FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I can't wait to see the new prop mounted!

acerc

The prop has been balanced, funny though, it was balanced perfectly before painting. Here is my method for balancing a three blade prop.
Pic one is with the heavy blade down and if you look closely you will notice the top left blade is lower than the right thus making it the second heaviest blade. I make a mental note of the heaviest as blade one, second heaviest is blade two and the lightest blade three. Using a permanent marker I make a mark ( a dot) on blade one, so I always know where I started, as seen in pic one with the arrow pointing to it.
First I want to get blade two down level with blade one, so, using small pieces of tape I start adding until level across the two bottoms as seen in pic two. Now I start adding tape to blade three until there is no movement of the prop in any position, pic three. Once there I remove the tape and weigh it, blade two was 5g and blade three was 7g, this will aid in adding clear coat to balance.
Now is where I mixed up an ounce of clear and placed in gun, and don't forget to clean the prop before continuing. Now, I shoot one light coat of clear on the back of blade two and place it on the balancer. One coat got it half way to level with blade one so one more light coat, bingo, blade one and two are level at the bottom as seen in pic four. Now, using the fact that two coats did blade two meant two coats equals 5g, so for blade three I will need two coats and a smidgeon. So I added one coat and checked, then two and checked, all that was need was a very quick spritz and it was perfectly balanced.

R/C Art

My Feedback: (38)

Will the balance change after the carrier evaporates? or is it so insignificant that it doesn't matter?
I am asking because I use clear to balance props, too........but have never gone back and rechecked after the clear dried.

acerc

It is so insignificant it does not matter, or at least I have rechecked after fully curing and found no difference in the balance.

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

What is that airframe behind the fancy prop?

acerc

That is the same kit being built as a Bulldog for a fella in California. Almost ready for covering, maybe two weeks. Then I have the EMHW Challenger in a box waiting for me to build for the wife, it was going to be the Bulldog II for myself but she has laid possible claims to it. I will do my best to persuade her elsewise when the time comes.

Cub Flyer Fresno

Gosh, that prop looks swwwweet!!!

Building a Challenger for your wife... wow, you've got a great wife!!! I'm jealous!

stevegauth30

"I will do my best to persuade her elsewise when the time comes. " OR, you say what the hey and build yet another after that one. Lol.

acerc

"No comment"! But I have been eyeballing the 120" ws one...

acerc

It hasn't happened yet!!LOL..

John_M_

Hee hee, someones addicted to very large models.

I tell the wife, listen as my eyes get worse with age, I'm going to need a bigger aircraft... its either that or I stay home and help you with your sewing on the weekends ( I did threaten to hang out with her at joann's, but I'm there more than she is )... I think she's getting me something big this Christmas... its funny when you get married you vow for better or worse, but after 36 years of marriage how we try desperately to ovoid the worse... she loves me I know she does .



John M,

acerc

For us their no longer is the worse, just a matter of keeping it interesting so I aggravate her, she aggregate's me and at the end of the day we laugh about it, among a few other things. We will be 33 years in Sept and I would not change a thing.

John_M_

With me its evolved into pure manipulation through aggravation lol... remember when you were just a kid and you wanted something so bad, you aggravated your parents till they gave in, well it didn't work with my old man, he was suborn like a Ox, but with the wife, well lets just say I'm spoiled rotten, but shes just as spoiled, trust me , I think I learned it from her.


John M,

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Hey, John its 36 years for us too! We are in the stag where the last kid is moved out and we babysit No. 3 grandson a couple days a week so his mom can work part time. The wife's eyes have reached the point she has given up sewing too hard to see.

John_M_

Well congratulations Flyer*', its not easy theses days to keep the ol ball and chain for 36 years, most couples I have meet over the years are divorced... I contribute our success to me nodding my head a lot and saying "yes dear"

That's unfortunate regarding your wife's eyes... myopia and hyperopia are both part of aging, but the eyes are one of the most important senses to have in this world ... I have had an eye condition since i was a young kid that involves hyperopia in one eye and slight myopia in the other... but my left eye has a mass of tiny blood vessels tightly entangled on one side of the retina, which interferes with my peripheral vision in that eye... even with special lens, it still upsets my stereo vision to the point where I only have the forward most field of view in focus, so I have to turn my head a lot to see things clearly... long distance driving is so fatiguing, I've had to limit my driving to mostly local.


