Ok decided since im restoring my space station I might as well start a new topic on it to share and search for parts if need be

Blue PF cleaned and repolished new Switches diodes and Gi sockets installed sofar still need 2 more ball gates like the ones pictured if anybody has some for this machine

Space station fresh in the shop when i got it and mosfet conversion done to MPU and Pf with leds installed under inserts

Space_Station_in_shop.jpg Space_station_PF_light.jpg SS_mpu_Mosfet.jpg

Soar have the power supply rebuilt and recapped with new connectors,
Sound board has been recapped, connectors desoldered and resoldered and new Rom socket.
Mpu has new machined pin Rom sockets, rebuilt and upgraded special solonod section, Mosfet light matrix conversion all sockets resoldered, and capacitor conversion done to eliminate the battery pack

SS_crap_mini.jpg SS_mpu.jpg SS_boards.jpg

I upgarde known to blow resitors upgrade the darlingtons add heavier capacitors change out and socket the 7402 Ics etc

Well its still a heap realy but its coming along slowly lol bumpers are still trashed theyre beat need new switches and rebuilds, flippers need to be rebuilt yet, left slingshot is screwed and need to still figure out why it wont turn off im thinking has to be the PIA now lol. and need to do some more rewiring in the backbox add a new fuse block and relocate it. plenty to do yet this thing has seen better days. Also need to try and reconstruct and try to reproduce the mini PF decals.
But on the positive side I have the drop targets rebuilt, the light matrix working, flashers fixed most parts reassembled all the top Pf stuff is tightened down and secure again, most boardwork done, switch issues sorted and optical problems fixed.

Roger, well what do you need help with? Im all about bringing machines back from the dead

none

Hooked oh yeah the wireform for the gates can be bought on ebay, marco and several places the problem is nobody sells the stainless top bit thats the parts i need lol. i dont care about changing or buying the wireforms but the top bracket is the odd part nobody makes or carries

As far as i am aware Bay area amusements has sold the last of the OEM space station toys so i have decided to make some Pewter replacements instead now and maybe resin castings down the road.

I will let everyone know when i have them completed the toy has been on hold at the moment been thinking about the pewter design and have been thinking it might be too problematic with the weight of the casting.
On the rotating lane guide there is a spring thats used to adjust the hight of the unit well that would need to be upgraded but then after that with the rotating mass of the pewter toy i believe it might cause damage to the motor starting and stopping
So in light of this its looking like the space station toy will prolly be most practicly made out of white resins instead but then the problem will be becouse of the casting technique the toy will have to be modified slightly to have thicker sides on the outside ring so it will appear original from the top but will be thicker on the sides of the outside ring I think it will look better but still look like the original toy and actualy be cast from the old one.
the new castings i will make will not have the clear bits in the open areas inside the circle and the current clear area in the center of the ring will no longer be the mounting method with everyones seem to be broken and the problem with most of the toys the new ones will have 3/32" thick tabs being the new revised mounting lugs to eliminate tear through which happened to the bulk of the originals.
Im hoping to have some of these ready for sale by time the school year starts, sorry or the wait but i run a business doing construction and summer is my busiest time of year so pinball projects suffer from my lack of time in the summer.
These toys wont be exactly original but will be close and not the vacuum formed thin plastic as they were made as OEM but an upgrade that will appear as the original did just be much stronger and solid instead of hollow thin plastic.

Yeah Im dissapointed it seems the pewter might be out of the picture now but it might be for the best the bondo prototype is substatialy heavier already and if pewter is used I fear it will be too heavy and possibly cause damage to other parts of the machine
With that said being cast resins i could make a white and a pewter colored version of the toy.

The big question will be how done does everyone want the toy drop in installation or would people like a raw ready to install toy without the red painted tip etc to customize themselves?

Im thinking i might make several versions of this toy to give people a few choices of what they might like theirs to look like some people might rather have silver vs white, there is the possiblity if i can find some bulk clear red domes to replace the red beacon that might look better than the original painted style.

