C23 Gimbal Teardown and Cleaning

[TurboDad81]

A few weeks ago, one of my dampers decided to leak all of the fluid out and all over the gimbal. I have been flying at a construction site, which is a pretty dusty location. I have been noticing the camera jerks real hard whenever I move suddenly, or if I'm hovering and it's really windy outside. I think there's some dust in the gimbal. Does anyone have instructions with photos or a video of how to teardown the C23 gimbal so that I can clean it really good? Thanks, Chris.

 

[Euphered]

Try reading this thread about replacing the gel with foam. Maybe it will help you I hope

C23/E90 Gel Filled Damper Solution

Good news for all you gel-filled headache sufferers, there is now relief and it's spelled F-O-A-M! That's right, @Steve Carr recently posted a video of him installing CGO3+ dampers on his C23 gimbal and stuffing foam in them. This raised some good points from @PatR about camera weight and damper...

yuneecpilots.com

 

[DCH]

Pretty sure @Steve Carr will have the disassembly info for you. Sorry to hear about the leaking damper, that stuff is difficult to get off of anything! This is one of several reasons I ditched the gel filled dampers and went with foam instead, even before I had any problems with them. This might be a good time to consider it. Thanks @Euphered for pointing "Dad" to why this is a good/better idea.

Here's the "How to":
C23/E90 Gel Filled Damper Solution

 

[TurboDad81]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I was reading through that thread before I posted this. I will be replacing the gel with foam. I actually have some Pelican foam laying around.

I tried blowing out the joints this morning with computer air duster, but it didn't do much. Am I even able to re-calibrate the gimbal if I tear it apart?

 

[Steve Carr]

Am I even able to re-calibrate the gimbal if I tear it apart?

I wouldn't recommend taking the gimbal apart. If you think some of the silicone from the damper has gotten into the servo motors I suggest you try to clean them with Electrical Contact Cleaner. Spray enough to flush out the servo and then let it dry for 10-15 min and test it on the bench by "hand flying". I can't recall for certain but I believe that is what I used to clean up some leaks previously.

 

[RPR]

I wouldn’t worry about dust getting into the gimbal, and the gel that could possibly leak into the contacts is unlikely.

I periodically clean my contacts with a #2 eraser and apply DeoxIT, I use the spray on hard to reach places, specially the battery contacts and liquid brush-on applicator for my gimbal.

I too have modified dampers due to 1) deformation of the dampers 2) The gimbal sways (right/left) during full throttle descend.

Thus, I ended up using the dampers from the inspire 2 and this eliminated the “swaying” of the gimbal and made it solid, without sacrificing its fluidity in flight.

 

[TurboDad81]

Thanks fellas. I'll try flushing it out with some electrical contact cleaner and replacing the dampers.