OK - to clear up a few things. For those that come from collective pitch helicopters they will already know the importance of blade balancing (or at least checking blade balance and tracking to keep the integrity of the hub and swash plate and stop vibration in the main shaft).
For any rotary aircraft it is vital that the thing that gives you your lift (blades) have as little vibration as possible.
Vibration is the enemy of any aircraft but especially important with rotary aircraft. Vibration will put undue wear on the motors, bearings, shafts, thrust washers, mounting points and ultimately can transmit through the airframe and cause stress cracks or for AP cause vibration to the camera and mount and manifest itself in footage recorded.
Vibration is also wasted energy and by balancing the blades you are attempting to minimise as much vibration as possible and make the whole propulsion system as efficient as it can be.
There are two types of blade balance:
Dynamic and Static.
Dynamic balance - ensures that both blades COG are at the same point on each blade - since the Inspire blades are monoconstruction we are unable to balance them dynamically. (We hope the manufacturer has got that bit right!)
Static balance - this is where the weight of each blade is matched against the other. This one we can do for the Inspire and what the various blade balances can be used for.
It should be noted that even a very very small static imbalance will be greatly magnified at high rpm and the best analogy would be on your own car.
When you have your wheels balanced you will see that it is only a very small weight of a few grams or ounces that is added to a wheel but if they do not have that perfect match and you drive at 60mph plus you can certainly feel the vibration through the entire driveshaft and steering rack, right through to the steering wheel.
Left unchecked, that would put premature wear on your steering, drive joints and other components. It's easy to detect on your car but we have no direct feedback like a steering wheel on an RC aircraft so we have to make sure they are balanced using the tools we have available.
Balance those props guys or at least check them from new and every so often........
Hope that helps
