Thanks for sharing. I've got this balancer and the shaft was far from straight. So after straightening it as much as possible I found the setup you used to balance the large wooden prop gives more accurate result, when the prop is as close as possible to the mount because if there's any deflection in the shaft it will be minimal at the end of the shaft.
In some plastic prop hubs where there are hollow spaces I use modeling clay to add weight. I never saw the vertical drawn into four zones but now I understand why balancing has been vexing to me - it's not just the tip weight. Great job guys.
This is the best prop balancing tutorial. Couldn't get the Dubro anywhere here in Holland, so had to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive from US. It was well worth the wait. I tried a different one, but I guess the Dubro True Spin is the only real working prop balancer.
Great video. I have used the same basic method for years. The difference in vibration on a 29" prop is dramatic before and after balancing. If you think hub can't be balanced; Just balance blades then hold them level and then rotate 180 degrees. If they won't stay level both ways, the hub is off. Very simple. Also when you identify the heavy location, mark the oposite point directly above, which will give you the exact location for adding ca counter weight. Instead of sanding blades, I use laquer on back side of lighter blade. And always balance blades first.
Hello Horizon Hobby; great video, and great product. One thing I noticed early on, when working with some of the props involving plastic materials, such as those used for multi-rotor copters, while cleaning off the shaved plastic filings during balancing, it is possible to generate a static charge on the surface of the blade, due to the friction of the wiping process. This static charge will provide erroneous balancing response as the static charges are attracted to, or repelled from, the metal Du Bro metal hardware, and your fingers if you too have accumulated a static charge. The fix: perform your balancing on a static dissipative electronics mat (ESD Kit), with wrist strap, and rinse the shaved plastic particles off the prop being worked with room temp water, blot dry with a paper towel or micro fiber cloth.
Horizon REALLY needs to caption its videos .. For 3 reasons .. 1) Lots of folks ( Myself included ) may watch videos where audio is not an option ( At work , during breaks and such ) 2) RC is an international hobby. It is very easy to translate captions into other languages ( Google / you tube has very easy tools for this ) 3) What about the deaf molders ?? I am sure they would like to take advantage of this knowledge ..
I have been balancing my props since the 1970's, but an old dog can still learn new tricks, and I learned something from this video. I have an original High Point balancer, I'm sure you are familiar with it. The Dubro looks very similar so it must be an excellent tool for the money. I think you should do a Part 2 of this and show how to balance spinners and also note for the car guys they can balance nitro flywheels and also their wheels and tires, and boat props can also be balanced on it. :-)
Great informative video! This jig is available at LHS for about $23.00. I'm getting one. Thanks for taking the time to show this...kinda separates Horizon from the wannabes.
I've got a magnetic balancer. The one in the video uses a bearing of some kind, which causes, to some degree, friction. A prop on my magnetic balancer will bounce back and forth all day and will never stick in one place after I spend time balancing. Is that correct? I can't seem to find detailed instruction while using a magnetic balance. Great video by the way!
When you add CA to one side it may balance on the Do-Bro , but when you spin it at 10K it will be out of balance because the hub is not symmetrical . I found this out by feeling of the arms while in flight . The prop I added the glue to was out on both arms front and back when I moved it . Took it off and balanced perfect on the Do-Bro , put on a prop that only needed a little sanding , vibration gone . Not saying it wont work for just a tiny bit but if you have to add much it will still be out at 10K .
Very informative ! I fly drones/quadcopters and I can sometimes see the drone wobble when hovering in GPS mode. It's not really BAD, but I can still see it. I don't do drone video for hire, so it doesn't bother me much, but this video makes me wonder how better my drones might fly by doing this to my props. Thanks again for posting.
Thanks for this video, HH. Needed a solution for the hub balancing and you have it. Just a question... is the CA that you use a particularly heavy glue? How much do you use on a typical carbon fiber 10" prop to balance the hub? I have used electrical tape in the past but found myself using up to 1/8" thick to get balance on the hub. although it worked, very clumsy.
