Kraft Gimbal
Front of a Kraft gimbal assembly. Both sticks looked good but were quite dirty inside. The throttle pot was also quite dirty but all were in good working order
Kraft KPT-7C Series Eighty
Kraft Series Eighty KPT-7C Transmitter in generally good working order and in good shape
Disassembling the gimbal
First step was to disassemble the gimbals piece by piece storing the pieces carefully.
The parts on a standard Kraft transmitter are made of a heavy plastic material. All parts were cleaned with "Pledge" and a thick microfiber cloth. Textured parts were cleaned in water with a soft brush.
It's not important to mark the precise alignment of the pots to the gimbals but recording the resistance on the pots will help get their general stick-to-pot alignment easier during reassmbly.1980kraftseries eightyrckpt7c7cradio controltransmittergimbal
Cleaning the gimbals
Another view of the inside
Finishing the gimbals
With the gimbals done the rest of the case was cleaned inside and out
Completed gimbal assembly
While the gimbals were generally smooth they did drag slightly in some sports and many of the plastic surfaces showed marring from past use. After some experimentation I found that dry silicon lubricant worked well. With the gimbals apart I coated the rubbing parts with the lubricant and let it dry.
Careful reassembly also helps keep the gimbals smooth and free.
Precise re-centering of the pots isn't needed at this point but resetting the pots to the rough original resistance values will get them in the ballpark.
Without any record of the original Kraft pot-centering procedures (which may not be valid when using a modern RF-deck and servos anyway), I simply adjusted each pot to center the servo.
Finished gimbal
Left gimbal assembly completed. The bezel was coated with 303-Aerospace Protectant before reassembly.
1980kraftseries eightyrckpt7c7cradio controltransmittergimbal
Completed 2.4ghz conversion
The finished project has no extra visible holes. The only obvious change is the antenna.