BunnMan
Heliman
Location: Pasadena, Maryland
| quick easy blade balancing actThere are better and more thourough ways to balance your blades but this one seems effective for me. I am a noob also. This can be done with minimal specialty tools.
1) Grab a razor blade in a vice with the blade up and level to the eye.
2) Lay one heli blade across (perpendicular to) the razor blade to find it's lenthgwise CG. You'll move the blade in or out on the razor blade until it balances. Once you get it to balance grab a sharpie and put the tip of the marker on the razor blade just in front of the LE (leading edge) of the heli blade. Slide the sharpie along the razor blade edge until it bumps into the LE of the heli blade marking the CG on it.
3) Do the same with the other blade but this time mark the TE (trailing edge). Lay the blades next to each other with your marks facing in on the workbench with the hubs/mounting ends even. I use the wall my bench sits against to make sure they're both even. See how close the CG's are. If they are even, praise God, thank the manufacturer, and proceed to step 5. If not continue to step 4.
4) If the CG's are not even when the hubs are even wrap a piece of tape around the end of the blade that has it's CG marked closest to the hub, this will move the CG outboard (further down the blade). Re-balance and re-check CG against the other blade. If the tape overcorrected peel it off and move it inboard a little to compensate. Do this until you get the CG's as close as possible.
5) Now you have to weigh the blades and you need to use as accurate a scale as possible. I use a simple pendulum style postal scale left over from another hobby of my youth. If they aren't the same weight wrap a piece of tape around the marked CG of the light blade to compensate, this will even the weight without moving the CG. Add or remove tape to get the weights as close as possible,
There you have it! A balanced set of blades! I have done this to every set of new blades (I'm a newbie so I've been through a few) I had used and found them all to need at least a little adjustment. This procedure has virtually eliminated the vibration of my BCP. Even the ping pong balls on the ends of my training gear stay pretty solid not shaking more than 1/4" or so at the worst. You'll want to run through this procedure again if you get any dings/strikes or if your tracking goes way out for some reason. Make sure to track before flying after you go through the balancing. This way is pretty quick and easy. Like I said before I know there are more elaborate and exhaustive ways to reach a more precise balance for RC heli blades, I've read them. If I had a larger ship I'd get the tools and do it like the pros do but this little method seems adequate for the Blade CP.
God bless,
-BunnMan |
