why are paying for out of balance blades

[kingchopper]

i do a lot of balancing jobs on all makes of helicopter blades, from 325mm to 710mm blades, radix, v-blades, and SAB. yet all of them are out of balance in both the chord and span.

the three types mentioned above are by far the worst types of blades i have balanced.

i balance all of trev burleys blades and even i can see an improvement after balancing.

so what are we paying for, if we have to correctly balance the blades these supposedly bolt on and forget blades.

SAB blades normally require a gram or two of lead to bring the chord wise back into balance

by the way, NHP razor blades over the last few years have been perfectly balanced.

i get a bit cheesed of at paying £80 for a set blades that i have to spend two hours balancing

[mark lane]

Very.... Very fair point!

Someone should put this directly to the suppliers as i would assume that my radix or V's were spot on at the price!

[nightstalker]

I agree with you on this, i have always used NHP razors and they have all been spot on. but not to long ago i thought i would get some manic blades as i was told by many people these was miles better than NHPs. well lets say it took me ages to get them balanced and i was not impressed with them and missed my bolt on and fly NHPs.

Il stick with me NHPs love them

[jimheli]

yes i have to agree, i have found align blades to be close only needing slight bit of tape , & i mean the £9 type . Got a set of torsion 325 thay where miles out & the finish was poor ill not buy them again ,me ages to get them right

[trvo]

Yep, thanks Andy for balancing all my blades for me, I had a set of Radix 600 SB's on there a few days back and my heli was literally shaking by over an inch amplitude. Instantly went when Andy balanced them for me... My V TST's seemed to be spot on however as did my Align 600D blades.

Trev

[barney]

Whilst I've flown NHP's for many years there 600mm offerings are lacking. The same goes for there 50 class tails which lack the grip of the slimmer airfoil offerings like the Radix etc

They really need to update there range as in the past the quality/balance has been super and they do fly very well, but things have moved on and flyers are now looking for a more aggressive but stable flying blade.

They produced the best blades on the market for many years and IMHO the nicest was the 680 Curtis FAI blade.

The cam system on the newer big blades whilst I admire the reasoning behind it, is just to much of a pain in the A$$ and demand is for a fit and fly blade out of the box.

The current NHP 600 blades use a narrow chord design and whilst being a really good general/sports flying blade they do lack bite for agressive 3D and are a little flexi compared to the Maniacs etc.

Something else to be aware of is the blade weights within the blade are not secured by a security wire like in MAH/Radix so there is a possibility of it explodicating on contact to terra firma or in a boom strike etc...twice I have had this happen to me over the years...

Would be nice to see them back at the top...

Brian

[simm0]

blades

i agree.when ive tried the balance on blades i found nhp's to be good.we use ht (helitec)blades..me and stefan and ive tried the balance on loads of these blades and ive never had to balance them once..nothing more annoying than to having to balance a new set of blades..crap
it was mentioned to me to try radix of v's or maniacs .but the other day we compared the finish of bbt to ht's down the field and the ht's blew them away in quality of finish..they are 49.99 so sounds good value in my book
i think we are been made fools of playing follow the leader

[kingchopper]

i tried my first set of maniac blades today, way of of balance, however both blades had the same centre of gravity but one was a lot lighter than the other.
3 and a half turns of 15mm wide tape and it was all perfectly balanced again.

[Aidi]

Like a lot of things these days, they come sub standard because we the buyer do not voice our concerns enough, and make do with doing the fix ourself. Its no excuse for the the manufacturer, but they know we will continue to buy regardless.

Rgds
Aidi

[cambs flyer]

I can't add any experience here, but I use Align's £9 325's and they control my 450 very nicely.

I'm sure the balance thing really comes out when doing the 3D stuff, but if a set of blades were badly out of balance would if effect someone like me much who's just starting out?

[Ade_Law]

all my models are smooth, blades out the box and fly. Over the years i have flown NHP, MAH, Vs, Radix and "silvers"

never had to balance any of them.

Ade

[Boggy]

i tried my first set of maniac blades today, way of of balance, however both blades had the same centre of gravity but one was a lot lighter than the other.
3 and a half turns of 15mm wide tape and it was all perfectly balanced again.

Like a lot of things these days, they come sub standard because we the buyer do not voice our concerns enough, and make do with doing the fix ourself. Its no excuse for the the manufacturer, but they know we will continue to buy regardless.

Rgds
Aidi

i agree with aidi here why would you accept this?? three and a half turns of tape is ridiculous!!! these blades cost you £60 plus !! the woodys on my raptor cost £14.99 and balance with the sticker supplied,and it practicly hovers hands off .
dont whinge on the forum send em back and harass your dealer!!!

[helihead]

althought this is an old thread now i have to say i have had 3 sets of radix 600,blade recently(not stick bangers)and have been very impressed bothe in c,g and dynamicly.also thet give a supurb allround performance.as you mwould expect for the curtis camp..

[machasm]

Never had to balance any of my Radix blades.
All other blades have only required a small amount of tape if at all.
I have never heard of 3 1/2 turns of tape unless you are using blades from different boxes.

[Mojogoes]

i do a lot of balancing jobs on all makes of helicopter blades, from 325mm to 710mm blades, radix, v-blades, and SAB. yet all of them are out of balance in both the chord and span.

the three types mentioned above are by far the worst types of blades i have balanced.

i balance all of trev burleys blades and even i can see an improvement after balancing.

so what are we paying for, if we have to correctly balance the blades these supposedly bolt on and forget blades.

SAB blades normally require a gram or two of lead to bring the chord wise back into balance

by the way, NHP razor blades over the last few years have been perfectly balanced.

i get a bit cheesed of at paying £80 for a set blades that i have to spend two hours balancing

I think basicly because they can get away with it , as us mugs don't comunitively shout out loud enough.........your lucky if the retailer changes them for ya and what are they changing them with!! some more un-balanced blades if they have nothing better which is mostly the case........LMS don't seem to be selling NHP's which when i last flow were all the rage and great blades as they still are...........the only reason for this is that i can think of is they would rather sell the 325 carbon blades that come with the storm/b400 as i bet they get them at half the price they do as say a NHP equivelent!............have you seen the ripples in those storm blades......i think this is how they finish them off

P.S i've just invested in some SAB blades but after what has been said in this thread well!