I had a similar issue when I replaced my shuttle, make sure the switch's bent arm doesn't go over the other side of the wire form that triggers it. My switch arm was a little straight allowing it to slip out from the wire form and then the wire form would catch the ball.

Yeah - you really need to manually operate the switch (maybe with a ball) and determine why the wireform is getting stuck. The wireform should swing freely in both directions.

Yes. The bracket over rotated and then goes past the inflection point on the cherry switch spring. I swapped the spring for a new crisp one (see dimensions). Trial and error to get a smooth return for half ramp shots.

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Ok thanks. I'll do some tinkering as soon as I have a chance. I have a party/tournament coming up in a few weeks, so I'd like to have it fixed before then!

Sorry. Wrong pic. Dimensions here. Right angle bend needed to prevent the gate from rotating past and going under the switch on ball entry going up the ramp.

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Just joined the club. Playfield is not great, so I have some work ahead of me. I'll post pictures when i get a chance.

Welcome to the club.

I joined a few days ago with a very rough example but it was free

Its missing the backglass, totally worn playfield but only one broken plastic, and decent cabinet except for one corner splitting. The boards are pretty clean especially the MPU so that was awesome. Im just thankful they make a hardtop for this game! The plan is to play the hell out of it after I get the boards back from my tech friend and adress the cosmetic stuff later.

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That game apparently was loved by many! Free is always good, and with the hard top option, this game can be saved from the dump! My back glass was shot, but Marco has them thankfully as well as the shuttle again!

Thanks for the help. I looked a little closer at mine, and determined what was happening: sometimes, the wireform would swing/bounce back (after ball plowed through it) fast enough, that it would flip all the way around and land on TOP of the switch. Then, if the ball rolled back down, the wireform couldn't rotate in that direction to allow the ball to pass through.

I went low-tech on a solution ... I simply taped a piece of paper plate under there, positioned such that it stops the wireform from swinging up and over on the rebound.

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Nice simple solution!

Just saw this now; I had the same exact problem. I wedged a piece of foam up there and it works great! I've owned this game 2+ years and still love it!

-Doug

Intermittent low sound volume level...

Hi, new SS owner as of this Christmas. My SS sound mostly starts "normal" (loud, nice volume level), but after some game play, and usually triggered by the bell sounding, drops to a low volume level. Sometimes it comes back to the normal level when the bell sounds again. Once, a static shock jumped from my hand to the shooter knob and restored the sound level. The problem has been steadily getting worse, with more time at the low volume level than the normal level, even after a cold power-up. The speech sound and other sound effects seem otherwise complete and normal. My electronics does not have a sound pot next to the sound test push button. The system hums a little, and is modulated a little by the lights during "attract mode", but does not seem excessive, but the game is not completely silent either. Any ideas or pointers appreciated (EE degrees, not afraid of schematics)! Thanks!

Play tip in case you don't know: if you have locked balls when your last ball drains, press the credit button right after your final score is tallied. Balls stay locked, and new game starts! Sort of like today's video game "insert another token to continue".

Update: Silly me. I found the volume control inside, and after cycling it a bit, the problem is gone.

My SS had its cord replaced with a two prong cord causing the whole thing to not be grounded, not sure if that is the case for you, but start there. Check to make sure all the screws are in place on the boards.

I had some speech issues and had to replace the speech board. I think it is a bad pot, but I haven't messed with it since replacing the board.

Nice job. That was a lot of work.

Way to go! Looking good. I appreciate how much time and moolah you've put into this. Feels good to see it starting to really come together doesn't it?

Hey we're ALL stupid when it comes to games we want to look and play their best, so your not alone. I just spent a lot of money just to chrome out my Jackbot.

I don't think it's stupid at all. I admire what you've done. I also pour lots of time, money and energy into resorting games, especially games they I am particularly drawn to.

