# Impeller Balancing



## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

In recent threads, etc, when a mod, etc is done to the impeller, there has been blurbs about balancing the impeller.

I'm KuRious. For all you weekend SB warriors, how do you guys balance your impeller in your make-shift workshop ;-/


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## Grunt (Nov 11, 2013)

Hello Md, I'm curious as well. I believe the consensus was the impeller is always out of balance due to the density and amount of snow each blade is loaded with. 

:smiley-confused013:


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I suppose you could put a small shaft through the center and see if the impeller turns on the shaft so it's heavy spot would be down (like a lawn mower blade). Other than the impeller mod folks saying to try and keep it balanced by doing opposing blades of an impeller I've never come across anyone talking about balancing them or posting a "how to".


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

Grunt said:


> I believe the consensus was the impeller is always out of balance due to the density and amount of snow each blade is loaded with.
> 
> :smiley-confused013:


maybe, but that seems pretty unlikely to me..
because the impeller spins SO fast that any "excess" snow will be flung off, and each impeller blade will end up holding only as much snow/ice as centrifugal force will allow to remain stuck..and in that case, it seems likely all the blades would end up essentially equal. 

and, I dont think that is relevant to the question being asked anyway! 
I think the question is asking about the balancing of a dry impeller that is not spinning while it is being balanced. Similar to balancing a ceiling fan.

Scot


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

There were a couple threads, one of which did the standard rubber-impeller mod, and I believe another actually tack welded in more steel to it. Regardless, I recall at least 2 instances where the poster said, the impeller was balanced. 

Just curious how one would do a balance on such a item.
Is the scientific calibrated eyeball used as the measuring tool on runout ;-/


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

mobiledynamics said:


> There were a couple threads, one of which did the standard rubber-impeller mod, and I believe another actually tack welded in more steel to it. Regardless, I recall at least 2 instances where the poster said, the impeller was balanced.
> 
> Just curious how one would do a balance on such a item.
> Is the scientific calibrated eyeball used as the measuring tool on runout ;-/


I doubt you could dynamically balance one, without some pretty sophisticated equipment, but if you were to put a shaft through it, with a bearing on each end, and set them in a couple of wood blocks with a V cut into them to support it, and move the impeller around to see if there is an obvious heavy side, which will point down. Then attach weights with two sided tape opposite the heavy side, and fiddle with those until the heavy side is balanced out. Then I guess you find a permanent method of attaching the balance weights, like maybe drilling a hole thru the weight and using a small nut and bolt, then grinding off the mass of the nut and bolt from the weight and doing a final tightening. 

I suppose you could also grind a bit off the heavy side of the impeller if you can find some place where you won't weaken it, of change the paddle dimensions. That would also leave you with a non standard impeller with grind marks on it.

Seems like a lot of work either way. If the machine is running and doesn't shake when the impeller is engaged, it's probably reasonably well balanced already. Once you're in the snow, i don't think balancing it would be possible with the various variety of stuff that goes through it.


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

I'm going to have to re-recall my memory of some of these threads and link them here. It was on my radar to post this.....

I recall reading after X and Y was done, there was a statement along the likes of impeller was balanced. This was in at least 3 different threads. I just could do see how one would do it in ones makeship ~garage~


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Check this out, your answer might be there. (MODS, if inappropiate please remove it)

Snow Blower Impeller balance - Page 2 - OrangeTractorTalks - Everything Kubota


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

im no engineer ( but i do pretend to be one when overthinking things here in the dungeon), i can fully see the point of making an impeller that is balanced, but isnt one blade always empty as it ejects snow, and the other 2,3,4 gathering snow from the augers ? to me, in my feeble mind, that makes the impeller always out of balance for a brief moment in time, but many times per second.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

nwcove said:


> im no engineer ( but i do pretend to be one when overthinking things here in the dungeon), i can fully see the point of making an impeller that is balanced, but isnt one blade always empty as it ejects snow, and the other 2,3,4 gathering snow from the augers ? to me, in my feeble mind, that makes the impeller always out of balance for a brief moment in time, but many times per second.


For a proper, detailed analysis of this engineering question, first you have to steal 5 eggs


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

I have one of those magnetic wall mounted mower blade balancers. Similar to This. I once put an impeller on it and it happened to be perfect. I was just playing with it. I was having fun giving it a good whirl and noting how it would continue to spin for what I thought was a long time. Only ever tried the one. It was off a Snapper snowblower.


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## Grunt (Nov 11, 2013)

nwcove said:


> to me, in my feeble mind, that makes the impeller always out of balance for a brief moment in time, but many times per second.


:iagree:
Thank you nw for putting into words what my mind was thinking. I understand what Scot was saying but still believe that the impeller is always out of balance, if even for a few split seconds.


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

To further explain the paradigm with our collective feeble minds  I would also like to surmise this as well that the unbalanced snow, ice, and or stones would not unbalance the impeller as per say since they are not attached to it but pushed for a brief period with different weights so I think it might just affect different torsional events on the shaft itself since we can safely say the torsion on the impeller is same as the shaft as they are a single unit being bolted tight together. The belt would absorb some weight unbalance only to a point. Sorry for the long rambling but today I had my gall bladder removed and they gave me some fine opiate drug to deal with the pain aftershocks :facepalm_zpsdj194qh. Always open to critics or different opinions. Take care all


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

I don't know how to balance an impeller for a snowblower, but judging from the number of owners who have drilled holes in impeller blades and added nuts and bolts and plates and rubber belting to their impellers and not noted any vibrations as a result, then balancing must be irrelevant. An impeller mod appears to be a common practice noted in this forum and there does not appear to be any balance issues detected. 

Any test that involved a static rotational balance for a heavy point on the impeller would show a discrepancy where an impeller kit were fitted to a four bladed impeller but only on 2 of the 4 blades. Yet this approach does not seem to result in any vibrations that could point to a balance issue. This seems relevant to lawn mower blade(s) needing balancing due to vibrations. The vibration is due to small amounts of metal removed from one side of blade more than the other. Tools are available to help resolve this problem, but the difference between a balanced and non balanced blade is very small.

Good luck finding a solution to a problem that may not exist.


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## guilateen02 (Nov 23, 2014)

Here is my theory. An impeller will be somewhat balanced from the manufacturer. With quality of balancing depending on manufacturer. With the impeller shaft being generally around 3/4 of an inch and supports on each end. One being the impeller bearing other being the auger. Any minor imperfection in rotational imbalance will be absorbed through the bearing, shaft and gearcase.Hence a sloppy bearing will cause the imperfection in balance to be felt with vibrations going through the machine. Im guessing very imbalanced impeller will cause you to wear bearings or auger gear at an abnormal rate.


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## Bob Cat (Jul 15, 2014)

Because snow is fairly light the difference in weight of the snow being ejected per vane is relatively small. I'd be more concerned with putting a weight on the vane tip unevenly. Especially at speeds approaching 1000 rpm. But most people do not put many hours on their blowers in a year so any impacting on bearings and worm gear would take a long time to show up. It's just something you wouldn't do to something running 24/7.


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