This is a blog documenting the restoration of my 1987 Williams Space Station pinball machine. Thanks for visiting. Dave Santoro
Category: Playfield
Oct 18
Completed Playfield
The playfield turned out really well. All that’s left is for me to paint the coin door and touch up the cabinet paint. I’ll just leave a little eye candy here for you…..
Dec 18
Creating a replacement plastic
One day as I was looking over the flyer for this machine I realized I was missing a plastic over the lower pop-bumper. I read up online and decided to try my hand at creating one. I found the art online, printed it on thin paper, and attached a thin piece of acrylic with clear …
Nov 18
Lighting!
One thing I did that a purist might not agree with, I replaced almost every incandescent bulb with a new LED. In my view the benefits far outweigh the ever-so-slightly-reduced authenticity. Benefits of LEDs: Bolder and more vivid colors Longer life Cooler burning Draw less power and therefore easier on the wiring and components …
Oct 18
General Illumination Repair
After reading a LOT online, I dove into repairing the right side general illumination. This is a common problem that arises from the under-spec molex connector frying and losing conductivity. In the pictures below you will see the burned white connector, which I replaced with the new black one from Mouser. This required only …
Oct 08
Ramp Repair
It was hard to see when the the playfield was assembled, but the black ramp on the right side was broken at the end. I actually wrote up the repair process in an article for the now-defunct Gameroom Magazine… so I will just put that here. Williams Space Station Ramp Repair Dave Santoro, Proprietor, Arcade Replay, …
Sep 19
Playfield Restoration
I took the playfield apart layer by layer. It was very tedious and I was scared to death of forgetting how it goes back together… so I took a boatload of pics along the way. Each part was lovingly hand-polished with Novus plastic polish. All rusty or scratched nuts and bolts were replaced, and the …
Sep 18
The condition of my new acquisition.
The machine was in what I would describe as good+ condition. The great news is that most of the issues seemed to be cosmetic. The game was playable, but mechanically there were a few issues – a pop bumper or two was non responsive, the sound was badly garbled, and a few segments in the VFD …
Sep 01
Thus beginneth my next obsession.
I am Dave Santoro. This site has been created to document the restoration project for my 1987 Williams Space Station Pinball Machine. I had always wanted a pinball machine, mainly for the sentimental fun of playing it, but also for the technical challenge of restoring it. I had always assumed that acquiring a good condition …