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Thread: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    As my previous pin project is winding down: http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/pinb...g-up-down.html I began working on the Gold Union pachinko machine again: http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/vint...-machines.html

    But the Pachinko project is once again postponed because I couldn't resist a Craigs list offer for a 1976 Williams Space Mission for $200.
    I was watching it for several weeks drop from $350 to $275 to $200 and picked it up tonight for $175. I bought it knowing it didn't work and the seller said the playboard paint was in good condition. So me and the Mrs. drove 6hrs round trip to get it.
    I was hoping this machine would be in better shape than my previous project, the Spirit of 76.
    It is in better condition in some areas but worse in others. The worse is dirt. It's going to take a long time for me to clean this pin out to be the best it can be. Someone wallpapered the side with a Battle Star Galactia print which I plan to remove and restore the OEM patterns.

    The playboard is also extremely dirty but the paint is in fair condition. The paint is wore through in only a couple places near the outholes but nothing major. The backglass is pretty good with a tiny small bit of paint cracking around the Game Over light.

    This is yet another BIG project... but hey, what can I expect for $175?
    There isn't any documentation for it, but I was able to obtain what I need from web searches and the IPB database including the schematic and owners manual.
    Internet Pinball Machine Database: Williams 'Space Mission'

    Glass.jpgPlayfield.jpgSide.jpg
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  3. #2
    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    I've been working on the relay board, mainly cleaning.
    You know the grunge that accumulates behind the engine of an old car? A combination of half solidified dirty oil that is permanently stuck on the surface and no matter how you rub a film of it always remains? A film of a similar substance is on most of the relay board. I have no idea where it came from. It's not coming from the transformer which is on the opposite side of the board.

    I've taken it section by section, removing rows of relays, Jones plugs etc off of the wood board and scrubbing the wood surface underneath to remove the grime with a damp towel rag. I've also done the same with the wiring harness and as many individual wires to/from the various devices as practical.
    I've given both the coin and ball stepper units a thorough cleaning. Those too are once again very good. All contacts (except for the score motor) have been cleaned. A few but not many switches needed a bit of re-gapping.

    It is amazing how well a damp rag can clean these surfaces. It looks (and smells) so much better than before. It's too bad the black gunky film is there to stay on the wood. At least it won't be causing any problems. I've spent 5 hours on the relay board alone.

    Here are some before and after pics. There's nothing fantastic here but there are differences and it looks a lot better in person.

    I put it into the machine to see how it is.
    The replay button and the coin circuit are still dead as before, so I manually pressed the replay counter subtract solenoid to begin the reset sequence.
    All the score reels reset to "0" except the 1000's which kept flipping and flipping past "0". A quick check revealed maladjusted switches for that score reel.

    I did another manual reset.
    All reels reset properly but the score motor kept cycling.
    What I found explains the nasty black grunge on the relay board. The bonus unit add solenoid under the playboard is sticking. More worse, is that someone has been spraying or applying a lot of oil to it. To the ratchet, finger slides, solenoids. So much oil that it dripped and pooled on the relay board. !#%?# (golly) why do people do such things? AARG! Just do it right!!!

    I've got the bonus unit working properly and I'm making a list of replacement parts to get from Steve Young's Pinball Resource The Pinball Resource Coil sleeves are definitely on the list. Most of the sleeves on my SO76 were in good shape. These Williams aluminum sleeves are not. It's what some doofus was trying to fix by pouring oil on them.

    Anyway, the game completes its reset procedure properly now.

    The outhole and kickers now work, they were not working before. The swinging target wasn't scoring and I soldered the broken wire back onto the PF switch. The first activation of anything scoring 100 would pull and hold in the 100's relay in the light box. That relay coil shows signs of heat suggesting it's been that way for a while and "they" just kept on playing it. Repositioning a maladjusted switch on the 100's relay solved that issue.

    Everything is now functioning on the playboard other than the usual burned bulbs etc. I haven't tried a multiplayer game but it's useless anyway before going through the lightbox. Especially the sticking player unit. (The unit that switches to determine which player is "up")

    Fixing the replay button and dead coin circuit is a sub-project down the line.
    The coin door is missing its coin mechanisms but I plan to make a couple coin shoots to direct tokens or quarters over the coin switches. I have a Pachislo machine in the game room which takes tokens which I could use.
    I will probably work on the playfield board next. The photos below compare before and after servicing the relay board. Original is on top, serviced is the bottom. I am going to reprint the labels marking the function of the relay board adjustment plugs.

    Board.jpgplugs.jpgscore motor.jpg
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  5. #3
    Pachi Puro Card Shark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Congratulations on another very cool machine.
    "Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."
    Pachiholic and Proud!!! サメ

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Looks like a great game. Love the artwork.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Scowlin' Jean Hornigold hanabi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Another pinball project!!

    Great stuff!!

