Dynamic Prop Balancing: how often to do it?

How often should your prop be dynamically balanced?  There are differing opinions on this subject, and we wanted to weigh-in with ours.

Almost everyone in the flying community agrees that where balancing is concerned, once is not enough.  You should not assume that once a prop is in balance, it stays in balance.  There are simply too many ways a propeller can achieve an imbalance.  Here are some conditions under which you should dynamically balance your prop:

•     If your prop has only been statically balanced.
•     At each annual or 100-hour time-in-service inspection.
•     If the prop has developed a nick since the last balance, even if you’ve filled it in with JB Weld.
•     Anytime the prop is removed and reinstalled.
•     Anytime the spinner is removed, and then not replaced exactly as removed.
•     Every time you re-torque your prop bolts.

Anytime any of the conditions listed above occur, the balance of your prop can change and dynamically checking the balance is advised.

Wood propellers require special attention because of variations in humidity.  Typically, wood props should be retorqued and rebalanced every 25 hours, or anytime the aircraft experiences a shift in ambient humidity.

For more information on why to balance your prop, or on how to do it, enter your email address below to be contacted by a member of the DynaVibe team.    The DynaVibe GX2 is a second-generation prop balancer with full-spectrum vibration analysis capability available for purchase online.  The GX2 “learns” as you balance, making balancing quick and easy by telling you precisely how much weight to add and where to add it.  It will balance your propeller with a minimum number of runups!