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Beginners Corner > Heli Stand and Blade Balancer, any suggestions??
 
 
Clint
Heliman
Location: Sunshine State....

Looking for the above items, What do you recommend???
Thanks,
Clint
04-13-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

I just bought a Kole "rotor pro". It works very nicely, but there's not much there for the $77 it cost. It's amazing what they can charge for a few folds on a piece of stamped aluminum....
04-15-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

I have the revolution teeter-totter blade balancer and it works good but takes abit of practise to get use to it, plus mine was not balanced itself properly so I had to do that before doing my blades .
I heard the Koll"rotor pro" is nice but $77. Ouch!!! Way too much . If anyone has a picture or a link to a "Koll" so that I could see for myself what a $70+ balancer looks like please send it to me. The one KSJ sells (KSJ528) looks not too bad and it's around $50.00.


Carl
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Wess94
Senior Heliman
Location: College Park, Md

Koll

Here`s the link to his homepage...
http://www2.netdoor.com/~lkoll/

Wess
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

Thanks Wess.

Hmmm.. Now lets see what a $70 balancer looks like.



Ok.. Now I know what one looks like. I'm impressed. Didn't realize it did both types of balancing. Still I think if they brought it down to $60 it would sell better.
Even a cheap @ss like me might buy one. LOL


Carl
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
dibbs
Heliman
Location: ohio u.s.a.

buy it, you`ll like it ! i got mine from m/a through my lhs for $68 + tax.
04-16-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

It actually balances three ways. It balances the two blades against eachother to determine amount of correction required, balances lengthwise CG, and balances chordwise CG. I'm not so picky as to worry about chordwise right now but maybe later.

Not that it matters much, but does any balancer measure vertical CG? From what I read of Ray's balancing technique, (glueing smashed lead weights to the bottom of the blade) I wonder if anyone cares?
04-16-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

Wow. I finally tracked down one of the Koll Pro blade balancers from Great Hobbies online store here in Canada.
They want $146.00 CND ($91.00 USD ) for one plus shipping.
They must be nuts. I'm better off ordering one from the US.

If anyone that has one and a digital camera that wouldn't mind taking some detailed pictures of it for me then emailing them to me
I would be much appreciated. I will see if it's worthwhile to try and build one myself.

Thanks,

Carl


cbeezer@rogers.com
04-16-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

If you have any metalworking background, making one yourself would probably be very simple to do. It's design incorporates a level, so it works even if your bench isn't leveled out. This would mean that any manufacturing imperfections would not affect its performance.

I'll snap some pics when I get home and link 'em here for you. The pictures included in the instruction manual are actually worse than what you saw on the web, the manual is black & white and the pictures are very poor contrast - looks like they got printed off on a ditto machine, except the ink is black.
04-16-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
kyoshokamper
Senior Heliman
Location: HOUSTON, TX, U.S.A.

TRY THE KYOSHO TEETER FOR <$40

Less than $40 will get you a ball bearing Kyosho Teeter style balancer that will last a lifetime and is as accurate as the air in the room is still! I've had mine for over 6 years.
04-16-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Wess94
Senior Heliman
Location: College Park, Md

Gr8Lakes

Try www.greatlakesrc.com
Steve has it listed for $79.99, and they are excellent people to deal with..

Wess
04-16-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

Here are some better shots of the rotor pro...

http://www.vftp.net/rchelicopters/m...rpro/index.html
04-17-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Smokinjo
Senior Heliman
Location: Memphis TN

Virtual1, If its so bad and not much to it, then why didn't you come up with the concept as well as manufacture them years ago when they were put on the market. Guess it took you to see the pictures (bad as you describe) to figure out how to make your own as well.


I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion on equipment, however I would say that the Koll Rotor Pro will precision balance any set of blades closer to perfection than anything else on the market. It will do it faster and simpler. tail or mains etc.

Its just like any other piece of equipment. How many times do you buy something and upgrade it over and over to get one that has all the bells and whistles and does virtually everything?

If you get the Koll, you won't be looking for anything better. If your getting vibrations, you may be looking for replacement parts soon.

My opinion ofcourse

Joe
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

Thank you very much Virtual1 . Those pictures are excellent. You didn't have to go through the trouble of
disassembling it but I appreciate that you did. The photos I saw on Koll website are horrible and the ones on the M.A. website are not much better. This thing must sell by word of mouth because there is really not much info about it. Once I'm done building my own aluminum Ergo tail gear case I will start on building a Koll style balancer, but maybe with some of my own changes. WIll post pictures once I get it done.

Thanks Again,


Carl
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
BladeRunner
Elite Veteran
Location: Ontario Canada. Member of "some sort" s

Balancer

Better put me on the list for one Carl!!
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

LMAO... I could sense you lurking in the background Blade.
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

there really wasn't much to disassembling it. The support has two screws in it that end in straight shafts. The cradle has bearings press-fit into the sides, where the support's screws fit in. Taking it apart is just a matter of flexing the support out and lifting the cradle away. It's a nice design really. The bearings do a good job at allowing free movement of the cradle.
04-17-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

Yeah I noticed those mini bearings. The smaller they are the more expensive they seem to be. It is a nice design the more I look at it but I think if Mr. Koll would have just sold them himself instead of marketing them through M.A. the price could be lowered.
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

yup. roll call on parts there is...

two small stamped, machined, folded, and anodized 1/16" aluminum sheets
one steel knurled thumb screw
one small plastic level
one 1/8 x 5 screw
two 1/8 nuts
two 1/16 nuts
one 1/8 x 24 aluminum rod
one 1/4 x 2 aluminum rod, machined
two miniature bearings
two screws
one steel knurled threaded counterweight
two m3x30 caphead screws
three page low quality instruction pamphlet

That's around $7 in parts. I understand there's going to be a mark-up for marketing, initial design costs, and proffit, but a 1000% mark-up seems a bit extreme to me.
04-17-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Beezer
Veteran
Location: Ontario, Canada

Most of the cost will be in the 2 pieces of aluminum. They either have to have a custom punch made for each of the 2 aluminum pieces (around $5,000 each punch & die set) or the best way is a CNC laser cutter. Then to bend the pieces and have them anodized. Initial cost is alot but the more you make the cheaper each on gets.


Wait a minute.. Are you saying that long rod is made from aluminum and not steel? Wow. Looked like steel in the photo.
04-17-2002 Over year old.
 
 
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Beginners Corner > Heli Stand and Blade Balancer, any suggestions??
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