We need more modern stuff (exp)

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
Here is something I heard one exp owner say he has on his prop/crank (I'm not sure where he has it) to keep his rotating mass balanced.
Sounds cool, although I'm sure weaknesses will be detected by the crowd.
http://www.balancemasters.com/how-it-works.html

How about real time monitoring of tire pressures? Someone hack these so that they will give you a readout even when the tire is not moving. (right now, you'd never know if your tire went flat in the air) Also, how about sending a message to your phone or having an app so they can be monitored at home (or in your hotel)?
 
Like my old instructor-mentor told me. Before you put something in your plane? Hold it in your hand and toss it into the air. If it comes back down? You don't want it in your plane.
 
Those tire pressure thingies are so routine in cars now I wouldn't think there would be a problem. Maybe they wouldn't stand up to the stress of accelerating from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye. Maybe the avionics in the plane might interfere with the 'signal.'
 
They've gotten mixed reviews on their prop balancers. I have given a lot of thought to getting a Landoll Ring for my RV since she's a little tail heavy. (No jokes) I'm also pretty close to adding 10-15 pounds of scuba weights strapped around the engine mount to assist that.

This thing is tire balancing. I'd probably send my tires to www.AntiSplatAero.com for their bearing modification before I fooled with this.
 
luvflyin said:
Those tire pressure thingies are so routine in cars now I wouldn't think there would be a problem.
Click to expand...
Yabut they shut off when not moving. So after takeoff, you'd not find out about a flat til it started veering off the runway - same with warning you about it before a flight; you wouldn't know til you got to the airport.
Need to modify them to work when not moving, and to notify you from the airport - to be of any use.
 
The thought of liquid Mercury (i.e. quicksilver) sloshing around in my prop gives me the heebie jeebies. You could give yourself one hell of a disease if the damn thing works. And good luck cleaning it up if it leaks while the prop is spinning, flinging Mercury everywhere. Sounds like the King of bad ideas.
 
How do balancers work anyway? If the RM rotating mass is out of balance, isn't there a force directed toward the heavy side of the rm (or would it be really be x degrees behind the location of the imbalance)?
So with a liquid mercury-based 'counter balance' attached to the rm, why wouldn't it add to the imbalance?
 
Liquid mercury is not highly toxic, from a one-time exposure - mostly it has to be eaten, or the gas inhaled. But to have it at the tip of any motor vehicle does seem egregiously risky to the environment.
"that modification needs Superfund insurance coverage"
 
Stewartb said:
Like my old instructor-mentor told me. Before you put something in your plane? Hold it in your hand and toss it into the air. If it comes back down? You don't want it in your plane.
Click to expand...


Hmm. I bet if I tossed my magnetos in the air, they would come back down. Not sure that logic works.
 
Years ago my Dad had a fleet of long haul trucks. We tried a similar device that clamped on to the outside of the wheel rim that was supposed to eliminate the need to balance the front wheels. Did. not. work.
 
Mercury freezes at -38.8C. Yes, that's damn cold, but I wonder how the viscosity changes above that. You alaska guys might end up trying to spin a lump of mercury around...
 
wtf.

"Life's hard. It's even harder if you're stupid." -- John Wayne
 
The used to use mercury in cars for things like switches for the trunk lights. Also used to go into silent household light switches.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Here is something I heard one exp owner say he has on his prop/crank (I'm not sure where he has it) to keep his rotating mass balanced.
Sounds cool, although I'm sure weaknesses will be detected by the crowd.
http://www.balancemasters.com/how-it-works.html
Click to expand...

That sounds a lot more like a device to address torsional vibration by damping firing pulses. I don't see how it is gonna balance anything. I'm also pretty sure the explanation on the website of how it could help braking action is bad science...
 
Sensing pressure in a tire is easy until you put a tube in it. Then your options for sensors gets a lot smaller. I thought about playing with a force sensor between the tube and the tire to read pressure indirectly. Haven't had time to play with it yet

Bob
 
If Garmin was smart, they'd adapt these valve stem cap TPMS units to work with the G-whatever avionics.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/131744
sc-03-lg.jpg
 
Haven't seen those. Interesting, the problem is garmin is so closed source you would never get the interface code from them to adapt it to anything but garmin.

Bob
 
The problem with metallic mercury on a plane is not so much the toxicity. It's certainly toxic, but the exposure from this device would be minimal, even with a leak.

The problem is that mercury eats aluminum. Which, last I checked, is what all our aircraft engines and most of the structures are made from. So, a leak would basically total the aircraft.
 
luvflyin said:
...Maybe they wouldn't stand up to the stress of accelerating from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye... '
Click to expand...
You can get them for motorcycles...I don't think rapid acceleration will be an issue!
 
arnoha said:
The problem with metallic mercury on a plane is not so much the toxicity. It's certainly toxic, but the exposure from this device would be minimal, even with a leak.
Click to expand...

I agree. However I feel the EPA & states would not like the idea of liquid mercury blasted all over the ground at every airplane crash site even, if the chance of anyone getting Mad Hatter's or there being serious environmental contamination was small.
 
Flying_Nun said:
If Garmin was smart, they'd adapt these valve stem cap TPMS units to work with the G-whatever avionics.
Click to expand...

Well, there you go - it has been done and it has none of the problems I noted above with the auto type. Thanks!
 
Doug F said:
You can get them for motorcycles...I don't think rapid acceleration will be an issue!
Click to expand...

While motorcycles are very quick-especially some of the absurdly powerful ones today-they don't really compare with accelerating a tire from 0 to landing touchdown speed.
 
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