John M,

John_M_

Ace have you seen this 3D prop balancer from FEMA... its suppose to be a good one... the idea is as old as dirt, I use to use a similar bubble balancer to balance wheels for cars back before the advent of the computer dynamic wheel balancing machines.

I find it interesting, as it allows you to balance, not only the blades, but the prop hub as well... I have always added weight to the hub when using my dubro true spin prop balancer, but I like this idea better... works on 2, 3, or 4 bladed props, 12" - 42" inches in diameter, but it only comes with hub adapters for 8,10,12 and 20 mm mounting holes... at $59 bucks, it better be top quality.

Anyways just thought I'd share with anyone interested... if done correctly, this method is very accurate as long as the weight added to the hub is kept centered (not biased towards the hub face or hub back).



http://www.vogelsang-aeroscale.com/feltfilter.html

http://www.fema-modelltechnik.de/auswuchtneu.html




John M,

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Cool!

acerc

Trust me when I say, "There is no better than the Dubro True-Spin prop balancer". It is ultra sensitive, a piece of masking tape 1/2"x1/2" will cause a blade to drop, that's less than a gram.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have one and I love it!

John_M_

Oh without a doubt, the dubro true spin works great... that's all that I have used (except for the quick check finger balancer)... its the best over all the magnet and bearing balancers out there that I have seen, and there are some real poorly!! made balancer out there that do nothing but create an imbalance due to poor machining on the cones and threaded support rod... but this one from FEMA is as sensitive, on a two bladed, you balance the blades tip to tip first, then the hub side to side... similar process with multi-bladed props, or you can balance the entire prop from the hub area only, as they do with full scale propellers... having some experience with other forms of the bubble balancers, they do work very well, definitely not just a gimmick... but as I stated for $60 bucks it better be well made.


John M,

acerc

On a different subject, my Ford tractor has been acting up the last season or two. And with it being 30 years old I was not sure if I wanted to sink the money it would require (2-5K) to fix everything. I have also been needing another mower so not to haul one back and forth and have been looking at them for a couple months. The wife and I went a couple weeks ago looking at some new ones (mowers and tractors), looked at about every brand there is. We have been talking about all the models we looked at and decided to go with a John Deere sub-compact tractor. The price was better than any of the others and it has included options as well as hardware for future add on's. We bought the tractor and a center mounted finish mower deck, the deck goes on and off without leaving the tractor, very cool. All my current attachments fit, later on I will get the front bucket.

Just thought I'd share!

stevegauth30

your gonna love it.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Speaking of balancers I have a little aluminum gizmo from the 70s using a T-pin as a pivot for check the balance on propellers that works like a bubble balancer but I wouldn't want to use on any prop over 6". It mostly just sits in the tool box I use the Tru-Spin for everything.

Speaking of tractors I had a former co-worker from Gilroy, CA. who had 10 acre vineyard. He had this old Craftsman lawn tractor he kept the extended warranty paid up on it. He used it among other things to pull his sprayer which he had to use every two weeks in the growing season to keep fungus at bay, It killed an entire weekend to spray. It paid off for him because he had a bottle of own wine everyday after dinner. I helped him drink it on more than one occasion, it was good stuff but he didn't believe any complement was noteworthy when the wine was free. Cutting to the chase he had so much wear and tear Sears was rebuilding the tractor at least every other year and sometimes every year. I know he had that tractor over ten years so he saved a fortune on repairs! No wonder Sears isn't making any money.

John_M_

Now that's a nice mower / tractor Ace, that would definitely make mowing a large lawn a piece of cake... could even be used as a nice aircraft tug if you decide to go with a full scale Pitts.


John M,

squirrly

My Feedback: (3)

Good buy Rob,...they have just about every attachment needed to getter done. Can I barrow it? Lol!!


Nice work on the panels. Clean fit, they look lightweight and strong.

Jeff