Balancing wood props
 

Looking to see where the preferred area of a wood prop the excess material should be removed from.?

Typically they are close enough where you can remove a little of the clear finish on the backside of the heavy blade with wet 600 grit. Then you can polish back to a shine. If your prop is 18" and larger you will want to balance the hub as well. To do this you place the prop on your balancer vertical and add weight to the light side of the hub until it will sit perfectly vertical. Some guys use the fuzzy side of Velcro to do this. Place a small patch on the light side and add medium CA to the fuzz until it balances. I have drilled into the prop up to 1/4" and filled the hole with solder and I have simply used CA to glue a 6-32 washer to the side of the hub. Many ways to skin that cat.

I prefer to drill into the back of the prop hub and add small amounts of lead. No real reason for it, just like doing it that way.

David

Clear gloss or satin spray for my warbirds painted props does the trick,, just a few quick spray bursts on the back side of the prop at the tips usually is enough

I really like my wife's nail polish.....it dries quickly and shows up (red) well on a running engine.

I mix a small swatch of 30min epoxy, and commence with a toothpick wicking small amounts to the back of the heavy blade tip. It never takes much at all, and if I get too much on it, I just wick a fuzz off. Easily balanced well before the epoxy sets up.

balance props
 

All I do is spray clear paint on light tip and wait for it to dry. Check balance again, if still light add more paint, if heavy spray other tip very lightly. Just spray tip area and this work great for me.

The easiest way to balance any prop is to do it while you ream out the hole. Start by doing any finishing that you want to do- scraping the burr from the TE, removing mold lines from composite props, painting, polishing, etc. Use a tapered reamer, and shave a thousandth or two off the side of the hole with the heavy blade. You don't need to remove much material. Take a little off, then ream it just enough to make it round again and check it. I also do the hub if needed at the same time. That means if there is a heavy blade but it's also tilted to one side, I'll attack the hole toward that heavy hub side. A round file is a better tool for removing the material, but isn't required. So 3-4 cycles of making the hole oval and then round again will yield a perfectly balanced prop with no sanding, no glue, and no paint. After the prop is good, ream the hole to size for your engine. I use a tapered reamer for that as well. No, it doesn't hurt anything as there is zero stress on the sides of the hole after you tighten the prop nut.