Is my Williams SPACE STATION acting weird?

[DRANO]

Hey Everyone,
I'm looking for some help from anyone who knows this game well. I picked one up recently in a muti-game trade and am really enjoying it.
My divertor motor seems messed up (rotates the wrong way) so I'll have to crack it open and repair or try and find a rare replacement... but otherwise the game plays well.

However, it has this stop and score feature. A random points value starts counting after you hit the single drop target in front of the ramp. The machine starts to beat faster and faster if you do not collect the value at the ramp or left orbit. Now, when I first got the game I could swear thatm when that value would stop or finally time out and go away, the drop target would automatically re-set itself and pop back up.
Well, I was playing around with the menus recebtly and diagnosing some other issues and now the drop target stays down all the time. Solenoid is good and switch appears to be good too. It does re-set on a new ball or new game, but not when the stop&score feature ends.
Can someone please tell me if this is normal behavior or not?

And if anyone has a lead on a new or working used motor please let me know.
Part#14-7941-2 motor 24 VAC 11 RPM
or B-11824 is the 'motor assembly'

Thank you!

 

[Menace]

It's an AC motor? That's odd...

D

 

[DRANO]

The motor is AC and will have a tendency to rotate one way or the other. In order to prevent this, there is supposed to be a dogbone shaped cam in the gearbox that restricts movement to counterclockwise. Mine rotate clockwise and is getting confused as to its location. Could also be an opto problem as well... but the motor is most definitley in need of replacing or repair.

I have found 14-7941 and 14-7941-3 motors available, but not sure how compatible they might be or if the necessary parts would exisit within these motors to fix mine?

 

[DRANO]

Okay. A little bit of digging turned up a pinside thread where someone was having issues with their cyclone motor turning the wrong way (sound familiar)?
Cyclone uses the nearly identical 14-7941-3 motor and also has (hopefully) the same gear restrictor to ensure the motor only travels in one direction.

Gonna order it and give it a shot. If I'm really lucky I can just change the shaft and use it as-is. If that doesn't work, maybe I can steal the restrictor or any parts I need. Fingers crossed.

As for the drop target behaviour. Still stumped.
All systems seem fine yet other SS owners tell me that it is supposed to re-set during gameplay if the stop&score times out. Can't help thinking that I'm missing something obvious here.

 

[brad808]

As for the drop target behaviour. Still stumped.
All systems seem fine yet other SS owners tell me that it is supposed to re-set during gameplay if the stop&score times out. Can't help thinking that I'm missing something obvious here.

If you were messing around with the menu, did you change any difficulty settings? Maybe try factory reset just to be sure. Just a thought.

 

[DRANO]

As for the drop target behaviour. Still stumped.
All systems seem fine yet other SS owners tell me that it is supposed to re-set during gameplay if the stop&score times out. Can't help thinking that I'm missing something obvious here.

If you were messing around with the menu, did you change any difficulty settings? Maybe try factory reset just to be sure. Just a thought.

Yeah, that crossed my mind but I discounted that after reading the various settings and what they did. Didn't see any mention of it, but it can't hurt to try.

 

[REVOLUTION]

so the opto switch #33 registers when you hit the target? or does it register when the target pops up?

The target will always pop up during reset, it's just an auto function of the game (STTNG is like this too)

 

[DRANO]

so the opto switch #33 registers when you hit the target? or does it register when the target pops up?

The target will always pop up during reset, it's just an auto function of the game (STTNG is like this too)

Yes, re-set on any new ball or new game works fine. Prorgammed re-set during gameplay, not so much.
Pretty sure the interupter on the back of the target registers (slides between the optos) when it is in the up position. I'll have to verify to make sure, but that's what I recall.

 

[Menace]

Spent some time last week working on this game, and I'm leaning towards a flaky opto or 12VDC supply to the opto pcb... By the time I left the game was registering the drop consistently which was good, just not sure what we did to get it that way yet. Now we are chasing down a logic issue in the special solenoid section...

D

 

[cdnpinballer]

Drano I played my SS a bunch this weekend and can report back that the S/Score drop target will not come back up when the ball lock for the ramp is lit.

I am going to take the glass off tonight and confirm exactly when the S/Score drop target comes back up vs. when it does not. I wanted to do this on the weekend but got side tracked working on the pins and then hosting a family dinner.

Sorry for the initial misinterpretation. I will get back to you with confirmed results.

 

[DRANO]

Thanks... but by all accounts, the target is supposed to come back up when the stop'n'score times out. I've watched several videos online now and my machine also used to do the same. I think you may have the same problem as me. Mine only comes back up on a re-set (new ball, new game etc...)

We had the opto apparently working fine so one might have to assume that the issue is on the board somewhere or there may be a fault or break somewhere fromt he MPU to the target reset? I'm not sure.

I guess my main question would be, how does the normal (start game, start ball) reset differ from the in-game 'feature' re-set? One works while the other does not. The latter deals with multiple coils while the former is much more focused. Seems like some sort of logic issue.

 

[brad808]

Edit: scratch that idea if it was working properly before.

 

[cdnpinballer]

I'll take the glass off and let you know more tonight.

 

[cdnpinballer]

Drano try setting adjustment #66 to yes and report back.

 

[DRANO]

Drano try setting adjustment #66 to yes and report back.

MOTHERF%#$&*ER!!! it worked :FP:

I guess I must have re-set to factory settings at some point. I assumed that the drop target re-set feature was supposed to be factory... I assumed wrong.
My first inclination was that it was setting-based and I did look up the game's adjustment procedures in the manual, but there was ZERO mention about the drop target action. The only thing that was listed as a variable was the timing of the stop'n'score feature... so ofcourse, I didn't bother changing anything.

Lesson learned once again; don't always trust the documentation.
Apparently the factory setting leaves the target down indefinitely with a 25 second timer for the S&S. I must have originally had my game on 'hard' because the target would reset after 15 seconds but my docking lights were lit from the beginning. On Ex. Hard the docking does not light until you get the 1-2-3 rollovers.

Anyway..... this seems to have done it.
Thanks for investigating this further. Next time I'll just go with my gut and forget what the paperwork says.

Now... onto the bad motor and dead pop bumper

 

[cdnpinballer]

Excellent!

Glad the DT issue is resolved.

 

[Menace]

Same here! One less thing for me to be chasing down during the repairs... Thanks Lee!

D

 

[cdnpinballer]

LOL You're welcome Doug!