XAircraft Balancing props for new XAircraft motors

[Kilby]

Hey gang,

So the new motors on the value series x650's have odd shaped hub for the prop. If you haven't seen it before, imagine a round hole with 2 parallel flat sides that make it somewhat oval. My question is, how are we supposed to balance the props with these weird shaped hubs? I use a simple magnetic prop balancer with the 2 cones that you push into the hub. It seems like the flat sides will make this hard to use if at all.

Anyone have any insight?

Thanks!

-Terry

 

[DucktileMedia]

Welcome to the Xaircraft specific prop club. What I did was to take a file and carefully make 2 parallel flats on the cone such that the oblong slot will hit the cone but NOT your flats. This is obviously much easier with plastic cones like the ones that come with the top flite magnetic balancer.

 

[Kilby]

Does this prevent you from using it with standard props? I would hate to need to two different prop balancers.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Someone else on here said they just drilled the hole in the prop hub a little bigger. He was using the Graupners, which are 8mm. I know APC might not be the best choice as the hub is thinner and has the recessed area in the hub. This would mean very little surface area touching the motor shaft. It's quite frustrating, I know.

 

[Kilby]

Sorry, I didn't make that very clear. I meant to ask if your balancer mod would prevent you from using it with standard props. I still have another quad that I need to balance and I'm just trying to figure out if I will need to have a balancer for each type of prop I'm using.

Thanks!

 

[DucktileMedia]

yes it does. I modified my balancer right before selling my XA v8. I was a little worried it would not work for my "normal" props. But indeed it still touches the actual cone and not the filed down portion.

 

[NormMonkey]

I just got a Top Flite balancer. I notice there's a part number for the cones in the booklet so I could modify the ones it comes with and order new cones for other props later.

However, I found a way that works half-decently: just reverse one of the cones so that the flat end sits against the XA propeller hub. If you do this, you have to manually align the propeller hub so that it is perfectly centered. One cone is still pointing into the hub and will touch the flat edges, so that will keep it centered on that axis, and you just need to move the hub along the other axis until it is centered by eye. The cone is close to the diameter of the hub, so it is pretty easy to center it by looking at the edges, then flip it over and look at the inside edges to confirm it's centered.

(if this explanation makes no sense, I could dig out the camera and take a couple of pictures if anyone cares)

 

[DucktileMedia]

That's exactly how i did it and it worked fine.

 

[Kilby]

Thanks NormMonkey. I actually have plans to give this a try tonight. I was going to file down the cones to make room for the flat spots, but I'll give your technique a try first. ;-)

 

[Kilby]

So I tried your technique last night. Thanks for the tip, it seemed to work pretty well. ;-)

 

[NormMonkey]

I did 8 propellers this way (4 came with the quad, 4 spares) and picked the two CW and two CCW props which required the least balancing. I used bits of electrical tape on the underside, along the trailing edge near the outside.

I noticed that all 8 propellers required extra weight on the blade with the XAircraft logo. That is, the side with the "1045" or "1045R" was always the heavier. I also noticed, once the blades were reasonably well balanced, that the hub always seemed heavier on the side with the mold mark. Did you find yours came out that way, too?

After putting the best balanced blades on and doing a quick test flight, I didn't notice much of a difference. I'll have to wait 'til I put the 808HD keychain camera back on and do a test flight outside in bright light to see if I still get jello effect.

I wonder if the motor bell casings can be removed and balanced on this balancer, too?

 

[DucktileMedia]

Most people use standard scotch tape, not electrical tape. That stuff is pretty thick and heavy. normally the scotch is more than enough.

 

[Kilby]

I didn't make that connection while balancing them, but I'll have a look tonight and see if it's the same here. I actually just got an order of APC props that I'm going to use now instead of the XA props (for fear they might be the exploding ones).

 

[NormMonkey]

Which size did you get? 10x4.5, or something else?

While I picked up the Top Flite balancer at the RC shop I was looking for propellers, but they didn't have many with matching pushers.

I wonder what other blade sizes would work well with these XA motors? I see a lot of propeller types out there, APC, APC-E, GWS, GWS HD or DD, etc. and not sure which ones to try.

 

[Kilby]

I'm going with the same thing I've been using on other copters, the 10x4.7 APC's. The hubs have to be drilled out in order to fit, but I at least know they won't explode in midair. I've been reading 1 horror story after another over at RCG about these props exploding and causing major damage. I'm not going to attempt to fly mine with the stock props till I know for sure they have been fixed.

There has been talk of some people using the graupner 11x5 props as well. They have a larger hub and don't need to be drilled out as much, but at 7-8 bucks a pop, I figured I would stick with what I know best and get used to drilling these first.

 

[Bowley]

How did these APC's work out for you kilby? exactly what size drill did you use, did you get a snug fit?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Kilby]

It's been a while, but I think I used an 11/32 which was just short of the size I needed. I then took it down the last little bit by hand with sandpaper. Just be sure to use a stepper bit, you'll never cemeteries a normal bit right and the hub will be off center and wobble like crazy.

 

[Bowley]

Noted, Thanks Terry.