Some prop balancing ideas to try (none of these tested)

[G+_Tom Metro]

Some prop balancing ideas to try... (none of these tested).

 

Instead of using tape, which is subject to fall off, use drops of Krazy glue (cyanoacrylate).

 

If you don't have the patience to wait for the glue to dry, use a UV curing glue, like:

 

Where you add or remove material to/from the prop matters. The further away from the hub, the less mass needs to be changed. Adjusting balance might require a lot of sanding over the length of the prop, but may require only a tiny notch be removed from the tip. Something you could do with a nibbling tool: http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-Nickel-Plated-Nibbling/dp/B0002KRACO/

 

I agree, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ?, that you probably won't do much better than $25 to build your own balancer like the one you showed, but a far simpler design will do almost the same job. Just suspend the prop on a loop of thread. The thread wont be at the perfect center point, but good enough to do a coarse balance, and then flip the prop to check the other side. (Lawnmower blades can be balanced the same way with a loop of string.)

 

How about building a dynamic prop balancer as a project? Arduino controlled stepper motor and vibration sensor should be able to tell you which side is heavier. After spinning up, and measuring the phase and amplitude of the vibration, park the prop with a known left-right orientation. Then have an LED bargraph in the same orientation with 5 or 10 LEDs per prop side, with more LEDs lit for a greater imbalance. You might even be able to calibrate it so each LED corresponds to a specific number of drops of UV glue added to the tip of a prop.