Like this but imagine the props are the p51 attached to the hub/ plate. Instead of grinding like he did o the heavy side (which is the prop that stops at the bottom) ad tape to the back of the plate on the underside of the middle horizontal rims on the light side (top portion of prop assembly). Keep adding until the prop spins freely without the same prop landing on the bottom. I use this exact prop balancer.

HOW TO/DIY: Balancing a 4 Blade Prop on Du•Bro Balancer (9 min 14 sec)

Sweet, thanks!

Edited above post:

Added

Make sure the tape (clay, ca, glue, etc...) is added to the light side of the prop hub assembly which is opposite of the heavy prop on bottom.

Originally Posted by Aros

How exactly are you guys balancing these props? Good save, btw!

Hot Glue works for me - applied inside spinner hub. DuBro balancer.

I risked that sort of sequence on a smaller plane once..... "What is that buzzing?". It was fairly loud - but sort of sounded good, LOL. It gave the plane some more sound/atmosphere realism.
I landed a short while later (not because of the noise) and the whole motor mount was quite loose!

The main thing I learnt from that decision/risk to fly on is.... "LAND IMMEDIATELY you ever hear anything at all amiss!!". Things can turn to crap quite fast! (Then one day had a crash on a battery failure, as even immediate action couldn't save the day due to the situation of where it was as that unfolded).

It is a very similar lesson to "Don't do mad antics at low levels", hehe. Because whilst they can be fun, sooner or later something will occur to ruin that fun... and repairing a badly damaged plane is painful and takes a lot of time!! A lot more time than the "fun" you had, HEHE.

Or if you don't mind doing repairs... versus the risk factor of causing that need.... have fun!!! LOL (I still do on certain planes I chose to take that risk/reward ratio on - but not BIG and expensive aircraft! Well, not too often on those anyway.....).

I would not be grinding off parts of a blade!! Near the hub or not... let alone that near the hub is fairly useless, as it is so close to the point of pivot!! And change in a surface, from smooth to....??? 'dented', slotted, 'holed' etc etc adds a point of weakness. Umm, "Weaker-ness"...LOL. Weaker than it was in its pure form.

V8's mentioned ways of tape, paint, ca.... out on the blade.... is far more technically sound.

I think the paint idea is the best, as far as the least alteration of the blade and airflow. Though I use a band of tape myself - making sure the ends are 'downstream airflow' so they will never lift off themselves over time!

You also can't do anything that alters the blade area out in it working airflow areas. eg sand or trim back/off any! That would cause an 'aerodynamic imbalance' only seen when the prop is in use.

Ya, I never alter the props in any way. Unless its a nose over and it gets scraped then i just rebalance my whole prop assembly, I've musta balanced mine a handful of times do to scraped prop blades. I only add weight to plastic backplate, although the spinner is also an option also.

Originally Posted by PeterVRC

I would not be grinding off parts of a blade!! Near the hub or not... let alone that near the hub is fairly useless, as it is so close to the point of pivot!! And change in a surface, from smooth to....??? 'dented', slotted, 'holed' etc etc adds a point of weakness. Umm, "Weaker-ness"...LOL. Weaker than it was in its pure form.

V8's mentioned ways of tape, paint, ca.... out on the blade.... is far more technically sound.

I couldn't agree more. The integrity of the prop has to remain. That means no chipping away by any means. The other methods mentioned are far safer and more practical, IMO.

Originally Posted by Aaron Wallace

I hope that it was just the prop out of balance because that is an easy fix. Did the firewall have sufficient adhesive with the fuselage? One of my landing gear mounting wells was not even glued in at all! Good save!

Aaron

Thanks to all for the comments and the advice. The perimeter of the firewall is actually still cemented to the inside of the fuse. The inner firewall (the square part with the screws) separated and pulled away with the motor.

Originally Posted by jlkitz

Thanks to all for the comments and the advice. The perimeter of the firewall is actually still cemented to the inside of the fuse. The inner firewall (the square part with the screws) separated and pulled away with the motor.

Hey guys - I seriously doubt that an out of balance prop caused this. Sure after one of the blades flew off but not just an out of balance prop. This looks much like the early prop hub issue on the new 1700MM FMS Corsair but less dramatic and with less damage. No? Personally, I think this hub design with screw on props is a very bad accident waiting to happen. One thing I learned on my new FMS Pitts (same prop design) is that you can not and I mean CAN NOT get any Loctite on the plastic hub assembly. Mine literally disintegrated into many pieces within a few hours of minor exposure to blue Loctite...Wish I had kept pictures...Learned my lesson the hard way. FMS redesigned the prop hub on the new 1700MM Corsair because of in flight prop hub explosion...Thoughts? Check out the video on the Corsair thread of the plane exploding in mid air due to prop failure..

Originally Posted by Letsmakeadeal

FMS redesigned the prop hub on the new 1700MM Corsair because of in flight prop hub explosion...Thoughts? Check out the video on the Corsair thread of the plane exploding in mid air due to prop failure..

I may know a little something about that.

Originally Posted by Aros

I may know a little something about that.

I still feel your pain AROS...I think FMS needs to rethink this whole prop blade assembly approach before someone really gets hurt...Wish this forum would make a bigger issue of this so FMS would address the problem on their whole line of planes...I hate to Imagine what damage a blade flying off in close proximity at 200+mph would do to body parts..Anyone else worry about this?

Originally Posted by Aros

I may know a little something about that.

You should post your video on this thread of your Corsair blowing up...I bet many of our friends here are unaware of it..

Here is short video test of my B version Mustang and it's newly added Benedini system with only 2x 3 inch speakers

FMS P 51B modified outside test of Benedini Sound mod (3 min 3 sec)

Is there any place to get parts for the FMS Pitts biplane? Today I was flying her for the 5 th time and all of a sudden it made a loud noise and I noticed two of the prop blades broke off and yes I do balance my props. Well this caused the motor to wobble and break the plastic motor mount. She landed ok but hit a small tree in yard on my emergency landing and broke the elevator. This really suck because I really liked that plane. Anyone think BH will replace? So if there are no parts is this a 260 dollar piece of foam on wheels?