Prop Balancing !

[Peter Evans]

Mine arrived in southwest France today. Thanks Glen.

I now have a case, a spare battery and a balancing rod. All I need to go with them is a Phantom 2.

I returned my P2V due to a badly focused camera lens but I'm still in dispute with the dealer here in France as to the next step. I've had no response whatsoever from DJI Europe on the matter despite a detailed email sent with example photographs.

After almost eleven year of living in France I have concluded that all managers and employees here are taught that company rules and systems are the sole reason for the company's existence and that under no circumstances can customers be allowed to interfere with that. The customer is there only to donate money to the company in order to allow said rules and systems to proliferate and once the money has been donated, the customer is required to F-Off, (Actually sometimes the customer gets the impression that he or she is required to F-Off even before they've donated their money).

On the plus side down here in the southwest, the food, wine, weather, scenery, lack of traffic and overall quality of life is absolutely great.

 

[Pull_Up]

The very definition of "swings and roundabouts", then! But I for one certainly feel the hardships outlined in your last sentence probably trump everything else...

 

[Count]

I ordered 2 bars over 2 weeks ago, and still have not received. Hoping everything is OK???

 

[Bigvern]

I ordered 2 bars over 2 weeks ago, and still have not received. Hoping everything is OK???

Hello Count
First of all I would like to say sorry for the delay, However the Post office have told me the problem is your side of the water (they would say that I guess)
All I can do at this stage is assure you you will not end up out of pocket over this. I have proof of posting and the post office will take it up for me once the item is 15 days late.
I apologise again and assure you I will make it right. A lot of rods have been delivered in the States!
Glen

 

[tknquad]

got mine in rome, italy, just a few days after he send it. thanx glen, I will have fun tonight balancing all the props I have (and drinking to change the liquid in the glass?)

 

[Pull_Up]

Don't anyone blame me for any drunken balancing disasters! :shock:

 

[madbugger]

I ordered mine yesterday and Glen has already sent me an Email saying it's been posted today. What service. A pity commercial suppliers aren't this on-the-ball

Pull_Up Well, who else can we blame. After all, you posted the (very informative, BTW) vid. No weaselling out of it now. I intend to put Macallans 12-year old in my balancing jig.

 

[pault]

I do not have one of the machined prop balancing rods but thought I would have a go using just a nail or something similar inserted into the prop boss. In order to reduce friction I want to add a drop of oil but given that it is near impossible to remove all traces of oil do you think it would have any detrimental effects when I come to spin them back onto the P2V ?

 

[helping]

The point I tried to make previously is that if the blades are uneven in weight, they are also uneven in the amount of lift each blade produces.

By removing material from one blade may or may not fix the asymmetric lift problem.

Uneven / asymmetric lift could easily have a greater detrimental effect on the engine bearings than the weight issue.

See previous post here:- viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5371&start=90#p62161

Are the carbon blades better made than the plastic ones?

Do propellors that are balanced come from a different mould? Why can't they be made well enough to not need balancing?

 

[Don the builder]

Hi Glen,

Good work on making this prop balancing available. I just ordered and sent PayPal to you.

Thanks again!

Donald in Los Angeles, California

 

[garygid]

My balancing rod arrived about a week or so ago. Thanks!

Four props of six are well balanced, two were slightly off,
but I do not see specific recommendations for removing
material for balancing them without a significant chance
of making dynamic balance issues worse.

Beyond static balance, there is dynamic balance, and lift and drag
inequalities to be considered. Any thoughts?

 

[madbugger]

The point I tried to make previously is that if the blades are uneven in weight, they are also uneven in the amount of lift each blade produces.
Uneven / asymmetric lift could easily have a greater detrimental effect on the engine bearings than the weight issue.
Are the carbon blades better made than the plastic ones?
Do propellors that are balanced come from a different mould? Why can't they be made well enough to not need balancing?

The point I tried to make previously is - I think we all got your point the first time, but my experience, admittedly only based on over 55years of aeromodelling with nitro engines from .020 to 1.40 and electric motors from 20w to 800watts is that an out of balance prop will destroy bearings a lot faster than any amount of uneven lift from mis-matched blades.

