#11 Do I need to "Balance" my spinner?

The most direct answer we can give you is "NO".  We make Tru-Turn Spinners as precision as possible when we are manufacturing them and this brings the balance into a tolerance that exceeds anything you will need.

This is, by far, the most complicated of all of the questions we have to deal with and the Technical Answer that follows is very Longwinded, but makes for some great reading.  Remember, you asked for it!

It is only natural to want everything balanced and running smooth but knowing when, where and how to balance is vary important.  I have found that if you use a Magnetic Balancing Stand like the ones offered today, you will "SEE" more than you need to see, and it will tend to make you want to do a lot of things that you don't need to do!  Even a real good bearing type balancer will show some error because nothing is "Perfectly Balanced".  Is any of this making any sense?

Anyway, what I am getting at is that a Tru-Turn spinner is like anything else, it is not "Perfect", but it is much, much more precision than it needs to be.  The next thing is that you probably do not have a Dynamic Balancing Machine, so you really do not know for sure what to do to balance the spinner better than it was when purchased. I know you do not like to hear these words but hear us out and we will explain!

Let's say you put the backing plate on the cone (after you had balanced the back plate by it's self) and when you put it on this Super Magnetic Balancer, it shows some variances or an "Out of Balance Condition.  First question that came to your mind was How much is it out of balance, and how can I remove material properly to get it corrected. These are good responses but the most important one was overlooked and it is the "KEY" to everything about balancing. 

"WHERE IS IT OUT OF BALANCE?"  FRONT OR REAR?

If you can not determine this, you are in for some real trouble if you guess wrong. If you are removing material on the heavy side, but on the back instead of the front or visa-versa, you are actually increasing the out of balance condition of this spinner when it is running.

Imagine having a perfectly balanced cylinder about 6" long.  Now imagine putting an exact One-Ounce Weight on the outside diameter of this cylinder and almost all the way out to one end.  Now imagine that you can do this Exact!  Put another weight on the other end of the cylinder that is exactly the same and located exactly the same distance from the end.  BUT, put it on the outside diameter at 180 degrees from the other one.  Looking at it from the side, you will have one weight on the top left and one weight on the lower right of this cylinder and everything is exact!

Your 'STATIC" balancer will not detect these weights because they are perfectly opposing each other!  It will look perfect on the static balancer, but when you try to rotate this cylinder, at any speed, the opposing weight forces will generate Kinetic Energy and become a "Dynamic Imbalance" and you will have what is known as a "Vibrator"!   The same thing is happening when you do not know where the imbalance is on a spinner. This is why the old time "Bubble Balancer" they used on your car tires years ago didn't work very well.

OK! If this hasn't confused you to the max, I am going to add one more thing. 

"DO YOU REALLY NEED TO DO THIS?"

The answer is simple and I can help you prove it!  NO, you do not need to do this.  If you will get a small piece of masking tape and use it for an internal weight and put about a 1/4" Sq. piece on the light side you will be able to see how small an amount of "Out-Of Balance" this spinner might be!  Very Little is usually what I find!  Very, very little.  1/4 to 1/2 Gram!!!!  Now remember, we are talking about a Tru-Turn Spinner, not Brand "X" or Brand "Y".

Balance your new Tru-Turn Spinner?  You can if you want to, but, "It Does Not Need It" and if you do it wrong, you are in more trouble than when you started.  Sometimes you can beat the odds and with some good Trial & Error you can actually improve the balance.  If it's a Tru-Turn spinner and it is causing vibration that was not there before you put it on, you need to contact our Customer Service", something is wrong.  Mounting? Modifications?  Something! 

We make these spinners the most precision way possible.  We hold exacting tolerances of .001 thousandths of an inch on the wall thickness of the cone, the concentricity of the backing plate and the two pieces united.  This, coupled with the fact that they are made as light as possible, will minimize the vibration produced by the spinner when turned at High Speeds.

I hope this has helped you some on the subject of "Balancing A Spinner".  I am sure everyone will have some of his or her own opinions about all of this.  I am always open for discussion at any time, I have an open mind and I like to learn, so if you have anything you would like to add to this article or contradict it, please feel free to contact me by E-Mail or Phone.

Thanks for taking the time to read this information.             Bob Obenberger

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