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Balance Masters prop balancer

Looks like Cranford Aviation Supply (dmat)
sells these and are running a 7% OFF Black Friday special. Any PIREPS?
 
The vibration analyzer, on their web sight, tested a Rotax 912 prop at over 6.3 IPS without and under .4 IPS with...

That's pretty good empirical data, suggesting it does work, very well!
 
Looks like the same concept as the Landoll balancer. Had one on my -6 and worked great.
 
On an existing build, won’t this move the spinner out from the cowl the thickness of the balancer?
 
My neighbor has them on two motors, lycoming and a radial. He is also running them on the wheels of both aircraft.....
He said that they work very well.

I will try one the next time I remove my prop. What's nice is it will balance the prop at any rpm.... not just one zone, like fixed weights.
 
upperdeck said:
The thickness of the balancer where it bolts up is just sheet metal, maybe 1/16” at most.
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That answers one big question I had. I’ll have to confirm that with the manufacturer. I don’t want to alter, by much, my nice tight fit I now have.

I’ve balanced several props with our chapter’s Dyna-Vibe balancer, and sometimes it’s difficult to get a very low result. On my last two airplanes, I couldn’t get below .07 IPS, and I think it might be partially because they were taildraggers. With taildraggers, the prop blast at full static causes the airplane to hop up and down a little because of the tail low angle of attack. I don’t know how the accelerometer can distinguish the difference between the fuselage hopping from the prop blast on the tail, and dynamic imbalance in the engine/prop. Nose wheel airplanes seem to be better in achieving a good low balance (<.03 IPS) result.

I don’t want to waste money, but this might be a good way to experiment with an improved dynamic balance. It might also be a better solution for Rotax 912 airplanes where adding weights is more challenging.
 
Pirep

I have been running one for 8 years and my combination is very smooth. I had a good balance prior to installation but over the 8yrs it has remained in good balance.

Please note the this is NOT the same as a Landol, which is a torsional damper, not a lateral balancing device like this is. Landol is made for higher compression power pulse dampening.
 
Black Friday Sale and excellent customer service

9GT said:
Looks like Cranford Aviation Supply (dmat)
sells these and are running a 7% OFF Black Friday special. Any PIREPS?
Click to expand...

This thread got me thinking about balance. I plan to remove my propellor this winter due to a front seal leak. I contacted Cranford Aviation Supply by email to verify there is a 7% off deal. Then I asked my wife to order the Balance Master as a Christmas gift. Dan contacted me and asked if my wife had made a purchase and then retroactively gave her the discount because she did not do so online. It is a small company with a great personal touch. I do not have any experience with the product, but I am impressed with the vendor.
 
I just ordered the Balance Masters prop balancer from Cranford Aviation Supply, and he is still offering the Black Friday discount through Monday (tomorrow).

My plan is to do a DynaVibe balance check prior to installing it, and then again after installation - like what they did with a Rotax on the Balance Masters website video. Of course, winter has arrived in Ohio, and I’m limping around after a recent total knee replacement, so it may be a while. Boredom may solve the cold issue if I can figure out how to run the DynaVibe cables into the cockpit (while in my semi-heated hangar) so I don’t have to stand outside in the cold during the test runs. I’ll check three different RPM settings in each condition for comparison, and of course I won't be adding any additional weights. Looking forward to this experiment.

This is on my 2022 RV6, O-360-A1A, Sensenich carbon fiber GA prop. I did a DynaVibe balance last summer, but was unable to get a result below .07 IPS as stated earlier.
 
Scott Hersha said:
...
My plan is to do a DynaVibe balance check prior to installing it, and then again after installation - like what they did with a Rotax on the Balance Masters website video. Of course, winter has arrived in Ohio, and I’m limping around after a recent total knee replacement, so it may be a while. Boredom may solve the cold issue if I can figure out how to run the DynaVibe cables into the cockpit (while in my semi-heated hangar) so I don’t have to stand outside in the cold during the test runs. I’ll check three different RPM settings in each condition for comparison, and of course I won't be adding any additional weights. Looking forward to this experiment.
...
Click to expand...

