Trouble balancing four bladed prop.

[KnightRyda]

Hey guys i bought a prop balancer on hobbyking and having trouble balancing my prop.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__7991__Propeller_Balance_Stand.html

When i go to balance it, it doesnt move. As if its balanced already. I have 3 props and is the same for all. So i highly doubt they are balanced.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Carbon]

It is possible. What brand of prop are they?
If you doubt it I would put it on a motor and spool it up. Then balance it on the motor.

 

[KnightRyda]

this is the first time ive balanced a blade. how do i balance on the motor?

 

[KnightRyda]

it is this prop

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...0mm_replacement_Propeller_USA_Warehouse_.html

 

[Carbon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_fL_QuMkp8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0ae1A0gAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqtUSSdf8b4

 

[KnightRyda]

I wasnt sure if it was the balancer or not. I cant balance it on the motor because i dont have a lazer or mirror lol.

If i put the prop on the plane and give it power with the whole plane vibrate if its out of balance?

 

[Carbon]

Basically put it on the motor and run it up. If you feel vibrations put a piece of tape on one of the blades. If it gets worse or doesn't change move it to the next blade. When you find it getting better keep adding tape on that blade until it starts to get worse. Then take a little off and you have a balanced prop!

 

[KnightRyda]

Alright ill do just that. Thanks a lot for your help. Cant wait to take it out for its maiden!

 

[Craftydan]

Dunno about your balancer -- I bought the magnetic one -- but if it uses the same shafts they sent with mine, it'll never ballance anything. On mine, the shaft is off.

When you get back to it, put the shaft/cones back on w/o prop, put a sharpie mark on the top of the shaft and try to set the mark at a diffrent angle. If the mark rolls back to the top, your balancer is off. twist the cones 90 degrees, if the mark moves and settles , it's probably the cones, otherwise it's the rod.

you can try and shave the rod to ballance, but my LHS had the topflite rod/cones for cheap. About $5 later, and everything balances beautifully now.

 

[aiidanwings]

Mr. Crafty Dan, for some reason I've never had success with prop balancers. Maybe it's my budget.. anyway, if you have a nicely fried out runner with a good shaft you can yank the guts out then mount it to a level surface. It makes for a dandy balancer.

I still balance smaller props with the "maybe the tape should go on the other blade" method.

 

[Tritium]

Dunno about your balancer -- I bought the magnetic one -- but if it uses the same shafts they sent with mine, it'll never ballance anything. On mine, the shaft is off.

When you get back to it, put the shaft/cones back on w/o prop, put a sharpie mark on the top of the shaft and try to set the mark at a diffrent angle. If the mark rolls back to the top, your balancer is off. twist the cones 90 degrees, if the mark moves and settles , it's probably the cones, otherwise it's the rod.

you can try and shave the rod to ballance, but my LHS had the topflite rod/cones for cheap. About $5 later, and everything balances beautifully now.

Same exact problem here CraftyDan. There was a run of bad cones on the magnetic balancers.

Thurmond

 

[Craftydan]

I still balance smaller props with the "maybe the tape should go on the other blade" method.

In all fairness, the "burned out magnetless motor" method is not that different than the good fancy frictionless stand.

That and the stand only tells you which side to try the tape first, so at best it cuts the job in half -- saves all of, what, a minute?

I like mine and I'm happy to ballance all my props on the stand, but you're right -- there are cheaper-but-still-easy ways to go.

 

[Craftydan]

Same exact problem here CraftyDan. There was a run of bad cones on the magnetic balancers.

Thurmond

Yeah, the cones the FT guys demoed on their kit were the nice ones -- mine were big rubber monstrocities that were way off ballance. shaved 'em down a bit before I realized the shaft was farther off than they were.

happend to be at the LHS the next day, saw the replacement rod/cones for the topflite version on the pegboard, and didn't hesitate. Had to add a 1/4" magnet to narrow the gap, but it's amazing how much easier it is when the balancer is right. Whole balance process only takes a mintue or two to get to "close enough" when you don't have to fight your tools.

 

[Tritium]

Mine IS a TopFlite Balancer and I have contacted them about replacing them under warranty.
I think there is a lot of "pencil whipping" of quality checks at MANY companies today because of
the declining moral character of workers in general.

Thurmond

 

[Craftydan]

Not sure if that deserves a laugh or a cry. At least their replacemnet parts are properly ballanced