A video that has been around for years - but has a fundamental error and its surprising that no-one has picked up on it ... Guys shows an APC prop balanced .... but does not follow APC instructions for mounting the prop on the balancer. AQPC specifically state Taper goes in the rear of hub - but FLAT cone face to the front of hub. This is to make sure prop hub is perpendicular to shaft as it would be on the motor in use. The rear cone taper centres the prop hub on shaft. It is possible that many of the hub balance problems could be due to this error where the non precision front shaft hole - if taper is used will offset the hub on the shaft.
I had several props where the hub could not be balanced because the prop is not straight, put the prop on its side and see how much space there is between the hub and the workbench, flip the prop over and look again, mine has quite a bit Difference in.
Nice clear video. Where did you buy your blocks ? Wouldn’t an inclinometer or bubble level be better ? Wood is hydroscopic and will not hold dimension.
Forgive me if this is somewhat of a naive question! (i'm still quite new to model aircraft and the like) This may be a good starting point to ensure that the moulded props are statically balanced, but would they not need to be dynamically balanced ultimately? (like a car wheel) After all the prop will be spinning, which is when you actually need it to be correctly balanced! Im a little rusty (i was mostly asleep by this point in class) but isnt it something to do with centrifugal force and the distance of the mass from the centre point... eg. The prop would still appear balanced if there was a small mass at the tip of one blade and a larger mass 1/2 way along the opposing blade. On the jig it would appear to balance near 'perfectly' and still at any rotational point, but when the prop is spun up to operating speeds it it thrown significantly out of balance due to the centrifugal force 'pulling harder' on the lager mass? Or is this going along the lines of removing material from the blade itself and altering the aerofoil shape is so insignificant on a prop of that scale? (you did mentioned that at some point in the vid)
I bought a digital weight scale used for measuring Jewry(banggood.com). Smaller the increment the better. Add or remove weight at the RIGHT PLACE. C.G. of the particular blade you are balancing, which is about 1/3 way out from the hub. I ALWAYS round off the tips of ALL prop blades, especially the folding ones(because they are so sharp, which actually makes them very loud and very inefficient). Think of the shape of spitfire's wing tip, which is known to be most efficient, no matter what the airplane type.
Question: Since my engine mfg. tells me to use a prop-saver (uses a little black o-ring, by the way, they keep breaking) should I not do your balancing procedure, i have heard that if you use a PROP-SAVER it will not need to be balanced because using a prop-saver messing everything else up, pop off, hit people, o-rings break, vibrations, etc. LET me know what to do
Hi thanks for the great and usefull vids...i just have stupid Question .how do you know if you put glue on the upper hub or lower hub? and how do you balance the rc helicopters blades , like 450 size or greater , this way: cheers
For folding props mount the hub with blades attached to the balancer and follow the same balancing procedures. Just tighten the blade mounting screws to keep the blades from flopping around and loosen them again once your done balancing.
How about a video on balancing 3 blade prop spinners and back plates? Doesn't seem to be an important issue, but I beg to differ. Guess I'll have to get a camera and do this myself.
I followed FliteTest advice to watch this vid and I'm glad I did. Well done demo and explanation of props. Do you have any advice for smaller, lighter props? I find it hard to get them to settle sometimes, not enough weight to roll the ballancer. There is not much to a 6x4E prop untill you mount it to a 2200kva motor and spin it at over 20,000 rpm
QUESTION: I am new to RC flying, why not sand the back of each prop blade, especially if you have a nice prop like a Master Airscrew with the logo on the front of each blade (-like prototype aircraft)?
My question also. The answer is,yes you can,as long you remove material on the thicker side of the blade,it can be on the back. No one wants to see a scuffed up blade.
I think that the starting point should be to check the blade track first for uniformity,the amount of blades i,ve had with a out of sink track is quite staggering,if the track is out,forget balancing,the prop as its scrap and should be sent back.
