Blade balancing certainly is a fundamental part of flying helicopters, but it can also be one of the more frustrating and tedious tasks involved in setting up a helicopter. A typical instrument for balancing blades is a simple seesaw type of device, where the helicopter blades are fastened onto opposite ends of the seesaw and then the angle of the seesaw and blades can be directly observed. The seesaw portion of the blade balancer typically rides on bearings so as to minimize errors due to friction. Blades that are very well balanced should sit nearly horizontal, perpendicular to the direction of gravity. When the angle of the blades and seesaw is not horizontal, the blades are out of balance and will cause vibrations during flight. Typically, an appropriately sized piece of clear tape is applied to the center of gravity of the lighter blade to bring the two blades into balance.

Ideally, the base of the blade balancer should be placed on a flat, horizontal surface so that the angle of the blades and seesaw can be compared to that of the surface. One difficulty that I continually encounter is that there is not even one truly horizontal surface in my home. This causes blades to appear unbalanced even when they are actually balanced. Of course, this can be overcome by taking careful note of the angle of the surface, but it is not the easiest approach. Another difficulty is that it can be difficult to discern small angles. For example, a difference in 0.05g on 450-...Continue Reading