Space Station -- one of the best System 11s ever made...

Well-executed theme.
Cool call outs: "Looking good!" "You must re-dock!"
Great sound effects.
Amazing soundtrack by Chris Granner.
Nice backglass.
Great light show.
Nice open playfield which penalizes you infrequently for missed shots. First-timers REALLY like this machine.
Last pin made without inlanes -- which is a nice gimmick.
Good 3-ball multi-ball with great effects and a clear multi-ball jackpot shot. I really like how you can get a few good detaining shots middle and right to clear up the playfield to make the upper left orbit.
GREEN MODE! (you'd better LED this up!)

I started up a Space Station Club so that other proud Space Station owners can share the over-the-top love for the machine as well as: repair help, restoration tips, part requests, requesting wiring photos, topper ideas, best LED usage, color matching tips, and upgrade ideas...

RESOURCES/IDEAS:
http://spacestation.santoro.com/
http://www.jeff-z.com/pinball/spacestation/repair/repair.html
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vacuum-formed-my-own-space-station
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/miniature-space-station-lit-up
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-space-station-1987-bad-mylar-playfieldscan

[x] add to your favorites (do this now!)

-mof

I have a question about my Space Station flashers.

I see five of them in the top right. Only the 2nd one from the left lights up. I checked all the bulbs.

Can someone take a short 30 second vid of what they see during coil/flasher tests or lamp tests to show me what they see? Do you get all four? At what times?

thanks!
-mof

Interesting... can other Space Station owners take a look into this?

1) I have 5 orange lamp covers in the top right of the upper playfield.
2) under the all lamp test, and single lamp test, none come on. under coil/flasher, I can get the second (I think) of 5 to flash.

-mof

Thank you. That's brutal to find out mine has 5 orange covers there. I have a very clean example with no mods that I am aware of, also -- I can't imagine any balls hitting up there, so it makes me wonder if some games shipped with 5 orange up top? Either way -- I'd sure like to see that lighting behavior.

I would be interested to know what behavior you get in lamp tests, so I can try and mimic that.

-mof

Lighting!

I think I made the backbox look 2x better. Left 44s in the "space station area up top", the 6-7 ring bulbs, and the Williams and the Shuttle Flame. Went cold frosted on all the other spots. Now you have cold and warm fighting in the backglass, and it gives the art more depth.

I've changed out the bulbs on the lower PF from 44's to frosted-cold, and I think it looks great. I've swapped out all the original flaking painted greens to I'd like to change out the bulbs on the upper PF that is obstructed by ramps, habitrails, and the station etc.

I already tried blue frosted in all the lower, like in my Space Shuttle, and it doesn't work AT ALL. The plastic is not translucent enough for blue, like in Space Shuttle.

Are there any shortcuts at all?
Any recommendations on removing these things?

-mof

Lighting!

Green mode. I think it's WAYYY too dark to see the ball. Wondering what we can use under the slings to get maximum light, but keep it green...

What have you tried?
-mof

Finishing my light swap out to cold white LEDs. Can't figure out how to get this top level plastic out. Seems like the two black plastic bracers are threaded to the machine screw, which seems to be extra long and go down into the playfield, but they both wobble a little. Looking for advice before using force.

(I solved it...) I used locking pliers to grasp the top of the long screw, and screw it into the plastic. Total hack. I am going to leave it "loose" since this plastic never gets hit by a ball, and the looseness of the screws doesn't impact how upright the plastic sits there.

thanks!
-mof

201309_space-station-plastic.jpg

(solved -- see above)

OH NO YOU DI-'INT !!!
Frickin' cool.
They said it couldn't be done!!!
-mof

Adding this new mod page to the resources up top.
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-space-station-1987-bad-mylar-playfieldscan
-mof

Question: what should the end of the ball-save on the left outlane look like? I'm worried mine might have a malformed tip.

-mof

Very awesome mod!
-mof

My right ramp is cracked. I've never done a ramp repair. Has anyone fortified theirs? I bought a $20 plastic kit from some moto-x shop a few months ago. It's time to give it a shot...

Any tips?

-mof

BO talks about Space Station @ 34:00... explains why there are no inlanes...

http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/topcast_35.mp3

But, he mentions TWO kickers to return the ball back into play -- I only have one on the left -- did anyone ever see one with a kicker on the right side?