Thank you for this. You lost me when you discovered that one of the blades was heavier (after hub balancing), and you seemed to suggest sanding on both the leading side of heavier blade and trailing side of lighter blade. Did I hear that correctly, or did you mean sanding both sides of same blade?
He was trying to take weight off the heavy side of the hub. When the prop is setting horizontal, the heavy side is going to be the side toward the ground. That being said, one side of the prop toward the ground will be the leading edge and the other side of the prop toward the ground will be the trailing edge. So you sand a little off both sides toward the ground to lighten the prop (hub weight offset) on that side only.
What does it mean if my prop is balanced straight up and down but not sideways? If I adjust for the sideways by tape or sanding some off then the up and down is unbalanced.
Hi,, Have you tried balancing props like Tarot TL2829 T Series 1355 on the Du Bro ? I am having some hard time balancing the hub/center part... I would appreciate the feedback
on my mini omni drone I have a screw on one side of the prop should I leave the screw in the prop while balancing it, how ever the screw will never be in the position on the prop where it actually stops on the shaft? hmmm
Yes, but you need a special rod threaded on each end and set it up like he did for the big prop. (I assume you're talking about the self-tightening props.)
I found that the rod on my tru-spin balancer was not balanced itself so my props would fall to a different side depending on how it was positioned on the rod. I tried to balance the rod but it's such a small area that it's nearly impossible :(
This is a great balancer and you can find them several places online or at your LHS. Search for DuBro prop balancer. I can give a link if you need one... Cheers:)
Thanks for sharing. I've got this balancer and the shaft was far from straight. So after straightening it as much as possible I found the setup you used to balance the large wooden prop gives more accurate result, when the prop is as close as possible to the mount because if there's any deflection in the shaft it will be minimal at the end of the shaft.
In some plastic prop hubs where there are hollow spaces I use modeling clay to add weight.
I never saw the vertical drawn into four zones but now I understand why balancing has been vexing to me - it's not just the tip weight. Great job guys.
This is the best prop balancing tutorial. Couldn't get the Dubro anywhere here in Holland, so had to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive from US. It was well worth the wait. I tried a different one, but I guess the Dubro True Spin is the only real working prop balancer.
Great video. I have used the same basic method for years. The difference in vibration on a 29" prop is dramatic before and after balancing. If you think hub can't be balanced; Just balance blades then hold them level and then rotate 180 degrees. If they won't stay level both ways, the hub is off. Very simple. Also when you identify the heavy location, mark the oposite point directly above, which will give you the exact location for adding ca counter weight. Instead of sanding blades, I use laquer on back side of lighter blade. And always balance blades first.
Great advice. Thank you!
Hello Horizon Hobby; great video, and great product. One thing I noticed early on, when working with some of the props involving plastic materials, such as those used for multi-rotor copters, while cleaning off the shaved plastic filings during balancing, it is possible to generate a static charge on the surface of the blade, due to the friction of the wiping process. This static charge will provide erroneous balancing response as the static charges are attracted to, or repelled from, the metal Du Bro metal hardware, and your fingers if you too have accumulated a static charge. The fix: perform your balancing on a static dissipative electronics mat (ESD Kit), with wrist strap, and rinse the shaved plastic particles off the prop being worked with room temp water, blot dry with a paper towel or micro fiber cloth.
Anybody come up with a method for balancing foldable props?
Thank you for taking the time to care for us. Well respected from all of us here in south Florida!
This video is the best on this subject.
Great Video - Do you have any tips on balancing "Folding" Tri - Props?
I am new to the world of flying machines, and your video was very helpful to understand this very important thing about balancing.
This video was very helpful. Great job. I will recommend it to all my friends.
When he switched it over and put it over the edge of the table I made a facepalm and asked myself why I didn't think of that!
Great vid!
Horizon REALLY needs to caption its videos ..
For 3 reasons ..