Thanks for doing this Scott - I'm also looking forward to the results.
 
BalanceMasters

I have ordered one as well. The reported thickness is 0.040". I had a long chat today with the manufacturer, Chris Gamble, (his website is Balancemasters.com), and you cannot leave any weights you might have added during a dynamic balance in place. The outer edge of the balancer overlaps those holes. Like others, I had prompt replies from Dan Matlosz at Cranford Aviation supply.
I am also eagerly awaiting the results of others (and mine).
Johan
 
Hey Johan! Thanks for that info about the weights. I wasn’t planning on removing them, but apparently I need to. In that case, there’s no reason to check balance with the DynaVibe prior to installing the Balance Master, although I might anyway - after removing my weights - to measure the improvement.
I’ve set up the DynaVibe with wires running into the cockpit through one of my NACA vents (see pic) so I can do this solo and not have to stand out in the cold.

A lot of this has depended on my ability to get into and (more importantly) out of the cockpit of my RV6 after my knee replacement surgery. No problem there after several practice sessions. I was planning on doing this test tomorrow or Wednesday, but my balancer hasn’t arrived yet. FedEx said it would arrive last Friday. When that didn’t happen, they changed the date to Monday (today). Well, it’s 1830 here in Cinci, and so far - no joy. FedEx ground is much less reliable than their various overnight services, so don’t be in a hurry. I’ll let you know what I find out after I get it installed.

IMG_3128.jpg

IMG_3129.jpg

Of course, I will tape over the NACA opening with some painters tape…..
 
It should fit on any standard Lycoming starter ring gear/flywheel regardless of what prop is installed, as long as whatever bolts/weights that have been installed previously for balance are removed, because of interference with the supplied Balance Masters unit (thank you Johan for that bit of info). My balancer arrived at my FedEx location at 7pm this evening. Unfortunately, they close at 7pm, so I’ll get to see what the situation is tomorrow. Looking forward to see how this all works out. There is a limit to how much imbalance this device can correct.
 
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Very simple idea using mercury to sling itself into balance. The table top demo video shows a period of extreme out of balance until counter weights move in place. What effect does this have during the dry bearing period at engine start?

Also, we often detect a problem with the onset of a new vibration. The Active Balancing may mask early detection.
 
I've got to pull my prop due to a leaking front seal. I decided to install one of these balancers, and was happy to see there is still a 10% discount offered by the mfg. Mine should be here Friday...
 
gasman said:
My neighbor has them on two motors, lycoming and a radial. He is also running them on the wheels of both aircraft.....
He said that they work very well.

I will try one the next time I remove my prop. What's nice is it will balance the prop at any rpm.... not just one zone, like fixed weights.
Click to expand...
I'd be interested in this for the wheels...can you provide more info?
 
Scott Hersha said:
It should fit on any standard Lycoming starter ring gear/flywheel regardless of what prop is installed, as long as whatever bolts/weights that have been installed previously for balance are removed, because of interference with the supplied Balance Masters unit (thank you Johan for that bit of info). My balancer arrived at my FedEx location at 7pm this evening. Unfortunately, they close at 7pm, so I’ll get to see what the situation is tomorrow. Looking forward to see how this all works out. There is a limit to how much imbalance this device can correct.
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Is there any follow up on your results with the Balancer? Still trying to navigate the new format here and apologies if I missed it.
 