I would have thought there's no room for one on the right since the ball-return is behind the apron there...

-mof

Question:

Has anyone tweaked their Upper Left Orbit shot into the saucer to work better?
Is there some rule that makes it not hold the ball until something is accomplished?
I feel like I have about a 2 in 5 chance of it sticking when I make the shot.

thanks!
-mof

Question:
What re-lights the re-entry ball-save on left?
thanks!
-mof

Has anyone ever figure out why the upper left orbit shot to the saucer only grabs the ball 50% of the time?
At least that's how it is on my machine.
-mof

1. Open a tech thread on this in the tech forum.
2. Use google to find other threads on this
here's one for example:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-system-11-bullet-proofing-thread
it suggests you reflow the pins in the relay.
-mof

Totally rad.
-mof

wtf is going on there... the cab looks great too.
-mof

Does anyone know where I can find a replacement part for the ball-save kicker. The plastic on mine is munched up -- and I'd like to find a replacement.

thanks!
-mof

I would trace it PF --> back...

1. Isolate bulb:
Duh. (you did this)

2. Isolate socket:
Compare power readings to other similar sockets... (you did this)

3. Isolate wire and connector:
Whip out the specs, and rig a setup (perhaps use a male pin joined to a wire, joined to a 1-pin connector) so you can carefully move power from a pin that works on the boards to a pin on the connector that lights up your bulb using a different lamp-light-send from the boards.

4. Isolate board component
At this stage it's very game dependent, and you'll need to figure out what components on the board are driving the bulbs, and see if it's a single component for that bulb, or if it's an IC that controls a whole group of bulbs (usually those fail in groups as well)

-mof

Reflective orange sticker looks AWESOME.
-mof

Need more pics, hard to see how you did this.
thanks,
mof

Brilliant!
-mof

It would be great if you matched the BLUE that Freeplay40 used in his right ramp in Space Station.
-mof

Cracked ramp on right - freeplay40 has the blue repros.
-mof

Did you mean SS or Scared Stiff?

-mof

Yeah, you want this spring to be very strong, that way you can take a "casual, not thinking about it" pull and the ball just makes it up there.

I had already tried with a weaker spring to "save wear and tear" on the plastics up there, and realized it's not fun to thoughtfully do a full plunge EVERY time.

-mof

Brilliant. Any leads on where to find the figurines?
-mof

Very not naff.
-mof

Now we just need something like inside-cabinet side decals with reflective sparkly dust for stars...
-mof

What a great game, I keep putting up 5.5million (with 2 free balls at 2.5 and 5), and can't seem to get a good green mode going for more than 10-20 seconds.

Today I noticed something. The rubber on the upper left retun lane sticks out enough, that it isn't perfectly smooth on the rare ball roll-back from a hard denied 1-2-3 shot.

Any one else have their rubber sticking this far out? Perhaps the fix is to move the metal curve out a little to match the rubber?

-mof

20150605_SSN-rubber.jpg

Thanks for the props, but it wasn't me bro!
=)
-mof

Thanks for posting, always fun to watch...
-mof

Same issue on mine -- I presume it's the wrong bulb type for me, too lazy to check...
-mof

Creative idea, I dig it. Would like to see more pics, some with room lighting off too...
-mof

Please open a new thread to discuss acronyms.
-mof

I'll move it here
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-game-abbreviations

vid's guide has a page showing the ideal Pinball Life order for it.
-mof

It's hijack Tuesday in this thread.

Performance -- and it's subtle, not everyone will be looking for it. I will.

My favorite reason to switch spring types is to improve performance.

When I'm serious about my game, I always want to get my flipper to "resting position" asap during a slap save attempt. I want as many flips as possible. It's far more responsive with a tight spring pulling, than with a loose old spring pushing.

If changing springs means I can get in in 3 flips instead of 2 as the ball goes nearly SDTM, I'll pay any price to get that extra flip. Not everyone cares about performance the same way.

-mof

Is that the secret to getting to those bulbs???

Call them "Stonehenge" playfield risers

How does the play field have a purple glow

ISS docked with SpaceX's Dragon today... I hope somebody played their Space Station today !!!
-mof