    I'm sure all your hard work will pay off, when you reveal a really nice pinball lurking under all that yucky gunk

    and looks like you've made good progress so far

    Angie ...
    Pachinkos, Pachislos, Coffee, Papercraft Ninja, Pinball

    I ran away with the Steampunk Circus!
    I was hiding in a room in my mind...
    You crush the lily in my soul...



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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Its like buying a used car...something simple didn't work, and someone did something STUPID to keep driving it that way!

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    Goodwill Ambassador luckydog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Hey don't use my 1999 Escort as an example!!!
    幸運わんわん Luckydog or Yukiwanwan in Japanese

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  15. #8
    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Ok, this project is almost completed. The only thing left is repainting the cabinet exterior.

    When I first got this pin, I was hoping it would be a fairly quick repair for resale. In fact, the Mrs. would never have allowed the purchase if that was not the intention. I really, really got that idea wrong. It is now restored to beautiful condition and working 100% and reliably. But it has taken me more than 200 hours to complete. I think $20/hr labor is more than reasonable, and if I were to factor it into the sales price it would need to sell for at least $4,450. Nobody is going to buy a '76 restored EM pin with 131,000 on the game counter for that amount. I plan to finish spraying the cabinet and list it for $3000 local pickup. That will reduce my labor to around $12/hr.

    But there is a bright side. A very bright side. I have become accustomed to this pin and love it at least as much as my other recent pin project, the Spirit of 76. If it sells for $3K then fine. But I'd rather just keep it. In fact, I would not sell it if not the promise to the Mrs. If anything, the unrealistic listing is a mere formality.

    I've poured my heart and soul into this project. It has not been an easy task and it has fought me every inch of the way, even up to the very end. Some of the issues were created when someone spilled soda/beer etc over the playfield glass which ran down and pooled inside the machine and over the coin door inside. It was never cleaned up which made a real mess and corrosion. The spill is cleaned and the corrosion fixed, although scars remain. Then there's the operator/repairman caused issues which were many.

    The worse electrical damage was a score reel. I knew one reel's solenoid was burned up and I had a replacement. But when I actually began to re-sleeve and fix all 16 score reels, something on the 1st one I pulled out crunched under my finger. Darn! Another burned coil that I missed in my inspection! But this one was worse because it apparently got REAL hot, hot enough to burn all the insulation off the switch wires above it so they were all exposed, looking like toaster wire. The only real bright spot in all this was my parts supplier at The Pinball Resource who got my replacement parts quickly without hassle.

    There's a bit of a debate among pin enthusiasts regarding clear coating. The original playfield wasn't perfectly smooth like a highly polished clear coat and some consider it to degrade play. The Varathane clear coat I used leaves a rough pocked-like surface or "orange peel" effect unless sanded. I chose not to sand it flat for a couple reasons. (1) to retain the original "feel" of the game and (2) the highly polished surface creates a reflection surface. The playfield art is deep space and I think a reflective surface would not work well on it. Although it's not as fancy as a flat polished surface, I really like the game action.

    Once I get these cabinets sprayed the project will be completed and I can get back to the 1940's - 50's Gold Union pachinko machine which still remains disassembled and stored in buckets.

    These are some photos I took along my journey:

    * Burnt and repaired score reel and parts
    Burn.jpgBurn-Repair.jpg
    * Dirty soda/beer damaged front end of cabinet
    Dirty Front.jpg
    * Cleaned, fixed and repainted cabinet
    Cab-done.jpg
    * Filled playfield light inserts (These had sunken into their holes)
    Inserts.jpg
    * A collage of the flaking paint from the back glass and the repair
    Flaking-collage.jpgrepair-collage.jpg
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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Here are a few photos after restoral and a video of the finished game. I am also including a famous painting of the Apollo-Soyuz painting which inspired the back glass art, along with the actual spacecraft at a museum.
    Contrary to appearance, the video is not one single ball played. I recorded 3 to 4 sets of 4 player games with the camera set at different angles. I took the various shots and edited them all down to 1 ball. It shows the action of the game along with various features
    Apollo_soyuz_linku.jpgApollo-soyuz.jpg

    Attached Images Attached Images
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    Goodwill Ambassador luckydog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    a beautiful restore job
    幸運わんわん Luckydog or Yukiwanwan in Japanese

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  21. #11
    Pachi Puro Moparformances's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    looks great..

    nice game
    Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, .......... /........ If your not going to stand behind our troops
    ...committed people can change the world. ............. /.................Please, Please stand in front of them
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    Pachi Puro Card Shark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Uh-oh! Somehow a Williams Space Mission got into my house!!

    Wow! Looks great. Thank you for shring the pictures and video.
    "Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."
    Pachiholic and Proud!!! サメ

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  25. #13
    Captain Weirdo Sid's Avatar
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    Awesome!!

    "I've stopped fighting my inner demons, we are on the same side now."

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