Saitek Throttle Quadrants - how easy to clean potentiometers?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

I got as far as removing the bottom plate to expose the assembly. But there is no obvious way on how you remove the individual throttle assemblies. I wasn't going to force anything so I've decided for now to leave things as they are.

i can see the pot assembly but as the dirt is inside there seems very little point spraying the outside of it.

None of the videos on YouTube show how to take things apart. They all start with things disassembled. That's not much help for the novice. Oh well. 

[Greggy_D 935]

Did you have a look at DigiKey?  They may possibly have a replacement that will match.

https://www.digikey.com/

[Jude Bradley 659]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I got as far as removing the bottom plate to expose the assembly. But there is no obvious way on how you remove the individual throttle assemblies. I wasn't going to force anything so I've decided for now to leave things as they are.

i can see the pot assembly but as the dirt is inside there seems very little point spraying the outside of it.

None of the videos on YouTube show how to take things apart. They all start with things disassembled. That's not much help for the novice. Oh well. 

They are very tricky buggers and the wire breaks off them very easily. My hands are not as steady as they used to be, and you really need a vice and magnifying light to fix these pots.

In the end, I ended up buying a new throttle quadrant right in the middle of the shortage. (you can imagine how much fun that was).

[MaDDogz 242]

i had this problem and done the exact thing in the video in page 1...the pots are secured with a glue gun, so you need to free them and then split them in half to get to the copper tracks..care is needed as its very flimsey and weak, easy to break......think i used nail varnish remover with a cotton bud. It did work, but not for long. The spikes soon returned. Like the other poster stated, flying with throttles like this is not enjoyable at all, almost impossible unless firewalled.

 

Drove me nuts, so ordered a thrustmaster warthog. yes they are not cheap...but what a diffrence! they have magnets instead of copper tracks so this problem will never happen with this controller / throttle, ever!

 

is so precise that i can sit in the NGX and throttle up in decimal points...65.7% throttle, no problem....45.3%...no problem..

There are drawbacks ofcourse, its a stick not a yoke, left handed throttle, but you will soon get used to it :)

I strongly advise  investing in one.

[zmak 331]

Am I going nuts. Why wouldn't anyone invest in a few dollar can of contact cleaner first. 

A good blast would at least clean out the guts and at the very worst you can spend a fortune on a thrust master or a smaller fortune on another saitek that will break within 12 months again. 

Ray

"I can see the pot assembly but as the dirt is inside there seems very little point spraying the outside of it."

myself and many others watched the saitek graph spike and then gave it a squirt and all good .

Its not black magic

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

2 hours ago, Greggy_D said:

Did you have a look at DigiKey?  They may possibly have a replacement that will match.

https://www.digikey.com/

Greg,

I read on another forum that there are no replacement potentiometers for the Saitek. Done deliberately to force you to buy another throttle quadrant.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

1 hour ago, Jude Bradley said:

They are very tricky buggers and the wire breaks off them very easily. My hands are not as steady as they used to be, and you really need a vice and magnifying light to fix these pots.

In the end, I ended up buying a new throttle quadrant right in the middle of the shortage. (you can imagine how much fun that was).

I agree Jude. There may be some very clever people out there who can disassemble these units but they're in the minority. I got so far then the warning bells started ringing. Time to stop whilst the units are still usable.

These are two axes where there is significant noise but they aren't that bad that hand flying is impossible. I've had them nearly 9 years so they've done me well.

I've looked at Goflight and PFC but neither are entirely suitable. The PFC is the closest but you need a console to connect the throttle quadrant to and I don't need that.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

46 minutes ago, zmak said:

Am I going nuts. Why wouldn't anyone invest in a few dollar can of contact cleaner first. 

A good blast would at least clean out the guts and at the very worst you can spend a fortune on a thrust master or a smaller fortune on another saitek that will break within 12 months again. 

Ray

"I can see the pot assembly but as the dirt is inside there seems very little point spraying the outside of it."

myself and many others watched the saitek graph spike and then gave it a squirt and all good .

Its not black magic

zmak,

sorry but I fail to understand why cleaning the outside of the unit holding the potentiometer would help. The muck is probably inside it.

I've also read that once you start to use cleaner fluid it's necessary to repeat the action at fairly regular intervals. Frying pan to fire springs to mind.

[zmak 331]

3 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

zmak,

sorry but I fail to understand why cleaning the outside of the unit holding the potentiometer would help. The muck is probably inside it.

