I know this will probably set a bunch of you off; but I got my TF Prop Balancer today. Aside from the fact that it is a cheap piece of plastic junk I am thoroughly disgusted with the state of ALL my high end props. You name it APC, Menz, TF Power Point, none of them is balanced for crap. Nearly all of them have both blade and hub imbalance, some to a great extent. The fact that I drill my holes with a drill press and reamer, doesn't seem to help. Keep in mind I'm talking the larger props; haven't gotten to my small ones yet. On top of all this I spent hours reading everything I could find on here about balancing props. After decideing that I should sand the FRONT, guess what: the instructions that came with the balancer say to sand the tip, sand the BACK, or spray lacquer on the light blade. I know that wood is an imprecise product, but for what some of these companies are charging, the props should be factory balanced. If any of the three above companies say their props are balanced they are full of it. Anyway, now I am at a complete loss as to the best way to balance a prop. The hole instruction sheet for the balancer sounds like a cop out way to fix something that can't really be fixed. I would be interested in a few comments from those with a little or lot more experience than I in this area.

For me, the absolute safest, and best way to balance a prop is to not remove any material. I use quick drying clear spray polurethane. After you do a few you can pretty much estimate how much to spray on. The light side of the prop will fall, but as the solvents from the clear off-gas it slowly rises to at or near level, where another quick shot gets it just right. It's fast, simple, and above all...safe.

Vince

The Top Flight is not too good on props bigger than 12". The bigger ones are too heavy and makes the arbor drop from the center of the magnet.

If you want a professional balancer try the Robart High Point balancer. It will handle the big props with no problem. You can also balance Spinners and rotors on them. you can get them from Tower also.

enjoy,

Jim

I have pretty much decided on the lacquer method, but some of these blades are so out of balance it will take several coats of lacquer. And this does not solve the problem of hub balance. I'll check out that Robart balance.

Beaing as hub balance is of concern to you....

Check out the prop balancer from Windsor props. It has a drilling jig that attaches to the hub that the balancer centers on. Then there is a special drill that fits in this jig to reposition your hole. The only drawback is that you have to have a different size for each shaft size that you use. I don't think the price is that much different than the High Point. They say a drill press is required to use it.

Jim

w8ye do you own one of these? This looks like it will help the APC problem. They are drilled after molding and many of my hubs are not centered. It’s a real pain. Thanks for the heads up.

I own a couple of high point balancers as well as a Top flight. I do not own a Windsor Master Airscrew balancer.

They are only available in 5/16" & 3/8". This leads me to believe that the Master Airscrew props come with 1/4" holes. Drilling oversize off center would work but you cannot drill a 1/4" hole off center with a 1/4" bit. (When there is already a 1/4" hole there.)

APC's have a step hub in them. If the smallest step was 1/4", you could redrill it to 5/16" or 3/8".

If the small step was 5/16", then you could only balance it for 3/8" prop shaft.

One solution is to bush the 5/16" hole after your done with a piece or two of brass tubing to get it back down to 1/4". Or likewise you could rebush a 3/8" hole back down to a smaller size.

Go to Google and do a search for Windsor prop. It should be the first thing that pops up. I think the balancer is listed under assessories or tools? The arbors and the balance are priced seperately. The arbor is like 24.95 and the balancer is 14.95. It looks like the arbors would work on a High Point balancer. They might possibly work with the Top Flight if they are pointed and magnetic.

Good luck

Jim