1) Lots of folks ( Myself included ) may watch videos where audio is not an option ( At work , during breaks and such )
2) RC is an international hobby. It is very easy to translate captions into other languages ( Google / you tube has very easy tools for this )
3) What about the deaf molders ?? I am sure they would like to take advantage of this knowledge ..
I have been balancing my props since the 1970's, but an old dog can still learn new tricks, and I learned something from this video. I have an original High Point balancer, I'm sure you are familiar with it. The Dubro looks very similar so it must be an excellent tool for the money.
I think you should do a Part 2 of this and show how to balance spinners and also note for the car guys they can balance nitro flywheels and also their wheels and tires, and boat props can also be balanced on it. :-)
That product really should come with its own blocks for leveling.
This video helped a ton, I balanced my prop for the timber x and it's so quiet when flying.
Thanks John this was very useful to a newcomer, and will help us with reduced noise in our aerial footage.
Great video and neat trick on balancing larger props.
Thanks John.
Mark.
Outstanding instructional video. Ordering Du-Bro balancer today. Thanks
This is gonna take a loooooong time for my quad............ lots of patience required :D
Great tutorial! I'll order one of these balancers tonight.
Great vid,I learned a lot and solved my vibration,thanks
Fantastically useful video, thanks!
Awesome video, to the point and accurate, kudos and many thanks.
Fantastic video. Thank you for the great information that you have shared!
Very nice and useful Video, thanks for sharing your expertise
Informative video! Just ordered the dubro balancer!
Great tutorial thanks for sharing.
Great info didnt know how to balance thnx ... now i gotta order
Great informative video! This jig is available at LHS for about $23.00. I'm getting one. Thanks for taking the time to show this...kinda separates Horizon from the wannabes.
I've got a magnetic balancer. The one in the video uses a bearing of some kind, which causes, to some degree, friction. A prop on my magnetic balancer will bounce back and forth all day and will never stick in one place after I spend time balancing.
Is that correct? I can't seem to find detailed instruction while using a magnetic balance.
Great video by the way!
When you add CA to one side it may balance on the Do-Bro , but when you spin it at 10K it will be out of balance because the hub is not symmetrical . I found this out by feeling of the arms while in flight . The prop I added the glue to was out on both arms front and back when I moved it . Took it off and balanced perfect on the Do-Bro , put on a prop that only needed a little sanding , vibration gone . Not saying it wont work for just a tiny bit but if you have to add much it will still be out at 10K .
Enjoyed watching this
Great video. Thanks for the tutorial.
Very informative ! I fly drones/quadcopters and I can sometimes see the drone wobble when hovering in GPS mode. It's not really BAD, but I can still see it. I don't do drone video for hire, so it doesn't bother me much, but this video makes me wonder how better my drones might fly by doing this to my props. Thanks again for posting.
Thanks for this video, HH. Needed a solution for the hub balancing and you have it. Just a question... is the CA that you use a particularly heavy glue? How much do you use on a typical carbon fiber 10" prop to balance the hub? I have used electrical tape in the past but found myself using up to 1/8" thick to get balance on the hub. although it worked, very clumsy.
Airpraft.. LOL! Sounds like something I would say...
This is gonna help me so so much! Now I just have to find that balancer here in Aus. :)
A video that has been around for years - but has a fundamental error and its surprising that no-one has picked up on it ... Guys shows an APC prop balanced .... but does not follow APC instructions for mounting the prop on the balancer. AQPC specifically state Taper goes in the rear of hub - but FLAT cone face to the front of hub. This is to make sure prop hub is perpendicular to shaft as it would be on the motor in use. The rear cone taper centres the prop hub on shaft. It is possible that many of the hub balance problems could be due to this error where the non precision front shaft hole - if taper is used will offset the hub on the shaft.
I had several props where the hub could not be balanced because the prop is not straight, put the prop on its side and see how much space there is between the hub and the workbench, flip the prop over and look again, mine has quite a bit Difference in.
Great video, thanks!
what about props for the Yuneec Q500, no center hole on the prop, thanks for your time
Just got a parcel. Seems nice, prop spining, thanks :P
Very good tutorial, thanks!!!!