That said, the reason most of us want to balance our props is not to save motor bearings but to minimise vibration for filming purposes. Phantom props are not that expensive so try balancing. If it doesn't work for you, you won't have spent a fortune on the experiment. Most of us find it helps

Are the carbon blades better made than the plastic ones? - Some are, some aren't

Do propellors that are balanced come from a different mould? - No

Why can't they be made well enough to not need balancing? - They are a mass-produced hobby item. No cheap item (including car engines) comes with perfect balance. Costs time and equipment to achieve that kind of balance. The stock props are good enough for most people. If they were factory-balanced they'd cost 10 times the price. Most people wouln't pay that or even need that precision for day-to-day hobbying.

 

[Pull_Up]

Nice three-bladed prop of your own, there 'bugger!

 

[madbugger]

Nice three-bladed prop of your own, there 'bugger!

Can't imagine how I didn't notice there was a wind turbine just behind my head when my buddy took that shot :lol: You'd almost think it was intentional. As it was

 

[Hiway]

One more post of accolades to the Big Vern... I could never have balanced these shoddy rotors I picked up on ebay today if not for that brilliant little rod of yours.
Many thanks again- it's the little things in life, you know?

 

[Bigvern]

Hello everyone.
Thanks very much for all the orders and the good feedback.
Unfortunately I have had alot of problems shipping these items to the USA, which is where most of the orders have come from, so as from now I will not be taking anymore orders. I am not sure whether it is your post office or ours, can't seem to get there act together, sorry!
I was not running this as a business and now unfortunately it is costing me too much TIME and money!
Thanks Pull_up for the video.
Cheers Glen.

 

[skyhighdiver]

Hello everyone.
Thanks very much for all the orders and the good feedback.
Unfortunately I have had alot of problems shipping these items to the USA, which is where most of the orders have come from, so as from now I will not be taking anymore orders. I am not sure whether it is your post office or ours, can't seem to get there act together, sorry!
I was not running this as a business and now unfortunately it is costing me too much TIME and money!
Thanks Pull_up for the video.
Cheers Glen.

Thanks for the try I did get mine in the US 5 days after you said shipped so don't know why others are having problems.
I know how it gets when just doing alittle side job. Everybody thinks its AMAZON and that you will ship it an hour after you order it, and that they will get it next day.

I have made orders from online retailers that say in stock and it takes 3 weeks so some people need to just relax and get a grip .

 

[dscott77]

FYI, I picked up a set of prop balancing rods designed for the Vision's black and white lock nuts from "Cliff" at www.atlantahobby.com. They're aluminum, are designed to work with the Du-Bro balancer and work perfectly.

 

[Sledge]

Hello everyone.
Thanks very much for all the orders and the good feedback.
Unfortunately I have had alot of problems shipping these items to the USA, which is where most of the orders have come from, so as from now I will not be taking anymore orders. I am not sure whether it is your post office or ours, can't seem to get there act together, sorry!
I was not running this as a business and now unfortunately it is costing me too much TIME and money!
Thanks Pull_up for the video.
Cheers Glen.

Glen, a big thanks to you on this venture! Shipping across the pond did get tricky for some reason, and I eventually received both packages you sent. The rods work great. I used the with the Dubro balancer and it worked great. Thanks much for you efforts on these!!! Dave

 

[madbugger]

Hello everyone.
Thanks very much for all the orders and the good feedback.
Unfortunately I have had alot of problems shipping these items to the USA, which is where most of the orders have come from, so as from now I will not be taking anymore orders. I am not sure whether it is your post office or ours, can't seem to get there act together, sorry!
I was not running this as a business and now unfortunately it is costing me too much TIME and money!
Thanks Pull_up for the video.
Cheers Glen.

A real pity, though I can't blame you. For what it's worth I correspond with lots of Stateside modellers and I can tell you the problem is their end. Apparently Customs in NYC get the blame but the US Postal Service loses stuff all the time. That's why people over there prefer Fedex or UPS but that's not a viable option for someone shipping from the UK as a friend rather than as a business.