Taranis Q X7 Gimbal pinching mod

February 22, 2019

Inspiration

Many of you probably fly with a QX7, it's an excellent remote.
However, just not very good for pinching.

I tried pinching with my Taranis Q X7, I don't like it, and it does not work very well.
The Hall gimbal makes it even more difficult because they are recessed very far into the remote.
This made it unflyable with pinch, and I would always hit the edges of the plastic ring.

Temporary solution

As a temporary solution to this problem, I printed some spacers to put between the two stick ends to make them stick out further. This was still a clumsy solution, but it worked, so I stuck with it. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3161735

Solution

It was not until a few days ago, where I found a pinch mod for the QX 7 online. It requires a few modifications on your stock Taranis, but it's worth it.
That's also why I'm making this blog post.

Credits to Aaron Garmon for making this mod and sharing it with us.
Other good writeups to this can be found here:

3D printed pieces

The gimbal rings are part of the problem.
Aaron Garmon designed an alternative to them, they fit your transmitter perfectly.

Open

First of all, open the Taranis with the four screws at the back and unplug the battery.
You will see your two gimbals and some cables.

Dremel

I used a Dremel tool to do this. You can do this with any tool you have on hand. A regular side-cutter would do the job too. They don’t need to be completely flush with the tabs, but it's up to you.

Hot glue new rings

You should be able to press fit the gimbal rings into the case.
They won't fit firmly, so you should hot glue them in to fixate them properly.

First, align them correctly. Put the gimbal in, test it and take the gimbal out again. Repeat this until they're in a perfect position.
Now, to fixate the new rings, take some hot glue and glue them in place, so they don’t fall out accidentally. I sanded them further so they would fit snug.

The original screws are a lite too long. So you need to cut them a little shorter.
You are only able to use three screws now. The 4th screw won't fit anymore. But the three will most likely be sufficient.
Cut the remaining screws to 6mm in length.

Put everything back together

Plug everything back in, and close your Taranis back together.

Result

After doing this mod, I went and did some flying in the simulator. I immediately noticed that my rates were too low. I could raise them even further than I could before. I'm very happy with how it turned out and would recommend doing it to other pilots that fly pinch and have a QX 7

Does it make you faster?

I can definitely feel a difference. I make fewer mistakes in tight corners and can finally run higher rates.
It is a significant improvement over the original, and I would recommend it to everyone who has a QX7 and flies pinch.