Thanks Mate! This will help me with my Quad rotor.
Very helpful. Thank you!
Good information,now for 3 and 4 bladed props....
Very well done! Many thanks!
Very good. Thanks for this.
Nice clear video. Where did you buy your blocks ? Wouldn’t an inclinometer or bubble level be better ? Wood is hydroscopic and will not hold dimension.
@ArcticRc Over on the Horizon Hobby website, links in the "More Info" section
Nice Video. I didn't see you checking the tip alignment horizontally or vertically. Is this a step you ignore or did you already do it?
Forgive me if this is somewhat of a naive question! (i'm still quite new to model aircraft and the like)
This may be a good starting point to ensure that the moulded props are statically balanced, but would they not need to be dynamically balanced ultimately? (like a car wheel)
After all the prop will be spinning, which is when you actually need it to be correctly balanced!
Im a little rusty (i was mostly asleep by this point in class) but isnt it something to do with centrifugal force and the distance of the mass from the centre point...
eg. The prop would still appear balanced if there was a small mass at the tip of one blade and a larger mass 1/2 way along the opposing blade.
On the jig it would appear to balance near 'perfectly' and still at any rotational point, but when the prop is spun up to operating speeds it it thrown significantly out of balance due to the centrifugal force 'pulling harder' on the lager mass?
Or is this going along the lines of removing material from the blade itself and altering the aerofoil shape is so insignificant on a prop of that scale? (you did mentioned that at some point in the vid)
Thanks for sharing!
Good video. Congrats!
I have a question: is it necessary to balance a folding propeller too? How can I do it?
I bought a digital weight scale used for measuring Jewry(banggood.com). Smaller the increment the better. Add or remove weight at the RIGHT PLACE. C.G. of the particular blade you are balancing, which is about 1/3 way out from the hub. I ALWAYS round off the tips of ALL prop blades, especially the folding ones(because they are so sharp, which actually makes them very loud and very inefficient). Think of the shape of spitfire's wing tip, which is known to be most efficient, no matter what the airplane type.
Fantastic, Thanks!
Very good! Thank you.
Great Video, Do you have any tips on balancing "Folding" Tri - Props?
Great vid!
Very informative video, thank you. Can you show us how to balance a spinner and ducted fan blades?
Question: Since my engine mfg. tells me to use a prop-saver (uses a little black o-ring, by the way, they keep breaking) should I not do your balancing procedure, i have heard that if you use a PROP-SAVER it will not need to be balanced because using a prop-saver messing everything else up, pop off, hit people, o-rings break, vibrations, etc. LET me know what to do
Thanks great video
Good tutorial and such
Hi thanks for the great and usefull vids...i just have stupid Question .how do you know if you put glue on the upper hub or lower hub? and how do you balance the rc helicopters blades , like 450 size or greater , this way: cheers
Hi: how you balance a folding propeller? thanks great tutorial
For folding props mount the hub with blades attached to the balancer and follow the same balancing procedures. Just tighten the blade mounting screws to keep the blades from flopping around and loosen them again once your done balancing.
Horizon Hobby
muchas gracias, Thank you¡
How about a video on balancing 3 blade prop spinners and back plates? Doesn't seem to be an important issue, but I beg to differ. Guess I'll have to get a camera and do this myself.
Good video. How about another one on how to properly balance a set of heli blades? thanks.
is the bench level ?he leveled the balancer
Cool thanks
I followed FliteTest advice to watch this vid and I'm glad I did. Well done demo and explanation of props. Do you have any advice for smaller, lighter props? I find it hard to get them to settle sometimes, not enough weight to roll the ballancer. There is not much to a 6x4E prop untill you mount it to a 2200kva motor and spin it at over 20,000 rpm
Make certain you also look at the APC balancing procedure else you may end up taking way too much off the prop hub
Are you able to balance a spinner or EDF fan with this?
