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At 10:54 2005-05-15, you wrote:
Web are using
ACES products which a re considered half the price of a Chadwick. We use
a 2020Turbo for the helicopters and it costs around $12.000.- with all
the software for the helicopters.
Thanks Thomas,
I already have an email into ACES
about the 2015, and 4040. I figured they'd be outa sight.
I also found a place called Dynamic
Solutions Systems that has a kit that is hopefully more affordable. The
original link I found was from an EAA chapter that bought one for their
members. I know our EAA chapter can't afford anything close to
$10k, so maybe this one is far cheaper.
BTW, balancing a single rotor eshaft
and gyro blades would be extra reasons to own a nice tool.
Cheers,
Rusty (dreaming, but I have to ask)
That was probably EAA Ch 105 here in Portland, OR. Four of us were
trained up by the DSS factory guy back in November using the DSS Micro
unit. It's a basic unit (forget the model) but all we are going to
use it on is an airplane. I forget exactly what we paid for it but
it was about $5600. This chapter has upwards of 100 active members
and half of them are building RVs.
If you're serious about the investment I can get the details for
you. A person could make it back balancing experimentals. Our
rules are that the owner is responsible for adding any weights, we just
tell them where to put it. Any certified bird has to come with it's
own A&P to do the wrenching and make the log entries. (Our
chapter president is a lawyer and Das Fed is a member of the
chapter. We (ahem) know the rules rather well.)
So far we have balanced a couple of dozen planes and it's making a lot of
difference here on the local fleet. The challenges are as you have
discovered, gear reductions, getting a good trigger signal, and realizing
that you can't get a good reading because a plane has a bad engine mount
or some such thing. These computer based units are great because
you can even show bad cylinders, frozen harmonic balance weights and
similar problems by looking at the spectrum. On a gear reduction
unit like ours you can look at the spectrum and see the prop side vibes
as well as the engine side vibes. I suspect on a rotary, with some
practice, you would be able to see a bad apex seal. Not to mention
on a rotary you will have a spectrum on the shaft side (6000 rpm) and the
rotor side (2000 rpm). If you put the transducer on the accessory
end you can see the vibes from your alternator and water pump (adjusted
for pulley ratio).
My current struggle is with a guy's Thunder Gull sporting a Hirth 2
banger and a 2.53 gear. Spent an afternoon with him only to
discover a broken motor mount...(grrrrr..). Since I'm the
alternative engine guy in the group I get to deal with all the
"Renaissance Men". The Lycomings are a 20 minute job once
the cowling is off -- too easy.
Mike McGee, RV-4 N996RV, O320-E2G, Hillsboro, OR
13B in gestation mode, RD-1C, EC-2
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