NYTOM said:
Is there any follow up on your results with the Balancer? Still trying to navigate the new format here and apologies if I missed it.
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Yes. Unfortunately, the balance masters ring didn’t work for me. To install the balance masters part, I needed to remove the weights I added to my starter ring gear when I did the DynaVibe balance originally. With the weights removed, and the balance masters installed, my balance using the DynaVibe went from .07 IPS to .30 IPS (rough). I confirmed this with flight testing. I could literally see my glareshield top surface vibrating. I removed the balance masters ring and rebalanced using the DynaVibe. When I do this, I need to remove/reinstall my GA prop blades. Pitch is set on the Sensenich using pitch pins. This invites possible small errors in pitch setting. Nothing will affect vibration faster than uneven prop pitch. My balance after removing the balance masters and rebalancing using the DynaVibe was/is .04 IPS. After flying it, it was smoother, but didn’t seem as smooth at it did originally. Maybe I had become hyper-sensitive about this, but I looked into it further. According to Scott M (Vans) related to this subject, a pitch variation between blades of more than .1 degrees will be felt. So I bought the tool from Vans that you use with a digital level to measure prop pitch, I measured the pitch I has set with the pitch pin, and found them to be off by .3 degrees. I adjusted the blade pitch to achieve a 0 to .1 degree difference. This was difficult, because when I tightened the clamp bolts, the pitch would change very slightly. I called Sensenich and got the guidance on pitch setting and bolt tightening technique. so I got the pitch setting to within .1 degrees blade to blade, and it feels smoother on my finely tuned butt. I haven’t re-checked the balance with our DynaVibe again yet - it‘s been really cold here - but will eventually, and I expect it to be improved, even though .04 is pretty good.
 
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Scott Hersha said:
Yes. Unfortunately, the balance masters ring didn’t work for me. To install the balance masters part, I needed to remove the weights I added to my starter ring gear when I did the DynaVibe balance originally. With the weights removed, and the balance masters installed, my balance using the DynaVibe went from .07 IPS to .30 IPS (rough). I confirmed this with flight testing. I could literally see my glareshield top surface vibrating. I removed the balance masters ring and rebalanced using the DynaVibe. When I do this, I need to remove/reinstall my GA prop blades. Pitch is set on the Sensenich using pitch pins. This invites possible small errors in pitch setting. Nothing will affect vibration faster than uneven prop pitch. My balance after removing the balance masters and rebalancing using the DynaVibe was/is .04 IPS. After flying it, it was smoother, but didn’t seem as smooth at it did originally. Maybe I had become hyper-sensitive about this, but I looked into it further. According to Scott M (Vans) related to this subject, a pitch variation between blades of more than .1 degrees will be felt. So I bought the tool from Vans that you use with a digital level to measure prop pitch, I measured the pitch I has set with the pitch, and found them to be off by .3 degrees. I adjusted the blade pitch to achieve a 0 to .1 degree difference. This was difficult, because when I tightened the clamp bolts, the pitch would change very slightly. I called Sensenich and got the guidance on pitch setting and bolt tightening technique. so I got the pitch setting to within .1 degrees blade to blade, and it feels smoother on my finely tuned butt. I haven’t re-checked the balance with our DynaVibe again yet - it‘s been really cold here - but will eventually, and I expect it to be improved, even though .04 is pretty good.
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Thank you Scott. I was anticipating better results. I hope you had better results with the new knee. I was informed just this week I needed one of those also.
 
NYTOM said:
Thank you Scott. I was anticipating better results. I hope you had better results with the new knee. I was informed just this week I needed one of those also.
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The knee replacement has been a little more involved than I thought it would be. I’m at three months, and there is still pain and some discomfort, which makes sleeping at night more difficult, but definitely getting better. I need both knees replaced, but the second one won’t happen before a year. To make this post RV related, one of my concerns was when I could fly again after surgery. The issue isn’t actually flying. The issue is, can I get into, and more importantly out of the cockpit. Flying is easy, because leg/ankle movement is good almost from the beginning because you don’t need to flex your knee that much. I tried to get in/out of the cockpit after 1 week. I was able to do that without too much difficulty. I still gave it another two weeks, because I took some meds for a few days right after surgery that I needed to purge before flying, even though they didn’t affect me in a noticeable way, other than severe constipation. Didn’t even work well as a pain reliever that well.
Sorry for the thread drift - even though it was my own thread. Important part of this comment is that we need to be aware of prescribed meds and take the conservative approach when it may affect your flying abilities. A lot can be gleaned from the FAA aeromed protocols for medications, and how they affect your flying.
That being said, I would recommend checking your prop balance before and after installing a balance masters part of you have access to a DynaVibe or similar, that doesn’t cost you (our EAA chapter has one). Your results may be different, depending on your prop. One good thing about the balance masters is that the balance is the same regardless of engine RPM. I verified that with the testing I’ve done.
 
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