I've also read that once you start to use cleaner fluid it's necessary to repeat the action at fairly regular intervals. Frying pan to fire springs to mind.

'I've seen two now that show the pots have to be exposed before cleaning rather than just spraying cleaner into the general area of the axis. Maybe that sorts out other issues but for dirty pots this seems to be the best method.'

what makes you think you dont have other issues. whatever that means ?

what other issues could there be but spikey throttles

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

1 hour ago, MaDDogz said:

Drove me nuts, so ordered a thrustmaster warthog. yes they are not cheap...but what a diffrence! they have magnets instead of copper tracks so this problem will never happen with this controller / throttle, ever!

 

is so precise that i can sit in the NGX and throttle up in decimal points...65.7% throttle, no problem....45.3%...no problem..

There are drawbacks ofcourse, its a stick not a yoke, left handed throttle, but you will soon get used to it :)

I strongly advise  investing in one.

Luke, I still have my old CH Pro Throttle should the worse happen. CH is decent kit but their throttle quadrant has very short travel on the axes. Pity really as it would be a decent alternative.

[MaDDogz 242]

46 minutes ago, zmak said:

Am I going nuts. Why wouldn't anyone invest in a few dollar can of contact cleaner first. 

A good blast would at least clean out the guts and at the very worst you can spend a fortune on a thrust master or a smaller fortune on another saitek that will break within 12 months again. 

Ray

"I can see the pot assembly but as the dirt is inside there seems very little point spraying the outside of it."

myself and many others watched the saitek graph spike and then gave it a squirt and all good .

Its not black magic

Depends...all the saitek throttles i've dismantled had the pots completly covered with glue gun glue....so the cleaner wouldnt penatrate into the pot.

I just had a look for prices...278 pounds.Delivered. Small price compared to the rest of a sim setup...

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

1 minute ago, zmak said:

'I've seen two now that show the pots have to be exposed before cleaning rather than just spraying cleaner into the general area of the axis. Maybe that sorts out other issues but for dirty pots this seems to be the best method.'

what makes you think you dont have other issues. whatever that means ?

what other issues could there be but spikey throttles

Yes, I've also seen those two but they don't show how to get access to the assembly. I don't know 100% I don't have other issues as I don't know enough about these things work. But I'm cautious by nature so will only do something if I'm 100% sure it will work and not just cause more problems.

Out of interest where precisely do you spray the cleaner fluid with the bottom of the unit removed? A photo or video would be really helpful.

[MaDDogz 242]

4 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Luke, I still have my old CH Pro Throttle should the worse happen. CH is decent kit but their throttle quadrant has very short travel on the axes. Pity really as it would be a decent alternative.

Always good to have a plan B Ray :) Atleast you wont be grounded!.

 

I cant praise the Warthog enough though Ray. I came from a saitek yoke / throttle setup, and at first it felt alien, but the diffrence in precision shines through with hand flying. Many buttons too witch allows me, useing Linda, to control all buttons in all my aircraft.

 

[zmak 331]

1 minute ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Yes, I've also seen those two but they don't show how to get access to the assembly. I don't know 100% I don't have other issues as I don't know enough about these things work. But I'm cautious by nature so will only do something if I'm 100% sure it will work and not just cause more problems.

Out of interest where precisely do you spray the cleaner fluid with the bottom of the unit removed? A photo or video would be really helpful.

You dont remove anything

1. attach straw to spray can

2. insert straw into gap between throttles of the closed saitek unit . somewhere near where the throttles would pivot but it doesn't really matter. just insert and spray for a few seconds in all 3 slots

3. move all three throttles around their axis several times

should take about 30 seconds.

4. go fly concord

I need to repeat this procedure every 12 months or so but its always the same result.

let us know how you go

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

1 minute ago, MaDDogz said:

Always good to have a plan B Ray :) Atleast you wont be grounded!.

 

I cant praise the Warthog enough though Ray. I came from a saitek yoke / throttle setup, and at first it felt alien, but the diffrence in precision shines through with hand flying. Many buttons too witch allows me, useing Linda, to control all buttons in all my aircraft.

 

I started with a CH Fighterstick Pro around 20 years ago but a yoke suits my flying more than a stick.

Has anyone managed to buy a replacement throttle quadrant with the PS/2 cable? All the ones I've seen advertised just have the USB cable. The problem with that is you can't have 2 USB ones as Windows can't see them as separate devices. Nor can FSUIPC.

I suspect that to get a new throttle quadrant with the PS/2 connector you would have to buy a new yoke. Outrageous!!