Not everyone takes the time to balance props – it's one of those things that falls into the "Why Bother" category.
For the same reason we bother to balance tires – to eliminate vibration and the problems it can cause. Considering that props can spin at very high rpms, a slight imbalance at 3,000 rpm becomes greatly magnified at 10,000 rpm, which can lead to damage causing vibrations.
Balancing a prop is conceptually very simple – place the prop on a frictionless shaft, allow it to come to rest and if it's parallel to the ground, it's balanced. One product to do this is the DU-BRO Prop Balancer:
It comes unassembled – assembly is very simple; the only hard part is inserting the nuts for the rods into the plastic base – I had to use a vise to press them into their respective outlines.
Once assembled, you slip a prop onto the shaft and let it come to rest – it it's unbalanced, you'll see this:
Now take the prop and begin to remove material from the heavier tip – I used 400 grit carbide paper – and then try it again – eventually when the prop is parallel to the ground, it's balanced. Here's it almost balanced:
I can definitely attest that a balanced prop makes a noticeable difference – you can feel it when holding the plane under power – less vibration is a good thing.
DU-BRO Prop Balancer
Not everyone takes the time to balance props – it's one of those things that falls into the "Why Bother" category.
For the same reason we bother to balance tires – to eliminate vibration and the problems it can cause. Considering that props can spin at very high rpms, a slight imbalance at 3,000 rpm becomes greatly magnified at 10,000 rpm, which can lead to damage causing vibrations.
Balancing a prop is conceptually very simple – place the prop on a frictionless shaft, allow it to come to rest and if it's parallel to the ground, it's balanced. One product to do this is the DU-BRO Prop Balancer:
It comes unassembled – assembly is very simple; the only hard part is inserting the nuts for the rods into the plastic base – I had to use a vise to press them into their respective outlines.
Once assembled, you slip a prop onto the shaft and let it come to rest – it it's unbalanced, you'll see this:
Now take the prop and begin to remove material from the heavier tip – I used 400 grit carbide paper – and then try it again – eventually when the prop is parallel to the ground, it's balanced. Here's it almost balanced:
I can definitely attest that a balanced prop makes a noticeable difference – you can feel it when holding the plane under power – less vibration is a good thing.