Beginners: Balance you motor!

Balancing your electric motor before flying it for the first time makes a massive difference to limiting vibrations and will help to prevent screws and joints loosening, and your plane shaking apart, not to mention increasing the lifespan of your motor.

I read how to do this on some other website or YouTube video, but thought it would be very useful to have here as I hadn't seen it done this way on any FliteTest article. The FliteTest team did this with a laser...bit fancier than this but this way works very well.

Here's how to quickly and easily balance your motor:

1. Screw your motor to a piece of wood (note to girlfriend: No, I did not screw into the dining room table) or turn your Power Pod (if you have one) upside down so that the firewall is in direct contact with the hard surface (a hardwood table in this case). This is important; it's how the vibrations will be transferred to your smartphone...
2. Get a seizmograph app (measures vibrations) for your smartphone and set it running on the hard surface next to your motor. I used a free Android one called Seisomograph because it has a digital readout and records the maximum vibration value.
3. Put a zip-tie around the bell of your motor (remove the propeller first, you'll balance that seperately)
   

   

   Notice that it's not super-tight; you need to be able to rotate it, and take it off at the end.
   Note that the zip tie will introduce an offset weight difference due to the extra 'knob' where the zip tie clamp is located; this is the secret.
4. If you're using your Power Pod put some weight on top of it to keep it from moving
5. Run your motor up to speed and note the maximum vibration value.
6. Stop the motor and rotate the zip tie a quarter of a turn and repeat the vibration measurement.
7. Repeat until you have all 4 readings. 
8. Note the lowest reading and the position on the bell where the 'knob' of the zip tie was located for that reading, this is where you need to add tape to balance the motor, just like I did:
   

   

9. After adding this small piece of electrical tape, I tested again. The vibrations didn't even register on the seismograph app! I didn't have to adjust or add any more tape. I'll be honest, I was amazed it made this much difference! When I held the Power Pod in my hand and ran up the motor I was shocked at the before and after difference to vibration.

10. If you wanted to you could do the same 4-position test again, perhaps at a 45 degree offset (an 8th of a turn) to the previous start position to get the balance even more accurate.

11. And that's it, easy peasy!

Enjoy.

Tim.