Reading the comments here I can see a lot of people who are saying balancing is not necessary and the helicopter will fly regardless. I'd say this is truer today due to greater manufacturing and quality controls of the blades and better noise isolation algorithm in modern flybar controllers. But I do have to say a balanced blade makes a difference when comparing data logs before and after, somtimes its quite considerable. Now whether the machine flyes better well thats subjective.
Yes and No. If you buy expensive high quality blades as matched sets then you probably dont need to balance them. If you then start painting the blades for scale then you definitely need to balance. An out of balance set of blades will cause horrendous vibration. This goes for tail blades too
Correct me if I'm wrong: ideally, you want to place the tap at the CoG of the lighter blade. In your video, you intentionally did NOT do so as the CoGs on both blades are slightly off, and you want to move that on the lighter blade slightly off so that both are identical. However, you should have gone back and check if that's the case though; otherwise, your blades not still not statically balanced.
As the blade tips on the round rod its contact point moves a little allowing a stable point of balance. The ruler has a sharp edge and so the blade starts to tip over and the contact point does not change so it just keeps tipping. So use the rounded focal point for this is my advice
I'm always surprised when people still do this as a matter of course. Weigh them. If they're within a gram, fly them. If you see or hear something unusual, balance them. I've got 15 or so machines in flying condition ATM. They range in size from 280mm to 770mm blades. Not one did I need to balance the blades. Not one has a problem in flight or a flybarless unit that complains of excessive vibration. If you enjoy this portion of building, fine. Do it. Enjoy it! But stop telling everyone it is so important to do. It isn't. I stopped balancing blades about 12 years ago when the manufacturers started consistently making good balanced sets. It has never been an issue. Objectively speaking it is a waste of time in a VERY large percentage of cases.
Your opinion, and of course it’s bad. Just got a new Align kit, had to put a piece of tape 2”X2” on one to get the balance. Consistently good blades?! pfft horse droppings. Balance your stuff right folks, not by blind faith lol..wow
I saw @Randyman X's reply, and I thought maybe I have something to learn here. So I did what I always do when I'm doubt about technical heli stuff. I asked a bunch of friends in the hobby that are pro pilots or have close relationships with pro pilots. I'm talking guys that fly center stage at IRCHA, pilots that fly for SOXOS, Goblin, XL Power, team managers for major brands, etc... NOT ONE of them regularly balances blades or knows anyone who does. Their advice all boiled down to my exact advice above. Fly them out of the box. Only balance them if there is an issue. But as a habit, not one of them balances blades by default. Most NEVER do. If you doubt me, jump on the RC Heli Hangout and poll the 3,000+ members there. You'll run into a few people who always balance, but the overwhelming majority don't, and for good reason. It just isn't necessary very often.
It's a good idea to move the blade covers out of the way when you're weighing them so the tips dont touch them as they clearly did in this vid. Always add weight to the lighter blade not the heavier.
Thank you pointing the slip of the tongue you are correct the weight is added to the lighter blade. The Blade covers were not touching the blades its the camera angle that makes it look like they maybe.
I have always believed that the weight to balance the shovel, wants to be put in the centre of gravity of the heaviest shovel. In the way you showed, you would lose the centre of gravity of the lighter shovel. If I'm wrong, correct me. Anyway, congratulations ....
He makes the classic mistake of just rehashing this flawed method without thinking it through. First of all, you cannot move the C of G of a blade inward toward the root by adding weight to that side of the C of G point. The reason for this is that these blades are not going to remain separate objects, they are going to be bolted onto a rotorhead and will become part of a whole unit. The only way to move the C of G inward is to REMOVE weight near the tip (not recommended!). And, as someone mentions elsewhere in these comments, - the whole idea of worrying about matching C of Gs is a myth in the context of today's very rigid carbon blades.
Do not add the weight diff to the HEAVIER blade... add the weight diff to the LIGHTER blade, placing the tape (weight diff) at the position where the centers of gravity are the same on the two blades? This way they will have the same weight and same cog. Then you can fit them on the balancer to double-check if you want... they should be spot-on, but ONLY if you have EXACTLY the same weight. If you are off in weight even by a tiny amount the balancer will show it... but essentially they will be balanced. The "tiny" amount is what you are comfortable with... for some it will be .5g for others .1g and then you have the obsessive type that won't be able to sleep at night until they get it perfect.
Hello. If the balancing of the blades is slightly 🤏 off, then this will be noticeable in flight and vibration will appear throughout the helicopter body?🚁
Hi very helpful video, can you do video going over a good throttle and pitch curve for a scale heli i have a Hirobo Lama a big step up from my OMP heli any advice would be appreciated
@@bladesofthunder9778 Hi OMP m2 also flew blade 230s and had a trex 500 that i could hover and manage very gentle circuits so my level i put my skill level at intermediate
@@leepering6824 the Trex 500 should be the easiest of those 3 fly. The M2 and blade 230 have to much self level and auto hover that you will not have with with a larger scale model. This means a chip not you is flying the model your just guiding it around. We recommend dusting off the 500 size model once you can take off and land without drifting,hover at the 4 points of the compass, fly a lazy 8 and gentle circuits with it your be ready for your lama.
