Hi Alex,

please look at my post 4 years ago.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/space-station-club-members-only/page/49#post-4528913

Greeetings Jürgen

Yes, watch which direction the station rotates. Should only rotate counter-clockwise. If goes clockwise, replace station motor. Had to do this on mine years ago.

I'd say most motors that are spinning the wrong direction don't need to be replaced. Just take apart the motor and if the small drive gear is warn down bend the small flat piece down enough so it it will dig into a nice area of the gear. Now the station will work for another 30 years.

I think the other guy has the same thing as me where it doesn’t rotate the wrong way, it just makes a sound like it’s trying to do something and then will sometimes rotate around and act like it’s finding it’s correct spot at power on

I saw mention of this clockwise versus counter-clockwise movement and mine has never rotated the wrong way. It just seems to rumble when trying to locate itself at power on some of the time. Likely the gears are worn down as people have mentioned. Next time I have things apart, I'll look closer at that.

Keep us posted please! Ours are doing the exact same thing.

Rebuild power supply, reflow pins on power supply connectors

Test and clean the optos with a q-tip and alcohol. Replace the motor and gearbox

Nothing else to do

This machine is almost 40 years old, the gears teeth are worn and old

What does rebuilding the power supply entail?

Typically replace all capacitors, reflow solder on edge connectors, clean, etc.

Ahhh, gotcha. On the power board. I wasn't sure if you meant rebuild the transformer.

In!

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

Did not realize how good the music was in this!! Pleasantly surprised.

Super good, and so is the light show after beating condition green!

I feel the music on many System 11 machines is underrated, but especially Space Station. It just rocks!

Chris

I’ve had a lot of them. This one I like especially because there aren’t many callouts and the grooves are chill to rocking. Very good.

I’m sure I’ll have more questions later as I learn the game, but happy I joined the club!!

Oh and more pics here.

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Oh man that looks nice! Congrats on the pickup!

Chris

Lookin' good! Great game and the music is second to none.

...I spy your missing apron card on the playfield...

That freaked me out at first. Haha

Did you happen to notice the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey also hiding up in there??

Dude I brought yhis game to your own show, even when it had power! How'd you miss it?

Great pickup tho! Station is suuuuch a unique game. Not an A lister but one I just have to keep around and always enjoy. A very chill game until Condition Green, which can get frenetic at times.

I did not. Where is it?

Also, just had my first issue. Balls locked and MB ready. Stop n score started at the right ramp and I shot it. It fed the ball to the left lock and just sat there. Ball search cleared all the balls. Clearly not right. Need help on how that should’ve behaved.

Thanks!

Sadly I play almost no pinball at Pincinnati. Haha

Weird. Looks like stop n score shouldn’t come on when MB is ready.

Top right, just above the "release" insert, mostly obscured by the Space Station.

Check the function of the switch on that left side wire form. If you already have a ball locked on the left, it is supposed to shoot it out before the second one arrives. If it gets in there right next to the first ball, the game won't know it (there's no second roll over switch in that lock area). Could be as simple as the switch is disconnected or the wire arm isn't angled quite right. While in switch test mode, take a ball in your hand and let it roll down that wire form and see if the switch activates. It looks ok in your photos, might be unplugged underneath.

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Thanks! That’s exactly how the fire locks work so I’m familiar with that behavior.

I thought that monolith was an insert before. Haha

I want to say I’m breaking the rules of this club thread as I’m not a member.

However, after playing SS, this is one of the most underrated games I have ever played. Addicting, fast, brutal, and lots of fun!

Not breaking rules! For fans and owners. Yeah this game is definitely underrated

This guys videos show how it works pretty good.

Stop n Score will start anytime you knock down the drop target in front of the ramp (it can time out). Can be in single ball or multiball play.

If the station diverted the ball to the left and it didn't register, sounds like the switch on the left wireform or vuk isn't working.

That was it. The wireform switch needed adjustment. Thanks!

I want to own a Space Station one day. As you guys have pointed out, I really like the music and lights. Plus the outer space theme.

Hi,
I’m looking for the Space station mini playfield and it’s out of stock on planetary pinball … Do you know where to find one ?

I would barely tell the game turned green during MB, so swapped all the green incandescent bulbs with comet frost green smd bulbs. It’s amazing now! Very noticeable. Haha. All the thick plastics and frosted lenses help to just make it a rich green color everywhere.

Yes, this works great! I'm running 2 SMD frosted cool whites in regular GI and 2 SMD greens for the Condition Green GI.

I think the original setup was green bulb condoms, not green tinted bulbs. Those give a pretty good tint.
I do have green frosted LEDs in mine though.

Same here. I played one for the first time in years at a league place and their bulbs were so dim (and the room so bright) that I had no idea that was even a thing.

Soon as I got mine and put in good and bright green LEDs it became unmistakable. Easily one of the coolest multiball effects out there.

It wasn’t the tint. It was the brightness. Could barely tell with ambient room light on.

Yup. Much better in the dark that way.
The LEDs do make it much more obvious in lighter conditions.

Reflowing and recapping the sound board and power supply this morning.

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Is that air sucker part of your solder station or is it something else?

Separate thing:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZHH5H7N

There's cheaper boxes but I wanted one with an adjustable hose so I could place it more precisely.

I use a pinecil usb-c soldering iron that works great. I also have a Hakko FR-301 desoldering gun.

Hello, good day everyone.
I stripped down a very poorly space station last year and thought I took enough pictures for reassembly.

Unfortunately not, I have two leaf switches, one either side at the flipper end and cannot work out where they went....

Looking at the manual the colours not match any of the switches listed so I'm at a loss.

The cable colours are the last two pictures.

Two hours and still can't fathom out where they went.

Could anybody help?

Thank you so much.

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I think they are for the slingshot scoring????

If so I can't work out how they fix on....

The slingshot scoring switches are laydowns with the switch held open by the slinghot arm. When the sling fires the longer leaf is free to close with the shorter leaf

Pic is from my shopout pics hope it helps

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Awesome, got it thank you so much for going to the trouble of taking a photograph. They are now where they should be. Thank you.

Space Station translites are back in stock at Planetary. 2+ years ago I requested to be notified when they are back in stock and I just got the email.
https://www.planetarypinball.com/pinball-SPC31-1357-552

I bought a translite, speaker panel and cab decals from a guy on discord.

He has many options on his price list. Translite in two different qualities and you can even order a printed glass option, no translite.

The cab decals he sent are multilayered inks so you can feel the print so much like original painted artwork.

His discord is here, took a while to ship but top quality stuff.

https://discord.gg/DrVdkz2n

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Question: Anyone know if there are any plastics protectors on this game? I'm on my second Space Station (First game I ever owned, and regretted selling it). On my first one, the slingshot plastics were broken at where they extend towards the flippers. I can see these are bent a little there too, wondering if I should put some washers under the two posts through the metal ball guide to help them sit at the same level as the star posts. But also figured it would be good to protect them with a stronger protector.

I've done quite a bit of searching online through all the usual suppliers of plastic protectors, nothing is turning up. So thought I would check and see if anyone has seen them on here. Thanks!