IVO Prop

[Ou Man]

How do I balance and track a 3 blade IVO?

[John H Arnold]

Baie Versigtig

[Tailspin]

Baie Versigtig

OK

That did not take long to go Pear shapped

[Dunesand]

I have done this with GREAT success. Depending on how different the blades are, it can be balanced with weights around the hub bolts but only by a prop shop technician and his specialsed timing light tools etc.. This is usually for very fine end tuning.
But I had contact with the IVO guys and they explained it as follows(and it worked VERY WELL for me):

Dismantle the prop remembering how many cam plates front and back of the hub. Also remove the cam nuts and plates.
Get 2 scales that can measure in milligrams if possible and place them flat and horisontal on a table.
Put 2 pencils on each scale and position the scales apart so that the blade's very edges just-just catch and lie on the pencils. Zero the scales without the blade on it.
Now position the 1st blade and record the weight on each scale.
Do this for then other 2 blades as well but try to keep the exact position of the blades onto the scales as similar as possible.
Now, get some electrical copper wire - household electrical wire stripped from the plastic is fine.
The thinner and longer piece you can use, the better will the overall weight distribution be but you'll have to trail and error.
Insert a length longer than the length of the blade, into the cam shaft of the blade - it is hollow. Feel and mark the wire where it no longer goes into the blade and mark on the outside of the blade where that wire's tip would have ended almost at the tip of the blade.
Lay that lenth of the wire(stripped) onto any blade(the lightest one) starting at the marked end and lenghten or shorten the wire see how close you can get to the heaviest of the measured blades.
If need be, take longer piece of wire, or heavier guage if need be.
Carry on like this and using sellotape, stick and move, lenghten or shorten the wire until you get the three blades as close as possible to similar weight.
When you have identified are sussed out the different lenghts of wire for each blade, you simply insert it in the cam, make sure nothing sticks out and there is space for the the bolt to go back in and I promise you your blades with be as close as you could possibly get them.

With regard to tracking, well Ivo blades are very flexible and tracking is very difficult to set with them(actually impossible) due to their constant flexing while operating.

I hope this helps.

[Dunesand]

But let me add on the tracking issue that with a measuring tool you would be able to set the pitch of all blades the same but will have to work with the little cam plates that bolt onto the cam shaft by either taking some material away(filing etc) or adding some onto(welding perhaps). But it can be done if you have enough time.

[Ou Man]

Thanx Dunesand.
Will get my friend, Mr John H Arnold to assist me while we do it "baie versigtig"