Same, I don’t have access to my machine to check, but Space station is one of my favorites, I’d like to know if this is common

Yes, my flame flasher works fine. Several of the boards that were in the cabinet and under the playfield (the GI ones in particular are notorious for it) end up with cracked solder around the pins of headers or relays, etc. Reflowing the solder usually fixes them. I would expect your board will keep working if you remove your jumper because in adding it, you reflowed the solder joints.

e.g.

pasted_image (resized).png

Continuity from pin to pad? No Bueno.

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Now you've made me doubt myself. I'll go check.

These flashers, right?

Yes, exactly. Upon closer inspection, the pin I marked on the interconnect board does lead to resistor R6, which has probably just gone bad. I cannot say for sure though, because I cannot check the resistor without breaking my now-working board by removing the jumper again.

Soon when the bulb burns out, you will replace the resistor.

Got back into the club after a 6 year vacation!

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Finally fitted my Freeplay40 blue ramp - only bought it 3 years ago My orig black one was in good shape though repaired .

Pleased with it - lit up it’s a little paler blue than I thought it might be , fit was good , a little tight on one mounting post . Had to slacken off the Station retaining nut to raise it a bit as the new ramp sat fractionally higher resulting in a lip and ball hang spot.

Thinking what to do with the no artwork void now visible. Thinking some artwork in the same style as rest of the game, some reworked plastic to cover the solenoid and possibly a good small model Space Shuttle or space walking astronaut figure under there

Have any other owners with new ramp added anything under there ?

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I tried things, but in the end was happy with putting two LED strip lights on the side wall under it. White or blue for the normal GI (I went white) and put a green one connected to condition green there and in the back corner. When the ramp goes fully green it looks awesome!

Having an issue where it keeps repeating "Bay doors are open". Sometimes I think Stop & Score isn't working correctly; it'll be enabled (and audible count-down going) yet the drop target is up. Sometimes the drop target is down but Stop & Score shouldn't be going as nothing activated it. Anyone seen this behavior before?

I'd check the opto on the single drop in the test menu. Make sure it's registering properly.

Is it possible to turn off bonus ball?

No.
The duration can be reduced by installing the harder settings.

One thing just occurred to me - can you still earn an extra ball during the bonus ball and is it then awarded ? Don’t think I have ever seen it and haven’t tried it with glass off to confirm.

Yes, you can definitely get an extra ball during the bonus ball. Has happened to me a bunch of times.

You can get an extra ball by surpassing the programmed replay value. I believe the default is 1,900,000 points. If you had extra ball lit by the three drop targets before your bonus ball, that will not be lit during bonus ball, however if you had special lit previously, that will be lit during the bonus ball. Pretty sure, but did not verify.

My long-running work on restoring my Space Station has come to a stop, due to a couple issues I just can’t sort out:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/space-station-right-dock-kickback-coil-not-working

Can any fellow Station owners help me out, please? I’m out of ideas and could really use some sage-like tech advice on what to do next.

I would start with the Aux Power Driver Board fuses and relays. Ohm the wires for continuity from board to coils.

Aux Power Board (resized).png

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Thanks. I think I have an issue with the opto board. The rubber grommets that hold the board in place dried up and fell apart and the board was very loose on its posts. I think the opto might have been mis-reading the target. Fortunately Pinball Life has the grommets. In case this helps someone in the future, here are the grommets:
https://www.pinballlife.com/grommet-for-pcb-boards.html

I also reflowed the solder joints on all the connectors on the power board and found some bent pins, as kind of mentioned in this post:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-space-station-couple-small-problems#post-1088925

I have no blown fuses on the aux board (which is a new Xpin board), but will check for continuity. Thanks!

Still haven’t sorted out my game-breaking coil issues yet, but I did complete a LED conversion.

(Normal G.I.: Comet 1SMD, Frosted, Sunlight)
(Condition Green G.I.: Comet 2SMD, Frosted, Green)

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Such a dirty playfield.

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Not sure why I have a dupe post.

