Prop Balancing Question

[Hivemapper]

I'm new to this and have watched and read a little bit about prop balancing, but i was wondering if it's important to polish the props at all after balancing. I've bought a couple sets of unbalanced carbon fiber props and cant help but notice after balancing the nice smooth shine is now a dull, matte color. And worse many props are shiny on one side and rough on the other.

I don't care about how they look so much, just want to be sure i'm not loosing performance. Is polishing recommended? And if so, how should I go about it?

 

[kydan]

Do yourself a favor and drop the carbon fiber. Only use DJI props. My reference is several threads from here.


Certainly polish the carbon fiber props after balaclava.

 

[Hivemapper]

Do yourself a favor and drop the carbon fiber. Only use DJI props. My reference is several threads from here.


Certainly polish the carbon fiber props after balaclava.

Thanks. My experience with them though is they're a little bouncy and soft. I picked up a couple carbon fiber sets along with some other accessories and after my first attempt at balancing them the phantom seemed to fly way better. Less vibration, faster acceleration, etc... I was hoping to shoot a quick video doing a more scientific comparison of a few but wanted to make sure i was doing the balancing correct first.

So it sounds like yes to polishing, but I'm still not sure how. Is there a special polishing compound i should use? Are they supposed to be sanded with 2000grit or something first?

 

[brad90631]

i use tape on the underside of my carbon fiber blades.

 

[Hivemapper]

Some people prefer to stick with the plastic props, personally I prefer CF. You have to be careful which CF props to use, there are many cheap imitations out there. Many from China are merely Nylon props coated in CF resin. They're stiff but the ends still flex. I use ARRIS 9443 non self-tightening props as they are solid CF & don't bend at all. I use prop nuts & blue Loctite to ensure the nuts don't come loose. (don't ever use red Loctite, you'll need an oxy/acet torch to get them off). They will require balancing before flight. I have placed a link to a video of the method I use to remove material from them. However, I use a Dubro prop balancer, not the tiny little thing the guy in the video uses. I don't believe props should be sanded as it alters the shape of the surface of the prop & could alter the way it's designed to move/direct airflow & a 'rough' sanded finish may reduce the drag co-efficiency of the prop.

It is worth noting though that CF props are very sharp and unforgiving & have the potential to cause serious injury. You need to be very aware of where you will be using them and the potential risk if something should go wrong. I still use the genuine DJI plastic props if filming in confined spaces, near stationary objects such as walls, as CF props will shatter like glass if they come into contact with a solid surface like concrete.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Byk8W5P_E

Thank you, very helpful. I actually have that cheap little balancer but know it's not the best and I'm going to upgrade to something like the Dubro. It's funny though looking at the comments of that video - I think what I'm seeing is that there is no "right" way to do it. Some people say sand only this part, some people say no sanding at all, etc.

 

[Hazel1919]

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/bal ... -right-way

Best,

Jethro.

 

[Hivemapper]

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/balancing-carbon-fiber-props-the-right-way

Best,

Jethro.

Ahh! so Beeswax, I'll give that a try. That was an excellent looking guide, thank you!

 

[ElGuano]

NEVER approach or attempt to grab the Phantom, especially the top of it, while the props are spinning!

Yeah, that method of hand-catching really deserves the jackie chan picture.