Balancing your props

[Bartman]

If you haven't tried balancing props before, you're going to be surprised at what you see the first time you do. Better quality props come very close to balanced from the factory but crappy props can need a lot of work to get them just right. Balanced props help keep airframe vibration and wear and tear on motor bearings to a minimum. Camera sensors, which seem to be most sensitive to higher frequency vibrations, benefit from having well balanced props. This is the prop balancer I bought because it has a thin shaft that fits through the 3mm holes in the EPP1045 props that came with my MK.

http://www.hobbyexpress.com

If you're using props with 5mm or 8mm holes, you can use just about any of the balancers available in hobby shops or online.

Here's a great video on balancing not only the prop blades but the hubs also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0rgqU7ivyQ

Give it a try and then see if you notice improvements in copter stability and vibration levels as well as video/photo quality. Your motors will appreciate it.

Bart

 

[RTRyder]

I balanced a set of Graupners that are now on my Droidworx Hexa, it was silly how little work I had to do to get them perfectly balanced, almost wasn't worth the effort. I've been wanting to try a set of 11 inch props but the Graupner 11 x 5 revrese pitch are out of stock everyplace I know of that sells the Elektro prop so as much as I don't like them, I just ordered a set of APC 11 x 4.7 props, I'll bet $ that those take a lot of work to get them balanced out!

Ken

 

[Crash]

I balanced my EPP1045 props. What a PITA. I did get them balanced though.
The props have gotten a little better in the last iteration but they still come out of the mold with a defect. They all require a glob of Shoe Goo on the hub and about 1" of paint on one tip.

 

[Bartman]

crash,
i saw a post somewhere that the EPP props come out of the mold crooked. i think the flaw was that one blade was a few degrees out of alignment with the other blade so the whole thing wasn't perfectly straight. it might explain why they're so tricky to balance.
?????
bart

 

[Droider]

Does the tape not come off!