Centre of gravity importance is a myth. Heli will fly on one blade and a piece of lead on the other blade holder. So long as the moment force is the same. Just use the balancer. Also have leading edge on the same side. It is very important that blades are precisely in line. This is easy, just press the two leading edges up against a table edge or whatever. No problem if the blades are not exactly perpendicular to balancer axis, so long as they are in line. Out of line, one will effectively have a different moment arm…. Bad. It’s all physics.
ummm....adding the "align" tape to anywhere besides the cg of the blade will change the static balance....so your blades are no longer statically balanced....
Thart old useless balancer will not balance out the lead or lag between the blades. for that you need a balancer that can balance the cord of the airfoil. last i looked those balancers were about 500 bucks.
Of course it wont lead and lag are caused by the aerodynamic forces acting on the blades during flight and has nothing to do with balance of the blades and varies constantly
@@videocruzer well as its a single bolt and no lead lag dampener on the head its impossible to control lead lag on the model. all you have is a rubber dampening ring on some of the heads. The blades will naturally find there happy at various stages of the rotation. unless to build a full or semi articulated rotor. 30 years as a full size aircraft engineer and rc modeller here. but that does not mean we know everything so happy learn please post a video on how you balance for lead an lag
My SAB 690 blades have huge root dents and chips, I even superglued a small split of the retreating edge. I also filled in the massive chips with epoxy poorly. Guess what?. They fly just fine. This is just nonsense.
Centre of gravity importance is a myth. Heli will fly on one blade and a piece of lead on the other blade holder. So long as the moment force is the same. Just use the balancer. Also have leading edge on the same side. It is very important that blades are precisely in line. This is easy, just press the two leading edges up against a table edge or whatever. No problem if the blades are not exactly perpendicular to balancer axis, so long as they are in line. Out of line, one will effectively have a different moment arm…. Bad. It’s all physics.
Thanks for taking the time to make such an informative video! Well done!
Reading the comments here I can see a lot of people who are saying balancing is not necessary and the helicopter will fly regardless. I'd say this is truer today due to greater manufacturing and quality controls of the blades and better noise isolation algorithm in modern flybar controllers. But I do have to say a balanced blade makes a difference when comparing data logs before and after, somtimes its quite considerable. Now whether the machine flyes better well thats subjective.
Yes and No. If you buy expensive high quality blades as matched sets then you probably dont need to balance them. If you then start painting the blades for scale then you definitely need to balance. An out of balance set of blades will cause horrendous vibration. This goes for tail blades too
Correct me if I'm wrong: ideally, you want to place the tap at the CoG of the lighter blade. In your video, you intentionally did NOT do so as the CoGs on both blades are slightly off, and you want to move that on the lighter blade slightly off so that both are identical. However, you should have gone back and check if that's the case though; otherwise, your blades not still not statically balanced.
As the blade tips on the round rod its contact point moves a little allowing a stable point of balance. The ruler has a sharp edge and so the blade starts to tip over and the contact point does not change so it just keeps tipping. So use the rounded focal point for this is my advice
I'm always surprised when people still do this as a matter of course. Weigh them. If they're within a gram, fly them. If you see or hear something unusual, balance them.
I've got 15 or so machines in flying condition ATM. They range in size from 280mm to 770mm blades. Not one did I need to balance the blades. Not one has a problem in flight or a flybarless unit that complains of excessive vibration.
If you enjoy this portion of building, fine. Do it. Enjoy it! But stop telling everyone it is so important to do. It isn't. I stopped balancing blades about 12 years ago when the manufacturers started consistently making good balanced sets. It has never been an issue. Objectively speaking it is a waste of time in a VERY large percentage of cases.
Your opinion, and of course it’s bad. Just got a new Align kit, had to put a piece of tape 2”X2” on one to get the balance. Consistently good blades?! pfft horse droppings. Balance your stuff right folks, not by blind faith lol..wow
I saw @Randyman X's reply, and I thought maybe I have something to learn here. So I did what I always do when I'm doubt about technical heli stuff. I asked a bunch of friends in the hobby that are pro pilots or have close relationships with pro pilots. I'm talking guys that fly center stage at IRCHA, pilots that fly for SOXOS, Goblin, XL Power, team managers for major brands, etc...
NOT ONE of them regularly balances blades or knows anyone who does. Their advice all boiled down to my exact advice above. Fly them out of the box. Only balance them if there is an issue. But as a habit, not one of them balances blades by default. Most NEVER do.
If you doubt me, jump on the RC Heli Hangout and poll the 3,000+ members there. You'll run into a few people who always balance, but the overwhelming majority don't, and for good reason. It just isn't necessary very often.
@@randymanx2674 ive never balanced mine either. did so this weekend and notice no difference at all.
