looking at a space shuttle- whats common probs?

cadillacman

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Going to look at a space shuttle tommorow. Dude says there is absoultely no power to it anymore. "used to work fine"

Im going to bring a good strong flashlight to check playfield for wear and a dmm to check power... mabye its just a fuse LOL

what are the common probs with machine, what should i look out for? do these get acid damaged mpus like the older ss pins do?

thanks fellas.
 
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I just picked one up today...looks like what I'm guessing is the power regulation board...no fuses blown but the bottom right corner is very very charred and the trace is burned and completely lifted off the board.

Odd thing, it doesn't seem to affect gameplay, or operation of the machine at all. All the kicks and everything works....flippers are a bit weak and the jets near the flippers don't seem to work...wondering now if that's causing that...not good. :p
 

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oh wow frax! yeah looks like you could be dropping some voltage there at the charred spot lol..

i see its got an alkaline battery holder on the mpu. Heres to hopinfg the batteries are missing, but i doubt i will get that lucky..
 
oh wow frax! yeah looks like you could be dropping some voltage there at the charred spot lol..

i see its got an alkaline battery holder on the mpu. Heres to hopinfg the batteries are missing, but i doubt i will get that lucky..

Yeah, gonna remove those tomorrow. There's no acid damage on mine, but they're in there tight. I'm assuming it's for high score save...
 
I feel like no power at all is better than something partially working... You have a better chance of it just being one issue. I'd say if the playfield and guts look clean and the price is right, snag it without giving a lot of info. Space Shuttle is a great game.

Telling someone how to fix something will lead to talking yourself right out of a potentially good deal!

Edit... I did buy a System 11 boardset, which is different from Space Shuttle, but has that same type of AA battery holder and it was pretty hosed up. Definitely take a look at that spot.
 
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That fried area is the GI light circuit. Extremely common problem on that model power supply. Too much power for the connectors to handle.

-Hans
 
Going to look at a space shuttle tommorow. Dude says there is absoultely no power to it anymore. "used to work fine"

Im going to bring a good strong flashlight to check playfield for wear and a dmm to check power... mabye its just a fuse LOL

what are the common probs with machine, what should i look out for? do these get acid damaged mpus like the older ss pins do?

thanks fellas.

Actually, the most common Space shuttle problem that I have seen is playfield wear. Really bad wear to the wood.
 
looks like im going to miss this. Even though i was first to respond and he had the games listed individually, somebody else made him an offer on the entire lot so he decided to give that guy first pick at em.

heres to hoping that dude is a no show.
 
Damn! Space Shuttle is such a cool pinball machine, love it to death!

From a couple of years watching 'em come up and owning a Shuttle they have a few problem areas...

1) Playfield wear is very common, these games were rode hard and most didn't have mylar'ed playfields.

2) Plastic RAMPS - The playfield plastics are available new, but the RAMPS are not reproduced as I know of, and they are almost always warped even on nice machines I see. They are very thin and crack and warp like crazy up towards the top of the playfield. If you don't open the playfield carefully it also smashes up the ramp plastics at the top further risking damage.

3) Backglass flaking - These are NOTORIOUS for the art to be bubbling off the glass, especially towards the bottom where the game over, tilt, etc. lights are mounted along the bottom of Earth. There is a file floating around the internet to have a translight printed, but originally these were silkscreened mirrored glass. I've never seen a glass reproduction backglass, only the translights that pop up from time to time.

Overall electronically they are pretty reliable and I see more alive ones than dead ones. Any problems I've personally had with mine have been extremely minor other (soldering a wire onto a solenoid, flipper coil sleeves) . My game has a decent playfield but a wasted backglass. That is, until I found a guy who also collects coin-ops that worked an unbelievable deal on a near mint glass. The gas cost me more to go pick it up than the glass itself did!

Most of the mechanical parts/electronic parts are interchanable with other Williams pinballs of a similar era, almost anything that could break is readily available. The Space Shuttle plastic toy on the playfield is reproduced like crazy, all it has is a little frame and a switch mounted to it that you change over to a new one and then install the stickers.