I would realy like to illuminate mine but there are some technical problems that then arise as well

I am trying to shoot for the $40-$60 price range on these by time i have some ready or sale and i think resin casting will help me keep the price down as well VS pewter
Besides after some more consideration Pewter could also be considered toxic it is mostly lead afterall and i dont want to contaminate Pinball machines or make a potentialy hazardous product.
There is some legal liability to consider in this design as well.
i love and want to help save pinball so things i design will have to help do that instead of contribute to destruction and problems in these already old machines

White will be the main one i would make for people to buy but with further consideration I will be trying to work on a replacement decal set for the mini PF as well so my thoughts are perhaps a white version of the toy with white decals for the mini pf and a silver version of the of the toy with brushed metal decals for the mini PF.

The mini pf decals are also a seemingly damaged item on these machines, i was fortunate enough to get 2 mini PF with my machine the one installed and an extra nicer one to replace the original but then the problem has come up the nicer PF decals are or were trashed but the original beat PF has nicer decals so with any luck if i can extract the nicer decals and get good scans perhaps i can piece them together so i can reproduce some decals for this area as well this would enable me to be able to reproduce a decal set, Personaly i cant believe nobody has done yet.

As far as adding illumination to the toy well it is possible but at this point its not going to be very practicle or price effective there are several ways to get a + and - to the space station but it would be complicated becouse of the unit only turning counterclockwise so their is no hope of direct wiring it would have to have a brush system possible electrified motor as a conductor or perhaps a pcb to go under the rotating assembly with 2 brushes to make the connection either way it will be a pain and perhaps down the road it can be sorted. i just need to find the simplest most reliable way to do it. then it comes down to price.
i have a plan to have a blinking beacon on mine with 6 leds on the outer ring rotating like on the backglass but i might be aiming too high lol.

And yes the weight of the Pewter toy seems to create more problems than it would solve even though it would be awsome to make it work.
But i personaly believe its going to kill the motors and then its a matter of needing perfect balance as well to not kill the motor bearing or the motor brushes and gears starting and stopping an estimated 2-3lbs weight is a massive difference vs an original under 1 Oz. toy and the motor only has a 1/8" shaft and small pin to hold it all up.
Then there is the matter of the centrifical force of the weight will the motor stop where it should?
I see a pewter toy just plain being destructive to the machine.

Diecast aluminum would prolly work but then you are look at 5 figures to get a mold made obviously if everyone bought a new diecast toy at prolly the max number of units sold would be around 2000ish range and its not practical pricewise to go this route and be any type of affordable.

Maybe Im just over designing the toy lol but every mod i have worked on takes time becouse their is alot to consider that might never even be a problem but then it could be and in this case you can buy replacement motors but how many are still available or will be in the future? what else could go wrong here sorry its taking some extra time but any mod has to annalysed and tested then perhaps scrapped and redesigned

Well here is the prototype for the mold sofar

This is my original space station for the machine modified of coarse you see the outside edge will be thicker and this one has tabs added for mounting.
Now the next step will be to mount it to make a mold to make the another mold for casting the toys lol

Bpull, Im unsure last time i did any Vacuum forming was in shop class as a kid

Im thinking if you had the inside bit for this toy meaning the bondo filling it perhaps with some detailing it could just be placed on the vacuum table and possibly formed around it to reproduce the original unsure if the mold item would need a bunch of holes in it or not.

The pewter mold would be made of silicone rubber and i would think it might be too flexible for vacuum forming , in shop i think the Vacuum molds were rigid and hard, flexibility might deform the formed items

I have abandoned the pewter as a substance I will be making these toys out of so wont be using the high temp rubber any longer but the room temp RTV and resin for the castings

Honestly this will be my first mold as well just going to try and reverse form the mold like we did in the foundries when i worked there.
I still need to fasten the prototype to a board or whatever and make a box to fill and make the casting mold in.

I decided I will try to make the mold myself ill just have my uncle help me pick the best materials to make the molds and best method to cast these it will prolly be one at a time I suppose alot of it depends on the demand I could only need to make 10 or 500 I dont know how many will sell but if I have good molds I can cast more any time.

The more that sell the cheaper I can sell em honestly I originaly intended to make 1-2 but since I see some interest here and on FB perhaps their might be a bit of market for them. honestly i would be cool with covering my costs and time invested but if this item has potential for some sales maybe there are more to reproduce once i get the molding down a bit better.