It's a good idea to move the blade covers out of the way when you're weighing them so the tips dont touch them as they clearly did in this vid. Always add weight to the lighter blade not the heavier.
Thank you pointing the slip of the tongue you are correct the weight is added to the lighter blade. The Blade covers were not touching the blades its the camera angle that makes it look like they maybe.
I have always believed that the weight to balance the shovel, wants to be put in the centre of gravity of the heaviest shovel. In the way you showed, you would lose the centre of gravity of the lighter shovel. If I'm wrong, correct me. Anyway, congratulations ....
He makes the classic mistake of just rehashing this flawed method without thinking it through. First of all, you cannot move the C of G of a blade inward toward the root by adding weight to that side of the C of G point. The reason for this is that these blades are not going to remain separate objects, they are going to be bolted onto a rotorhead and will become part of a whole unit. The only way to move the C of G inward is to REMOVE weight near the tip (not recommended!). And, as someone mentions elsewhere in these comments, - the whole idea of worrying about matching C of Gs is a myth in the context of today's very rigid carbon blades.
Do not add the weight diff to the HEAVIER blade... add the weight diff to the LIGHTER blade, placing the tape (weight diff) at the position where the centers of gravity are the same on the two blades? This way they will have the same weight and same cog. Then you can fit them on the balancer to double-check if you want... they should be spot-on, but ONLY if you have EXACTLY the same weight. If you are off in weight even by a tiny amount the balancer will show it... but essentially they will be balanced. The "tiny" amount is what you are comfortable with... for some it will be .5g for others .1g and then you have the obsessive type that won't be able to sleep at night until they get it perfect.
Hello. If the balancing of the blades is slightly 🤏 off, then this will be noticeable in flight and vibration will appear throughout the helicopter body?🚁
Hi very helpful video, can you do video going over a good throttle and pitch curve for a scale heli
i have a Hirobo Lama a big step up from my OMP heli any advice would be appreciated
first question what omp heli and your skill level.
@@bladesofthunder9778 Hi OMP m2 also flew blade 230s and had a trex 500 that i could hover and manage very gentle circuits
so my level i put my skill level at intermediate
@@leepering6824 the Trex 500 should be the easiest of those 3 fly. The M2 and blade 230 have to much self level and auto hover that you will not have with with a larger scale model. This means a chip not you is flying the model your just guiding it around. We recommend dusting off the 500 size model once you can take off and land without drifting,hover at the 4 points of the compass, fly a lazy 8 and gentle circuits with it your be ready for your lama.
@@bladesofthunder9778 Hi thanks for the tips
@@leepering6824 your wlecome. feel free to get in touch via our facebook group if you need any more help
I like,do you install turbines❤??
Centre of gravity importance is a myth. Heli will fly on one blade and a piece of lead on the other blade holder. So long as the moment force is the same. Just use the balancer.
Also have leading edge on the same side. It is very important that blades are precisely in line. This is easy, just press the two leading edges up against a table edge or whatever. No problem if the blades are not exactly perpendicular to balancer axis, so long as they are in line. Out of line, one will effectively have a different moment arm…. Bad. It’s all physics.
ummm....adding the "align" tape to anywhere besides the cg of the blade will change the static balance....so your blades are no longer statically balanced....
hi were do i get the stickers from to balance the blades
they normal come with the blades. You can use electrical tape or aluminium tape
Thart old useless balancer will not balance out the lead or lag between the blades. for that you need a balancer that can balance the cord of the airfoil. last i looked those balancers were about 500 bucks.
Of course it wont lead and lag are caused by the aerodynamic forces acting on the blades during flight and has nothing to do with balance of the blades and varies constantly
@@bladesofthunder9778 Well that is not i was taught threw out my almost 10,000 hours of Rc rotor wing experience.
@@videocruzer well as its a single bolt and no lead lag dampener on the head its impossible to control lead lag on the model. all you have is a rubber dampening ring on some of the heads. The blades will naturally find there happy at various stages of the rotation. unless to build a full or semi articulated rotor. 30 years as a full size aircraft engineer and rc modeller here. but that does not mean we know everything so happy learn please post a video on how you balance for lead an lag
@@bladesofthunder9778 except for the imbalance between the Cords or weight imbalance down the cord line. Only precision guys worry about that balance.
Pretty sure that's clockwise not counter clockwise
My SAB 690 blades have huge root dents and chips, I even superglued a small split of the retreating edge. I also filled in the massive chips with epoxy poorly.
Guess what?. They fly just fine. This is just nonsense.
Centre of gravity importance is a myth. Heli will fly on one blade and a piece of lead on the other blade holder. So long as the moment force is the same. Just use the balancer.
Also have leading edge on the same side. It is very important that blades are precisely in line. This is easy, just press the two leading edges up against a table edge or whatever. No problem if the blades are not exactly perpendicular to balancer axis, so long as they are in line. Out of line, one will effectively have a different moment arm…. Bad. It’s all physics.