Prop balancing, what found.

[Art-Tistic]

Thanks for the balancing video. The upper posts indicate the heavy side of the blade have the letter A or B on them. Have you tried lightly sanding the letters off to see if that is enough to balance the blade? This would also prevent the need for the tape. I have also seen other videos where they lightly sand the end of the blade to balance. What are your thoughts on this virsus using tape? Thanks

Hello John,

I only sand wood blades or thicker CF blades. These blades are pretty thin so tape works easiest and fastest. If I felt these blades would last longer (the hubs will wear out from putting on and taking off) I would use CA and kicker to weight the lighter blade. I just can't justify taking the additional time on the stock blades.

Have a great week!
Anthony

 

[THoff]

Removing the raised letters won't affect the strength of the blades, and they are redundant due to the color-coded hubs. After the letters, I would sand the tips of the blades.

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

Sanding an already thin blade isn't good. Putting a small piece of good vynil tape half way down the blade back or over the leading edge is very easy.

 

[Sparkorc]

I found by far the best tape to use is Scotch Magic tape stuck on the underside of the prop, I always choose out towards the tip of the blade, you can use this on the prop hub as well, in the past I have used this tape to balance dji motors also very successfully.

Highly recommend the Du-Bro Prop Balancer.

Du-Bro RC - Tru-Spin Prop Balancer (QTY/PKG: 1 )

 

[Rayray]

So I started balancing my props using the recommended dubro balancer and the balancer would work some times and other times you could static electricity causing errors. I could put my hand about 6 inches from a blade and it would move. I switched back to the cheap magnetic balancer and it worked great. Got this one from hobby king cheap.
My results after balancing 22 props.
"A" props always heavy on the side with the "A".
"B" props 95% heavy on the side without the "B".
1 prop balanced fine.
The amount out of balance was completely random.

Just got my mag. balancer like yours. Took me a few minutes to figure out how to use it, lol. That gadget is ingenious!

The thing is, though, my results on 12 stock props is the opposite of your findings. All my A's were the light side, and all B's were the heavy side!. Holy Moly! So I put small pieces of Scotch tape on the light sides to balance. My stock props were not much out of balance to start with, but I'll fire her up later to check the buzz.

Off subject: on one run beside my back jungle, at about 50' a large bird, possibly a crow, zoomed over at it to within 5-6', then veered away.

 

[THoff]

So how big a piece of tape do you wind up using?

 

[Rayray]

Me? Scotch Gloss finish Multitask, 3/4" wide, 1/4" to 5/16" long. Varies a tad.

 

[THoff]

I'm surprised it takes that much tape to correct imbalances.

 

[Brandon Lowe]

I'm surprised it takes that much tape to correct imbalances.

That is about the same amounts I was using on my props.

 

[PatR]

What were the effects on vibration after balancing?

 

[Brandon Lowe]

What were the effects on vibration after balancing?

It did help make my H smoother but I still have a video issue.

 

[Rayray]

What were the effects on vibration after balancing?

I just ran mine this AM for a few minutes, no noticeable difference, but I was checking something else and forgot to pay attention to that.

My factory props were consistent, with respect to A's and B's, tape added was negligible weight. The hubs being heavy in relation to the blades may help with balance.