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what are people thoughts on putting wet newspaper in a home modified propshaft to balance it. Assuming the welding is good.
I just had a conversation with a guy who runs a pro street Camero with 600HP and he say he has done this for 20 years without a problem and never paid
for a balance job on a propshaft
It's probably better than nothing?!??!
I know my propshaft is NOT Balanced
Steve
quote:
Originally posted by worX
It's probably better than nothing?!??!
I know my propshaft is NOT Balanced
Steve
What happens when it drys out? 
Jason
Plain brown wrapping paper is better, I mean, how the hell are you gonna be able to read it at that speed?!?!! 
but seriously, how is the meant to work? propshafts may be hollow but the ends are sealed so how do you get paraper inside it?
put it in before you weld it up!
well i asked him about drying out and he said that as it is seald inside the shaft, it will never dry out. He said he cut one up after 3 years and it
was as wet as when he put it in there
[Edited on 6/2/08 by liam.mccaffrey]
I dont know about you but the thought of putting an oxidising agent in an unbalanced propshaft that spins that close to my nutsack is not a wise
plan!
so how is this damp newspapar supposed to balance the shaft?
I think the tradditional jubilee clip method is a safer bet.
I agree, oxidising compound inside propshaft, not good
what else could you soak the paper in that would protect the inside of the prop.
first thought was diesel, but welding a steel tube full of hydrocarbon vapour is like a recipe for death.
how much does it cost to have a propshaft balanced professionally?
Just a thought....!
BT is there a method for the jubilee clip or is it a suck it and see whats best deal?
This might be Locostbuilders but there are certain areas i wouldnt skimp on - and balancing a propshaft is one of those.
How on earth are you supposed to balance a propshaft by putting newspaper inside it before welding it up?? Funniest idea i've heard in ages so
i'd love to know how it works. For starters simply welding it will add an imbalance surely unless its got perfectly uniform welds and the ends
are perfectly central (and in balance!!)
I'll stick with a professionally made prop myself with a TRT fitted and pay the financial cost, not the safety cost if it goes wrong.
i am by no means championing this as a solution, just a discussion point but i think the idea is that the shft imbalance will 'migrate' the
wet newspaper to where it needed to bring the shaft into balance.
come to think of it i seem to recall a product which was specifically for this,a kind of gel or cream which you could put inside rotating objects and
would balance them????
[Edited on 6/2/08 by liam.mccaffrey]
I think putting some sort of fluid inside an unbalanced rotating tube will only make it more unbalanced.
I guess you could work out an experiment using an electric drill to prove it one way or the other.
I once tried the green goo that you put in tyres to stop punctures. I was so fed up with punctures on my BMX I thought I'd givie it a try. It
was crap at stopping punctures and worse than that it used to collect at the bottom of the tyre when the bike was left stationary. This produced a
noticeable imbalance when you first set off again until it spread itself out more evenly.
I'm not convinced about wet newspaper in a proshaft myself.
quote:
Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
i am by no means championing this as a solution, just a discussion point but i think the idea is that the shft imbalance will 'migrate' the wet newspaper to where it needed to bring the shaft into balance.
come to think of it i seem to recall a product which was specifically for this,a kind of gel or cream which you could put inside rotating objects and would balance them????
bit strongly worded ain't it! is that directed at me?
I've never heard of this method and can't see how it works. The washing in the machine at the moment is making a hell of a job of unbalancing itself and must work on the same principle.
The reason I posted this was because i was suprised, i asked the guy with the Camero where he got his propshaft done and he went on to explain the newspaper deal
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
I dont know about you but the thought of putting an oxidising agent in an unbalanced propshaft...
go to www.vibrationfree.co.uk Steve Smith the proprietor is a personal friend of mine and incredibly knowledgeable on all propshaft and balance
matters. He does work for some of the biggest names in the motoring manufacture.
Regards
Bob
I have worked in the prop industry and have never heard the one about putting in wet newspaper to balance it. A lot of truck shafts have a cardboard
tube inside the tube but this has nothing to do with balance.
My engineering knowledge can not see how the wet newspaper car balance it. The washing machine is a good example!
I would pay to have a prop built and balanced everytime unless you really know what you are doing.
If you insist on trying to balance your own shaft then you need a "clock" to find the low spot then experiment with the amount of weight. I
have balanced hundreds of shafts so could take a guess at the amount required.
However I still would never try to do it myself.
quote:
Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
The reason I posted this was because i was suprised, i asked the guy with the Camero where he got his propshaft done and he went on to explain the newspaper deal
erm !!!!!
there is somethimg in this theory that is right, cant get a grip on why/how it works ,but when we get a wheel wobble on one of our trucks the tyre
fitter will split the bead from the rim and pop a weighted bag inside and reinflate the tyre the wobble usually goes away i will ask him next time hes
in,it does work honestly
it must be the same princile
cheers
les g
You can buy some king of inert goo to go in motorcycle tyres to prevent punctures and self balance the tyres - or at least thats what it says on the
tin.
I am guessing thats how the wet newspaper idea was born
Having seen some of the damage caused by out of balance props I would say it's cheaper to get them done properly as well as safer!
Will you necessarily know if your prop is out of balance through feeling vibration.
I modified my own prop and gave it a whirl. So far absolutely no vibration that I can tell.
Is this luck or is the imbalance something that might not show?
well I must still stand in the front of the queue of disbelievers.
ok so we put in a weighted bag in a tyre.
Due to gravity it falls to the lowest point of the tyre. The wheel starts to turn as the lorry pulls away so bag will rise then drop, much like your
clothing in the tumble drier.
At some point the tyre is turning fast enough so that centrifugal force holds the bag against the tyre.
I cannot see how the bag can mysteriously locate itself to lie opposite the heaviest side of the tyre although it has a 50% change of being on the
opposite half of the tyre that is the heaviest.
With the motrocycle goo. This stuff is liquid (to begin with at least) so one would imagine it spreads itelf more or less evenly on the inside of the
tyre.
Adding this additional mass to the tyre will reduce the ratio between the heaviest spot and its opposite side so that may improve the balancing so
some extent.
This is a good one for Mythbusters - anyone have their address?
[Edited on 8/2/08 by 02GF74]
.... so I thought I'd ask the question to those that manufacture propshafts/ repsonses as below.
quote:
I must admit that this is a new one to me !
i have heard of the propshaft been filled with oil to balance it & several other theories, non of which work very well.
the only way to balance a propshaft is to have it done properly on a dynamic balancer, which we can do.
the cost to balance a propshaft depends on what it is from.
quote:
think you are right it is an urban myth. we have been manufacturing propshafts for 31 years and not seen or heard of this.
If they have the capability to weld a shaft it would be just as easy to weld weights on the tube to overcome imbalance.
The wet paper would eventually dry. If they believe the rotation of the shaft will cause the wet paper to slide to the imbalance point this would be highly improbable.
quote:
You are correct not to believe it!
Some shafts are filled with cardboard to stop sound resonance/pinging of drivelines but it is not used for balancing.
The only way to balance a propshaft is by adding or removing weight on a dynamic balancing machine.
oohh! mythbusters my favourite show!