OK - I have been really perfecting my Space Station, but have one lingering problem.
Occasionally, the space station spins clockwise, and I'm pretty sure it is only supposed to spin counter-clockwise. - just happens occasionally. This causes slight mis-alignments - interfering with docking a ball.
I've cleaned the optos, in fact, I replaced the whole opto board. I've tried all sorts of stuff.
I read somewhere that the problem could be the motor itself, and that there is an internal "dog" that gets worn and the motor can then spin the wrong way.

Before I spend $45 on this: http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/14-7941-2

Does that make any sense? Any other thoughts? Anybody open one of those motors and fix them?

bump

Thanks. I'll do it. Maybe I'll get some pictures if I see what is going on. - I guess if I open it up and can't fix it, there is the $45 new motor option. I just didn't want to open it if the problem was elsewhere. I'll report back!

Well - opened up the motor - found the gear on the main shaft of the motor to be really worn down where the dog engages. I tried to move the gear on the shaft up or down so it would have some fresh teeth to work with, but in doing so, the shaft must have bent a little, now there is a lot of friction. That little gear is too far gone, so I ordered the new motor. At least I finally figured out what was wrong! Probably hard to see in the picture, but the teeth in the center gear are really shot.

motor.jpg

Just thought I'd wrap this up. A new motor solved the problem. I bought one from Marco Specialties, and it quit working after a few games. I called Marco - and they said they'd take it back, no problem. Kudo's for Marco - nice to do business with them. I ordered another from them, and it is doing great. So if your motor spins the wrong way - you can bet the motor is the issue. Now my Space Station ball diverter always lines up exactly the way it should, and it makes the game much more enjoyable.