Originally posted by w8ye
Yet a model engine will idle at a lower speed because of the flywheel effect of a larger prop. Also, this flywheel effect, will serve to smooth out the power pulses and and, therefore, make less vibration?
Not really..this is one vibration that can't be balanced out because it comes from the variation in torque applied to the prop and not from any inherent imbalance. If you could check the revs of a prop at any point of its rotation you'll find that it varies, in other words it's constantly accelerating and decellerating. This variation in revs can amount to several hundred rpm over a period of about 90 degrees of rotation. Weight of the prop has no affect on this vibration as it's purely a torque reaction. The only thing that smooths this out is more cylinders so that the pulses can overlap which is one reason why an 8 cylinder is smoother than a 4 cylinder.