So back when I joined Pinside over 3 years ago because I just acquired a project Space Shuttle as my first pin, and then discovered the hidden scaffolding artwork under the pop bumpers, I asked why clear skirts didn't exist.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/clear-pop-bumper-skirts-why-not

Well... they do now! And boy, IMHO is this an absolute no-brainer upgrade for the game. I wouldn't even call it a "mod" since the art was there from the factory... but with clear skirts, the nest and the scaffolding above really does seem to float in space:

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Funny thing, they even have a magnifying effect which changes due to the tapered thickness... can give some weird effects if you stare too hard as the skirt moves, ha ha... but you don't notice that during normal play.

They're at Marco:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-6035-13

Now that's cool, my Jackbot is the same way, I wish I would have known about these a month ago when I rebuilt my pops. You should have gone with the clear bodies too. Zitt sells them.

My red flipper rubbers were getting worn down at the tips, so tonight I replaced the with black silicone ones -- to make em look like little shuttles! Looks meant to be.

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i knew about the pop bumper body when i did my restoration installed them a while ago, too bad there wasn't clear skirt at the time because it's pretty damn cool.

The problem I saw with doing both a clear body and skirt, is it would reveal the unpainted wood areas around the bores, as well as the screws and wiring. Those are still hidden by a solid skirt even if the body is clear and vice versa.

You could paint the bare wood, and maybe the screws and such would look cool too in this instance... I suppose you might not even see them ordinarily. But I wasn't fully sold on the concept.

Plus here, the narrower-appearing body does link the base pf scaffolding art to the plastic structure above, so it still looks OK to me.

But next Marco order I'll probably get a few clear bodies. I'm getting better at pop rebuilds now... I did 10 in only 3 hours this time

I just checked and Marco doesn't have the clear bodies but Zit does.

does anyone know where to find a red hot dog insert? mine is cracked.

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I've never seen them available.

I’m not a member but I just played this game like 14 times at Madcap in Kent and I don’t know what it is, but there is something so satisfying about ripping that center spinner several times in one ball. I love this game.

It's a simple fun game. I've had a ball stay in the pops for over 15 seconds a couple of times, that's always a kick.

Working on restoring my Space Shuttle. Nothing crazy, just making it look better. I started a thread to record the progress.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-space-shuttle-restoration#post-4328351

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Do high scores count if you are Ready Player 2 in a two person game and you have 1 more chance to steal locked balls? My son says P2 has to drain any locked balls on the third ball to make it fair.

And, really, his isn’t a real question... I take my wins however they come.

I'd like to say hello from Germany! (My first post here...)

I picked up a dead Space Shuttle about a week ago and I'm currently working on getting it back to life.
It is in a reasonable shape...the cabinet colors must have seen lots of sunlight...
The playfield is more or less ok, but not too good...

So far I got the board booting up... had to resolder some stuff and replace some caps...
Did the mosfet-mod to the high-side of the lamp matrix, eliminating the heat....
Die Lamp Matrix is fully working...all Lamps (including GI) are LED now...
Yesterday I got my new LED replacement Displays up and running. The old glass displays were dead somehow...
So right now I can finally enter the diagnostics/test menu

Still not working is :

- the complete sound section... no sounds at all, but the well known hum and some distant faint sound when you press sw2....

- And there must be a short on one of the soleoid... causing the fuse to blow...

- there must be a broken trace around U14/15 that sometimes locks up the board...all lights freeze...and a slight knock on the chips will bring it back to life...

Any hints are very apreciated

Welcome to Pinside and the club. Wish I could help but I know nothing about your problems, they are way over my head.

You probably need the chip sockets replaced.

Have someone experienced do this, as there are not many sys9 boards out there.

Coil could be shorted, or the diode on the coil may be defective.

Check both with your meter.

Thanks a lot for your advice!

The mpu must have been in repair in 2013. There is a label from the german flipperwerk.de guys on it... a lot of traces are repaired around U14 und U15 as they were completeley gone!
I think some of these are cold now again and I will have to resolder them...

I have a desoldering station, a scope and some experience... so I hope I can do this on my own.
If not, the flipperwerk guys have to jump in again

Today my son (11y) and I were able to play the machine for the first time... with no sound...and no lockups!