I want to say, “That looks familiar!”, but mine wasn’t anywhere near that bad. Dang!

I think it lived on a covered porch with no glass for a few years.

That’s a pretty sad situation for such a cool game.

I’m glad it got rescued!

Appropriate choice of words for Space Station too.

Not as bad as the one I picked up.
Over 20 years in a shed in central Portugal.

And yes, playfield glass was missing, I'm partway through the restoration.

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Yeah, that one is rough. I was hoping against hope for a hardtop to show up in time, but I think I'll just do my best with the art I have.
I just got several habitrails rewelded where welds had snapped. It's coming together.

Yes, me too but working on what I have.

Amazingly it booted up and run, luckily there's were no batteries still fitted but I did have a garbled display problem which was a duff pia chip.

Full playfield has been stripped down, mylar removed, only lost bits off the decals but will be replacing, touching up and clear coating.

Doing it bit by bit when I get time.

But I do get a kinda kick wiping that thick dust away to see what's underneath!! And fair play to Williams, even though the habitrails are covered in rust they came up like new with a quick rub with wire wool!!!! Good quality steel.

I have a very strange issue with a Space Station... It will not count down the bonus and kick out a new ball when draining on ball 1 until it has done a ball search.

- It does not happen when you have locked a ball during ball 1
- All trough switches and other switches in the same switch column register fine and their diodes are OK
- It does not happen on ball 2 or 3 even when there are two balls left in the trough. Only on ball 1

Has anyone here replaced their power supply? Just found that my power supply is actually from a Hyperball and have been having issues with audio hum. Long story short, I'd like to replace the power supply as the one that's in there is not the correct one at all. Has anyone successfully installed the Pin Tek PTK-DE5000 one?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PTK-DE5000

I use this power supply in my Space Shuttle and have had no issues. Just want to be sure before installing it in my Space Station. It's listed as compatible for System 3 - 11a, however Station is 11b. I know that 11a MPU's will work in Station though (just kind of confusing) and Marco lists Space Station as a compatible game. Just want to be 100% sure before purchasing, ya know.

If Station is 11B, the 11-11A ps will not work. Has completely different connections

Has the same connections; just looked. I think technically Station is 11b, but it is well known that 11a boards work in Station.

That is weird. I guess it was made right before the interconnect board. But yes it looks like it’ll work

This sounds like an issue I had. Had to hunt thru the thread but it seems my issue was Q42. If the Station doesn't work properly and align/stop it will go into a ball search on first ball. This has to do with the optos not working correctly.

"3. Space Station doesn't align properly - Fixed! Q42 on MPU was bad. Replaced and station is working properly as well as lane changing. I had looked this over before and somehow missed it.

8. First ball drain pause - Fixed! As Redflash stated, once the station was working correctly this no longer happened"

Cheers. I'll check the operation of the space station when I'm on location next time and will report back.

Just wanted to document this in case it helps someone else in the future. I had a fairly bad hum that I just couldn't get rid of. I checked the grounds throughout the machine, the ground braid throughout, replaced all caps on all boards, made sure all screws were in on all boards (for grounding), checked to make sure the ground was connected at power cord, checked the wall socket to make sure it was wired and grounded correctly, re-ran the cable for the volume pot so as to not be near high voltage area of MPU, replaced the volume pot (with one that plugs directly into sound board; no cable), re-flowed connectors on sound board, tried putting in nylon washers in front and behind sound board, tried putting in a ferrite core on the volume pot cable, etc. Nothing worked.

Turns out it was the power supply. Mine had apparently been taken from a Hyperball and modified to work in Space Station. It had been hacked, heavily worked on and really just didn't look too good. I decided to just replace it with the Pin Tek PTK-8345 and low and behold... 90% of the hum is gone. Never really figured of specifically what the issue was on the board itself. Just wanted to leave a note in case anyone in the future has a bad hum; check or swap in a different power supply!