I haven't been watching for the last year or two as much as I was in the past, but overall Space Shuttle gets lots of love and is a great addition into any gameroom with a super bitchin' theme instead of a corny one! The 1980's synthesized voice of the countdown and airlock warning are great! I especially love the "Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!" electronic scream that happens every now and again when you lose a ball! The only "annoying" things about the machine I would say is the ringer/bell when you spell SHUTTLE or get a replay and if someone leaves a ball in the trough with the game still playing it makes a sci-fi oscilating bubbly sound that grinds on your nerves until the game is over and it goes back into attract mode.
 
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thank you karl..

dude was supposed to show at 330 or 4, its 551 here and he still has not shown apparently. Lets hope he does not because if i get the ok from the owner i will be snagging it shortly..
 
Good luck on still getting it! Hopefully #1 on the runway has a flat tire or a smoked transmission! :)

If its not getting power at all that could be a good thing (damage wise). Check for acid damage on the boards, as usual with any pinball machine.

If the price is right (300-500 nice but non-working) I wouldn't tinker with it too much in front of him.

Believe it or not it could actually be a fuse... I've now had it happen a few times with pinball machines, even after someone says they've checked them all. Some of my games with a dead fuse are still running with the replacement fuse and no more trouble even if I expected it to catch fire sometime or die again. There are a ton of fuses on a pin and alot of times there are hidden or hard to see to test.

Power supplies and power supply boards on pinball machines seem to be a weak area for them also...
 
other guy showed up and bought them all. this sucks.

heres what i missed. At the moment i could have bought them all, but that would leave me no money for gas, car parts, diapers and food for 2 weeks. Just could not make it happen. I was williung to pay full price for the pin and mabye buy another game, but some other a-hole offered to buy them all and of course they got preference. It better be somebody local.
http://rockford.craigslist.org/vgm/2447058651.html
 
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You never see a "SS" for sale with the original topper. It`s only a small flat plastic basically. I have a couple of them in my shop.
 
other guy showed up and bought them all. this sucks.

heres what i missed. At the moment i could have bought them all, but that would leave me no money for gas, car parts, diapers and food for 2 weeks. Just could not make it happen. I was williung to pay full price for the pin and mabye buy another game, but some other a-hole offered to buy them all and of course they got preference. It better be somebody local.
http://rockford.craigslist.org/vgm/2447058651.html

The ad was removed. :(

Too bad, you couldn't snag the SS, it's my favorite pin in my collection. Mine had GI and nothing else, rebuilt the power board and replaced a bad diode and it was good to go.
 
The ad was removed. :(

Too bad, you couldn't snag the SS, it's my favorite pin in my collection. Mine had GI and nothing else, rebuilt the power board and replaced a bad diode and it was good to go.

Have a dumb question...

I know the GI on mine is fried, there's some wierd stuff going on in there...connector is missing and board is charred... :p

I've gotta drill out the lock before I can get to anything really but where ARE the GI lights? Are they in the support posts or what? This is my first pinball and going through the "trying to learn as much as I can before I have to do any real work" phase, lol. :)
 
Have a dumb question...

but where ARE the GI lights? Are they in the support posts or what? This is my first pinball and going through the "trying to learn as much as I can before I have to do any real work" phase, lol. :)


Scattered throughout the machine of course. Almost every light in the backbox, along with almost every light on *top* of the playfield is a GI (general illumination) light.

Differs from "feature" lights, which are generally in the inserts or other places to indicate..well....features of the playfield. Feature lights are controlled by the CPU, GI lights are not (but there may be some relay tricks going on).

GI lights are the ones that come on 1st when you turn the machine on. Even though the wiring may go thru several connectors (and even boards), it's generally a straight power shot from the transformer to the lights. The power is always present at the pin on the board + the lights are always on = recipe for burnt connectors after numerous years.
 
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