Actually, if I get all of my old heli gear out, I think I made a prop balancer using some razor blades and such. Its been a while.Will I buy a balancer?    eh...not if I can just make one.  Also I did have issue with sanding the aero-side of the blades. Seems it would cause
drag on that side.  Glad someone clarified which side.

Just out of curiosity...what does one of these "balancers" cost??

SpunOne69 Posted at 2015-9-1 11:39
Just out of curiosity...what does one of these "balancers" cost??

Amazon. 22.99

SpunOne69 Posted at 2015-9-1 11:39
Just out of curiosity...what does one of these "balancers" cost??

You can check them out here:
http://www.PhantomHelp.com/#PropsP3

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of course after just plunking down 1200 or so on a bird,  another 20 or so dollars isnt gonna hurt I dont think.  just sayin.

ed.weibe Posted at 2015-9-1 12:03
of course after just plunking down 1200 or so on a bird,  another 20 or so dollars isnt gonna hurt I ...

Has anyone elected to put a coat of laquer on the blades to make them smoother?

Bunkx9@yahoo.co Posted at 2015-9-1 21:05
I prefer sanding, 1500 or 3000 grit.  

IF you use tape, use electrical tape. Stick it to the MID/ ...

Unless the prop is really out of balance, electric tape is too heavy.. I've fixed most imbalance with a very small piece of scotch tape and is virtually as smooth as the original surface.  Also, I've always heard (and use) taping the bottom of the blade, not the top.  Not 100% sure there is a difference top or bottom though.

I do mine and can tell a diffrance

toddf.perkins@g Posted at 2015-8-31 21:44
So.. Sanding, or tape. What does everyone think?

I use a Du Bro balancer and use clear nail polish
on the props,
It's smooth and I don't worry about removing too much material by sanding
and it's easier

Rigworker Posted at 2015-9-1 13:29
I did mine. I found they were quite close right out of the box. Removing the raised lock icon and ar ...

I checked mine when I first got my aircraft, with a  DuBro and the correct P3 rod.   All the DJI props were spot-on or so marginally out it wasn't worth the attention to correct them.  I was surprised how good they were out of the packet.  I did 16 DJI props and a couple of sets of cheap and nasty Chinese knock-off clones.  They were terrible and needed a lot of sanding to balance.  I don't actually use them, it was more of a comparison exercise.  It is definitely advisable to check them and balance them, it is pretty cheap and easy to do, but in my experience you can get away without doing it if you use DJI props.   I've seen a few youtube videos testing DJI props and they concur that they are pretty well balanced out of the box.  People reporting bad DJI props surprises me, perhaps they aren't testing them properly or using the right rod?  You will get a lot of different opinions as to whether sanding or adding tape is the best method.  They all work and it is a preference thing.  I sand very lightly using the finest grit and check often while doing it.  You continue bit by bit, reducing the error until you approach zero imbalance.  No chance of overdoing it.  Just little/light sanding strokes each time.  It might be my woodworking background where I am cautious about removing too much material -- you can always remove more but can't put it back.  My DuBro came with some copper foil strips which I thought were a good idea, but I never actually got around to using them.  Theoretically they shouldn't change and need re-balancing unless you have a hard landing and the props hit something.  A nick on the tip might be enough to imbalance them.  They will still fly but they will induce a wobble.

What balancer for the P4 props

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2015-9-1 04:48
That was my only complaint - and a small one at that - about the DuBro balancer. To balance the Ph ...

I agree... I purchased off Amazon without reading the fine print... They are very polite and "for just $14 additional we will send you the correct rod" - OR... they now offer a smaller Phantom Prop Balancer with the correct rod to thread our props on... $25 on Amazon...

Caveat: when I got the first balancer from them, there were no 8-32 nuts to secure the legs to the base... and the machining on the fittings was very irregular... just as others have stated.

Be careful not to make the prop aerodynamically unbalanced!
By doing a dynamic balancing (sanding away material) you might get the prop to balance, but if you distort the aerodynamic properties of the prop, it will be very unbalanced as soon as it starts to work. This can be as extreme as causing bad vibrations or it will lose effectiveness, this will cause the other motors to work harder to compensate, and in gusty conditions they might run out of power to compensate and cause unstable flight behaviour.
I find the DJI props to be well within the dynamic limits. I leave mine as they are.
On cold humid days, a rough surface could be a catalyst for prop-icing, which will ruin your day...