Prop balancing? Almost never necessary.

[Former Member]

I've bought, sold and repaired a good number of drones, and one consistent thing I have found is that the DJI props are well balanced from the factory. I have also not found a single example of a new prop from DJI that was defective at the prop blade, prop hub, bent prop, or prop that is too loose at the hub. I have honestly been through thousands of them. DJI is really on top of their game when it comes to prop QC going all the way back to the Phantom days.

Getting back to the point of this thread, an experienced owner should almost never have to balance his/her blades, and a newbie should never try it. If a blade becomes unbalanced, it's usually because of a chip, crack, or damaged rivet. In that case a quick visit to any DJI online dealer will remedy that for $10 a pair.

Back in the heli days, yes you had to balance and track the blades, but these days, DJI does the work for you.

I will mention one more thing that has become abundantly clear to me. Using generic props can be a recipe for disaster. Those can arrive out of the box out of balance, loose, wrong pitch and a plethora of other problems that will just ruin your day. I stick with OEM DJI props that were designed for the drone Im flying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Former Member]

Here is a pop quiz... how would you know that one of your props is out of balance????

 

[caspian]

personally, my prop balancer would tell me (but then again I've been balancing props for over 30 years now).

other than that, I would be looking for obvious vibration, noise, poor tracking of the tips, or other signs of the aircraft not operating normally.

 

[sea157]

Here is a pop quiz... how would you know that one of your props is out of balance????

Don't know. What is the answer?

 

[TuT]

Here is a pop quiz... how would you know that one of your props is out of balance????

Jello in the video is a dead givaway

 

[Former Member]

other than that, I would be looking for obvious vibration, noise, poor tracking of the tips, or other signs of the aircraft not operating normally.

Thanks for your answer. Can you describe what noise you would be listening for? Also, how could a new owner tell if the tips arent tracking the same?

 

[Former Member]

Jello in the video is a dead givaway

Are there any other causes for jello? I agree with you, if I saw unwanted vibration in my video, I would change out the props to see if that fixed it.

 

[caspian]

Thanks for your answer. Can you describe what noise you would be listening for? Also, how could a new owner tell if the tips arent tracking the same?

it would be RPM dependent... at hover I would expect something like a loud buzz or resonant hum. at lower RPMs (e.g. CSC start on ground) you might not hear it, although listening carefully while throttling up might help.

for tip tracking you need to get eye height level with the prop, against a background you can see the prop disc against. might need to try a few different angles to get a clear view, diagonal on to the fuselage would be best. look for a very defined prop tip with no signs of vertical blurring or two-line tracking.

all probably unnecessary though, as you say the factory props are excellent out of the box, not worth buying a balancer for. the larger airscrews I started with years ago required quite a bit of correction, modern methods are a lot more consistent. if you damage a prop, toss it on principle, and if you hear non-normal operating noise or any excess vibration, remember the props and motor bell are the only bits moving.

 

[4wd]

With the early phantoms it was worth doing and would often improve video jello problems.
When 'we' first started sticking small cameras under a quadcopter, gimbals were practically unheard of.

 

[Vegasdad]

I've bought, sold and repaired a good number of drones, and one consistent thing I have found is that the DJI props are well balanced from the factory. I have also not found a single example of a new prop from DJI that was defective at the prop blade, prop hub, bent prop, or prop that is too loose at the hub. I have honestly been through thousands of them. DJI is really on top of their game when it comes to prop QC going all the way back to the Phantom days.

Getting back to the point of this thread, an experienced owner should almost never have to balance his/her blades, and a newbie should never try it. If a blade becomes unbalanced, it's usually because of a chip, crack, or damaged rivet. In that case a quick visit to any DJI online dealer will remedy that for $10 a pair.

Back in the heli days, yes you had to balance and track the blades, but these days, DJI does the work for you.

I will mention one more thing that has become abundantly clear to me. Using generic props can be a recipe for disaster. Those can arrive out of the box out of balance, loose, wrong pitch and a plethora of other problems that will just ruin your day. I stick with OEM DJI props that were designed for the drone Im flying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I always enjoy your posts you make us thinks. It’s not just click bait filled with fluff. Have a great weekend sir!!!!