I got the new "direct drive" installed. It is quite crude and I did F*&k things up, but it works without much of a dead zone. Somehow I managed to misplace the mounting holes for which I used a Lego piece as a guide. Make sure it is level and centred and nothing can go wrong!!!

Well, that did go wrong. The assembly is now a bit tilted and off-centre. I had to adjust the position of the pod to get the zero position. What ya gonna do? At least there is far less play in the shaft, it seems sturdy and it is responsive. Good enough for me at this point in time.

Does it need improvements? yes it does, but not right now! In the end, it does remain a hack!