Britpilot
Flight lieutenant
What Ho Chaps ! www.skyhighpix.com
Posts: 90
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Post by Britpilot on Feb 13, 2010 4:58:52 GMT 1
I have just treated myself to a prop balancer and upon testing my stock props have found them all to be quite a bit out of balance. Question is how do you adjust the balance? There is not a great deal of material to remove from either blade without affecting the blade surface area or thickness. Can you add a little weight instead? I was playing around with a small piece of packing tape 20mm x 25mm stuck to the back of the light blade near the tip. This corrected the balance but will it stay on at at high rpm? Suggestions anybody?
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Post by Dillzio on Feb 13, 2010 7:04:01 GMT 1
From what i've read, you can lighten them with some fine sand paper, just sand some off of the back of the blade towards the end.
To make it heavier, I've read of people using masking tape or nail polish. Best to put it on the back of the blade half way down, if you put it right on the end it can apparently come off too easily.
The stock prop and motor doesn't spin all that fast so having it perfectly balanced isn't really necessary.
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Post by badlands on Feb 13, 2010 11:46:26 GMT 1
Yea i sand mine, only takes a few good rubbings with corse grade.
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Britpilot
Flight lieutenant
What Ho Chaps ! www.skyhighpix.com
Posts: 90
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Post by Britpilot on Feb 13, 2010 13:47:07 GMT 1
The stock prop is so flimsy it probably does not matter if is perfectly balanced as you say. I'll try the methods suggested and see what works. I balanced one by removing material from the aft side of the tip. There I was sitting there feeling smug that I had the little sucker in perfect balance I then realized that I had decreased the surface area of the heavy blade quite a bit which probably has made the prop performance worse! Oh well, looks like I have another tea stirrer!
I have some Master props on order, they should be easier to balance as they have are thicker.
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Post by Dillzio on Feb 13, 2010 15:13:35 GMT 1
Which props are you getting Brit, the ones labeled electric only, or the other ones? The electric only ones come with prop adapters, so they're a lot easier to mount.
Love your new avatar BTW, well done! I've been meaning to get a lego pilot for my plane too, the star wars naboo fighter pilot seems to be a good one :-)
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Britpilot
Flight lieutenant
What Ho Chaps ! www.skyhighpix.com
Posts: 90
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Post by Britpilot on Feb 14, 2010 4:27:28 GMT 1
I'm not sure what Master airscrew they will be I ordered the size you recommended in your "Awesome prop for the SP" post a while back.
I have found a way using epoxy to fill the big hole in a Master prop and re-drill to fit the cub prop shaft. I do this in two stages to keep the centre hole in the correct place. Next time I do it I'll take pictures and show the steps.
My aviatar is a pilot troll by the way. My wife bought him for me when I started flying for a living many years ago.
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Post by ginginho on Feb 14, 2010 13:50:16 GMT 1
I'm not sure what Master airscrew they will be I ordered the size you recommended in your "Awesome prop for the SP" post a while back. I have found a way using epoxy to fill the big hole in a Master prop and re-drill to fit the cub prop shaft. I do this in two stages to keep the centre hole in the correct place. Next time I do it I'll take pictures and show the steps. My aviatar is a pilot troll by the way. My wife bought him for me when I started flying for a living many years ago. Hmm, that's odd. The MA's I have come with the set of inserts to allow for different prop shaft sizes. Maybe different on your side of the pond. Other alternative for adding weight to a blade is to apply a little CA to the rear of the blade near the tip, trailing edge. |
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Post by Dillzio on Feb 14, 2010 14:30:44 GMT 1
The "electric only" MAS props come with the inserts, the other ones do not.
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Britpilot
Flight lieutenant
What Ho Chaps ! www.skyhighpix.com
Posts: 90
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Post by Britpilot on Feb 15, 2010 14:51:07 GMT 1
I tried the using a blob of CA glue and accelerator on the back side near the tip of the stock prop and that seems to act as a good weight to balance it. Actually I used a bit to much glue on purpose so I would have to sand a little off to get the balance correct. Looks like the CA glue sticks to the HZ Mickey Mouse plastic prop material pretty well.
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Post by flydiver on Feb 15, 2010 17:58:18 GMT 1
I'm a nail polish user-comes in clear or colors, LOTS of colors. For the thin props I think you can weaken or maybe change them too much if excess sanding is needed.
For those that have not seen my rant about Hobby King clone props, I got an assortment awhile back and most of them were terrible, a few unrecoverable. The brand names were OK.
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