaga,  which came with the
printed artwork,  was cracked and pieces missing.   The edges were
sharp and irritated any body part resting on them.   Also, people
would further make the problem worse by ripping the edge that
stuck up.   Only a short time later, the rest would raise up as well... and
also be ripped.

 To combat this, I actually popped on a plexi overlay.   And trust me, I
wasnt the first nor the last to do this.
 
 Plexi also helped to lessen damages due to some idiot who snuck a
drink in, and spilled it.   Most of the stuff just ran right off the edge.

 Plexi made cleaning control panels much more easy too.   As again,
games with only that flexible material would get ground in dirt, grime, and
human sweat/waste.  Such grime was really tough to remove from the
roughened artworks.

 With plexi, there were small scratches.. but players really never noticed
nor cared.   We often used Novis to polish the plexi, and it shined very
well - even with the scratches.

 Most games used glass bezels.  However, some games did use thick
plexi.   Plexi isnt a good thing to use on bezels, because the plexi
scratches are very apparent  when trying to see the monitor behind it.

 Marquees are less of a concern obviously.

[Pac-Fan]

For light home gameroom use -- don't go through the effort/cost, especially when covering silk screened art on flexible lexan (the pebbled surface material)

I found it gets in the way (cuts down height of joysticks, edges are harsher, etc..).  If you just invite others a few times a year to play and they respect your machines like you do, you'll never need it.

If you just have inkjet printed art, you probably will need to use it unless you just cover it with cheap clear contact paper.

[Ginsu Victim]

My CP is wood and just has a poster for an overlay for now, so the plexi is needed, but I plan on getting a real CPO made one of these days.