Repairing my Kraft Executive III Joystick

[rubber_jonnie]

As I posted on my general chat, I have a Kraft Executive III joysick that has seen better days:

Kraft.jpg

As evidenced by the floppy X axis, which when you consider it to be a self centring joystick, its somewhat alarming.

Currently it looks like this:

IMG20260104175747.jpg

So it's time to get it fixed. The broken part is on the left here:

IMG20260105143251.jpg

It appears to be a Zinc or Aluminium cast/injection moulded part and the long pin that engages with the X Axis has sheared off. I suspect planned obsolescence, cheaping out or both to be at play here!!!

So I intend to use the brass and steel pin to replace it. It will need a bit of machining but I have what I need to do it, so am quite hopeful it will be a relatively simple job.

Will report more as the repair commences :)

[rubber_jonnie]

For reference, this is where the original part sat:

Stick.jpg

So hopefully I can replicate this with the new part I make.

[mrbombermillzy]

Cool topic Jon. :)

You dont often see joystick repair topics around here.

Never seen one of those before. It reminds me of the BBC Voltmace joysticks.

[rubber_jonnie]

Cool topic Jon. :)

You dont often see joystick repair topics around here.

Never seen one of those before. It reminds me of the BBC Voltmace joysticks.

As it goes I have a pair of Voltmace sticks for the BBC as well as the original BBC sticks.

IMG20260104175733.jpg

The BBC sticks are awful and non self centering.

I think Kraft were expensive at the time and not well known in the UK. I once had a 2ch radio control set from Kraft, it was half decent and I won it in a competition.

[rubber_jonnie]

So I managed to get some time at lunchtime and came up with this:

IMG20260106160043.jpg

It looks like it should do the trick, I just need to decide if I will epoxy it all in place or if I'll see if I can do something less permanent, though I expect permanence not be an issue once it's all reassembled and working.

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, so the replacement part is all epoxied in and has set very strongly.

IMG20260108113315.jpg

However I don't understand why one was made this way and the other was part of the injection moulding like this:

IMG20260108113324.jpg

Especially when it's installed like this:

IMG20260108113056.jpg

There is no real reason to do it this way and make it out of a mechanically inferior material to the steel pin...

So I have some epoxy putty I'm going to add around the pin to make sure it won't be failing again.

[rubber_jonnie]

So I was going to use Milliput to fill in the joystick gimball, however mine has gone kind of funny due to sitting in a drawer for a while, so I opted to use a thick UV cured resin and it's done a fantastic job :)

IMG20260108142052.jpg

IMG20260108142012.jpg

So next up I need to reassemble and test/clean the pots and switches before reassembly.

[rubber_jonnie]

And all back together:

IMG20260108152347.jpg

IMG20260108152742.jpg

Works great and the latches for turning off self centering work perfectly too. I need to test on a real system but the pots and switches are all fine.

[mrbombermillzy]

Splendid work as usual Jon. ;)

[rubber_jonnie]

Splendid work as usual Jon. ;)

Thank you sir 😁