I am a beginner and I will flight an airplane.... is it necessary to balance the propeller too? Even if it is a folding one?
QUESTION: I am new to RC flying, why not sand the back of each prop blade, especially if you have a nice prop like a Master Airscrew with the logo on the front of each blade (-like prototype aircraft)?
My question also. The answer is,yes you can,as long you remove material on the thicker side of the blade,it can be on the back. No one wants to see a scuffed up blade.
@BunnyHairedKid It's in-progress
When you have sanded your plastic prop how do you get it to have a nice finish without unbalancing it again?
I think that the starting point should be to check the blade track first for uniformity,the amount of blades i,ve had with a out of sink track is quite staggering,if the track is out,forget balancing,the prop as its scrap and should be sent back.
Great video..could you address 3 bladed props ?
Would wet sanding better and make a smoother finish?
Nope, it works perfectly.
Hi I have xk380 What would be a good prop to get and fit on the 380? Thank Ben.
Thank you for this. You lost me when you discovered that one of the blades was heavier (after hub balancing), and you seemed to suggest sanding on both the leading side of heavier blade and trailing side of lighter blade. Did I hear that correctly, or did you mean sanding both sides of same blade?
He was trying to take weight off the heavy side of the hub. When the prop is setting horizontal, the heavy side is going to be the side toward the ground. That being said, one side of the prop toward the ground will be the leading edge and the other side of the prop toward the ground will be the trailing edge. So you sand a little off both sides toward the ground to lighten the prop (hub weight offset) on that side only.
What about 700mm propeller? To be able to rotate two mounted props for balancing i would need 700mm radius of space around the axis :O Any hints?
See I would never had thought to put it on the end of the table for the large prop.
What does it mean if my prop is balanced straight up and down but not sideways? If I adjust for the sideways by tape or sanding some off then the up and down is unbalanced.
Do they make a balancer for larger props. I have 30" props that need to be balanced.
Is there a way to straighten a prop (APC in particular) or does it need to be replaced if it has been bent a bit?
If it's bent you'll want to replace it.
very helpful! I'll do this with my AR DRONE !
Hi,, Have you tried balancing props like Tarot TL2829 T Series 1355 on the Du Bro ? I am having some hard time balancing the hub/center part... I would appreciate the feedback
Hallo i have quextion about a wooden prop
can i increas hole in' middle from 6mm to 8mm is that risk that prop can break thank you
how about drone props, ie Mavic Pro ?? folding blades - worth having the balancer ?
For folding blades, you could use a small accurate weight scale and weight each blade if the true spin style of balance will not work.
Thanks i understand now 👍
u the man john
I am a beginner, what is the glue you use ?
Something like this would work quite well:
www.horizonhobby.com/zap-a-gap-ca-glue--1-2-oz-paapt03
how do you determine the leading edge of the prop?
on my mini omni drone I have a screw on one side of the prop should I leave the screw in the prop while balancing it, how ever the screw will never be in the position on the prop where it actually stops on the shaft? hmmm
Hi... Best video on here... Can someone please tell me what "C.A" is please?...Is it glue/filler or something else?... Cheers
CA or Cyanoacrylates are a family of strong fast-acting adhesives with industrial, medical, and household uses.
So you mean.. Superglue... Wouldn't this melt the plastic?
What is Kicker?
Forces the glue to harden super fast so it won't run
Will this balancer work for DJI Pantom Vision Plus? Great Video by the way!
Yes, but you need a special rod threaded on each end and set it up like he did for the big prop.
(I assume you're talking about the self-tightening props.)
I found that the rod on my tru-spin balancer was not balanced itself so my props would fall to a different side depending on how it was positioned on the rod. I tried to balance the rod but it's such a small area that it's nearly impossible :(
I would like to see how you balance EDF’s
what is the razor blade for?
I got into this hobby to fly not sit in my garage and balance props :P however thanks for the vid.
This is a great balancer and you can find them several places online or at your LHS. Search for DuBro prop balancer. I can give a link if you need one... Cheers:)