Very cool !! .... (and a little bit proud to have it back from the dead )

A few impressions.... playfield... new LED displays from PinLED.de (at this stage without the filter-shades installed)

By the way I got very competent help from PinLED-People ... within 5 Minutes... via WhatsaAPP at 10pm (!!!)
(on the picture you see only 5 of 7 digits....that was a misconfiguration of the dipswitches on the display driver board)

I'm very happy with the new displays... though I don't know how the original displays looked like, as they never worked on my machine...

Bumper caps are the wrong once.... waiting for the originals to arrive...
Mising is this triangular plastic above the 3 pop bumpers...
I saw it on ebay... but shipping from USA to Germany is way too expensive... plus customs duty ...

Anyone knows a resource in Germany or the EU, where I can get the plastic part?
Or somebody has a spare part?

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Your pop bumper might not be the originals but they look good!

As my cabinet is bleached out very much... the red is light pink now....

I was thinking to redo the complete cabinet, repainting it and re-designing the outside with big custom decals ...
...maybe using a nice Spaceshuttle photo with added "SPACE SHUTTLE" Text and Williams Logo....
...but the cabinet would look completly different...

What are your opinions? ... is it a sin/sacrilege destroying the original artwork....?
Or could this be "cool"?

Here are a few rough ideas I have.... not the final decal... just for checking out how it might look like!

2018-06-14 10_44_29-Jasc Paint Shop Pro - astronaut-3685x3685-earth-gravity-planets-4k-11402.pspimag (resized).png

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It's about as cool as the Shuttle re-entering with a few tiles missing.

I made some progress with my sound problem ... general sound is back
... but now... it is a speech problem!

This thread helped me a lot: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-system-67-sound-board-extremely-low-volume#post-4450461
I've posted there, what I have done!

But now... if I bridge w10 to cut of the speech board, I have a super loud sound from the mainboard, even if I turn the volume knob down! (...what's ok for me)

BUT .... if I reconnect the speech board, the sound is only moderate loud, even if I turn the volume up to the max.
And no speech is mixed in!
The mixer-pot on the speechboard is working, as it reduces the remaining volume....

So I think the op-amps on the speech board are somehow defective....

I did not find the schematics of the speechboard in my downloaded space shuttle manual?! .... Is there another more complete manual out there?
Or some pdf focussing on the speechboard? I did not find something like this so far?!

I think they look great! Changing a pinball is like changing a classic car. Some like the pure original, others like total custom. To me, anything you do to a game to enhance it is alright with me such as getting an alternate translite or putting LEDs in your pins. Those added graphics to the cabinet would give it a WOW factor for sure, as long as it isn't hidden amongst a pinball lineup and you never get to enjoy your work.

Hey - it's your game. Make it look however you like! I especially like your head graphic.

Quick question...

Let's say there existed a unicorn mint space shuttle. What would it's current value be?

Original or redone?

i'd be curious as well, how much my restoration is worth.

Oh man Bob, I'd put yours at 5k plus.

Are we talking the entire machine? Or just the plastic toy?

What’s a beat up plastic shuttle toy worth? I have one if anyone is looking

Someday I will join this club, it's my dream wish list title. They had a really nice example at Allentown that I played at least 50 times.
One came up for sale recently here at a good price and I think I was about 10 seconds slow on the call. Next time! Until then....10...9...8......

Progress Update with my repair....
I have Sound AND Speech now !!! Yehaaa!!!

The problem was with the speech board. Pin 4 on the Op.Amps MC1458 did not get the -12V. The holes in the board of these chips are not connected through (from top to back side of the board. so if you solder the chip or socket from below.... the -12V arriving at the top side of the board are not reaching the pin...
So I had to solder the socket pin from above to...

Result: Loud and nice speech

To find this out drove me crasy... I never imagined that the upper and lower side of the board were not connected through!!!
Maybe my board is a faulty one... it is one of the old boards that dont have the jumper for the different Eprom types....

Last remaining problem is the socket of U14 that has to be redone.... I still sometimes have the freezes and the game would shut down...
If I slightly press on U14 it comes up again!...