For reference:
Pin-Tek PTK-8345
https://ksarcade.net/new-used-pinball-boards-parts/power-supplies-transformers/power-supplies/ptk-8345-power-supply-for-williams-and-data-east.html
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PTK-DE5000

Space Station came back from show with broken adjustment button inside coin door....part is NLA, wondering if the Stern 3 button would work? I realise middle button doesn't latch and release, but would it work if held in while adjusting? Or does anyone have a source for that button station?

This is what you need, right?
ebay.com link: itm

Damn, yes. Ebay has it and Marco and Pinball Life don't? Wow, thanks!

The seller is Troxel, who is on here.
He has that in his Pinside Shop.
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1285-troxel-repair/04251-williams-service-buttons-game-adjustment-diagnostic-switches

Can anyone tell me what this dual fuse holder is meant for? It’s just to the left off the power driver board in the backbox. Mine don’t have fuses in them but everything works on my game as far as I can tell.

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These fuses are for the high voltage of the displays.
The normal gas filled displays need the high voltage to operate.
If you got newer LED displays in your machine the high voltage is no longer needed.

Greetings from Germany
Jürgen

Anyone make a decal to go under this ramp? I got one of these but have yet to install as I don’t like seeing through to an area you were not designed to see.

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Thanks Jurgen. I was thinking that could be it. My game came to me with new modern displays. Appreciate the clarification.

After looking closer at my game for other things, it appears as though my 1st, 3rd and 5th back panel lights don’t work. It’s the orange dome ones. Red ones come on from time to time but not the orange ones. So need to trace that one out now.

hose are a weird 24v bulb (#1251) that often gets incorrectly replaced with a standard #89 which blow in seconds. They're controlled by one of the controlled solenoids and can be activated in the test coil mode. Check the blubs first, then look at the other bits.

Ahhh, I'll bet that's it. A subtle difference in bulbs. I'll dig in there and have a look to see what they are. And then see what's in the ole spares box, lol. Thanks for the help!!

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So the bulbs look right. I can see a faint 1251 on them. I’m not convinced the bulb holders themselves are allowing for good contact though. Like you can rotate the tabs at the end of the holder that the wires are soldered to. I’ve seen this before on old bulb holders where the spring inside has worn out. Rotating the tabs if you do it just right can sometimes get them contacting again. Inconsistent though.

I was wanting to trace out that wiring though as well. I can see both pairs (from the red domes too) combine into a quick connector. Can’t seem to see where it terminates in the backbox. Anyone know?

And that coil test for those orange domes. I believe it’s the coil test called “panel lights”. Is that the right one? I can select that one and nothing happens. No clicking noises and no lights. Hoping to look at the source on the circuit board connectors if I can get some help figuring out where they go.

I've thought about doing that but everytime I draft one in my head, I can't decide if it should be "spacey", or more like the "station mechanicals" (as in the other plastics). I generally lean toward "spacey"... and then can't decide if I should tie it into the vortex-thingy at the ramp entry, or something apart. And that kind of indecision has kept me from going further. I found making decals for the dock and UPF a bit easier. But I agree, the ramp could use something too.

Make 2 different ones! Just go for it and then let everyone on here give you jeers or cheers

I'd put the machine in test mode and get the playfield so you can access those globes. Check the voltage all the tabs relative to ground. It should be 25v or so. If it isn't, check fuses and the power side of things. If it is, check the grounding side of things.

Power side of things:

Unfortunately the bit of the manual you want is chopped in the scan. Pages 81 and 82 of the PDF from ipdb or page 69 in the actual manual have the diagram for the controlled solenoids. Solenoid 15:
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

Q14. Red power wire, Brn-Vio ground wire.

Page 84 pdf/70 real manual shows the wiring and connectors for the aux power driver:
pasted_image (resized).png

5J11 pins 8,9 and 10 should be connected to the power side of the globes.

The ground side of things:

The solenoid table at the start fo the manual:
pasted_image (resized).png
shows the cpu connectors, the playfield cabinet connectors, etc. You should be able to buzz those out with a meter.

I'd start grounding the tab of Q15. If the lights come on, the grounding wiring is ok from the globes to the CPU and the issue is in the CPU board.