DIY static balancer using 3D printer
Made a centering puck for the bottom (3D printed the OD of the raised centering boss of the hub) and a bullseye pad for the top that sets into the recess for the center cap. Bottom has a 3/8 drilled hole centered for a screw in golf cleat, wrap with pipe tape to get a snug fit. I sharpened the screw in cleat to a point by chucking it into a bench drill and hitting it with a flap wheel, this provides a nice friction free balance point. The cleat tip is them placed into the cup of a 273 pushrod that is in a hole drilled into a 4x4 for a stand. The tire will lean to one side if out of static balance no matter what the vertical offset is of the pushrod. Stack pennies on the rim where the weights will be fastened. My rim is AL so it has a large flat inside off the lip but stamped steel rims will probably need the weights right at the lip where you clamp them on. You can then weigh the pennies stacks and figure out what the closest weight you have is. You can split the 1oz weight and put the halves slightly outboard of exact point if you don't have the proper .8 oz weight on hand. The farther you go outboard, the less weight is centered at that balance point. Tape weights with masking tape into position and set it up on the balancer again. If it's true, use double sided foam tape to attach weights. Good enough to get it to the balance shop but you may find it good enough period and you'll save at least 50 bucks. The concentricity of the 3D printed pucks is crucial to the centering of the rim on the balance point. You could do on a drill press with some geometry but put values into the 3D printer, get it started and in 3 hours your golden. I made my base 80% infill and 5mm thick and the balance puck was 20% PLA 7mm thick with a 1 3/8 insert for the bullseye level. It is a crucial step is to get the balance at the exact center of the puck. Be careful when you use tinkercad (online program) to make this as the circles tend to be smaller than you want as they are made of segments and they seem to measure a 1.00 circle across the points of the segmented circumference so you end up with an actual smaller ID. I found this out when I put in 1 3/8 for the balance inset and I had to hit the edges of the 1 .375 bullseye level with a flap wheel to get it down about 1mm so it would fit the "1.375" inset. Have fun and don't give me **** about dynamic balancing as that is out of the scope of this post. :)
Made a centering puck for the bottom (3D printed the OD of the raised centering boss of the hub) and a bullseye pad for the top that sets into the recess for the center cap. Bottom has a 3/8 drilled hole centered for a screw in golf cleat, wrap with pipe tape to get a snug fit. I sharpened the screw in cleat to a point by chucking it into a bench drill and hitting it with a flap wheel, this provides a nice friction free balance point. The cleat tip is them placed into the cup of a 273 pushrod that is in a hole drilled into a 4x4 for a stand. The tire will lean to one side if out of static balance no matter what the vertical offset is of the pushrod. Stack pennies on the rim where the weights will be fastened. My rim is AL so it has a large flat inside off the lip but stamped steel rims will probably need the weights right at the lip where you clamp them on. You can then weigh the pennies stacks and figure out what the closest weight you have is. You can split the 1oz weight and put the halves slightly outboard of exact point if you don't have the proper .8 oz weight on hand. The farther you go outboard, the less weight is centered at that balance point. Tape weights with masking tape into position and set it up on the balancer again. If it's true, use double sided foam tape to attach weights. Good enough to get it to the balance shop but you may find it good enough period and you'll save at least 50 bucks. The concentricity of the 3D printed pucks is crucial to the centering of the rim on the balance point. You could do on a drill press with some geometry but put values into the 3D printer, get it started and in 3 hours your golden. I made my base 80% infill and 5mm thick and the balance puck was 20% PLA 7mm thick with a 1 3/8 insert for the bullseye level. It is a crucial step is to get the balance at the exact center of the puck. Be careful when you use tinkercad (online program) to make this as the circles tend to be smaller than you want as they are made of segments and they seem to measure a 1.00 circle across the points of the segmented circumference so you end up with an actual smaller ID. I found this out when I put in 1 3/8 for the balance inset and I had to hit the edges of the 1 .375 bullseye level with a flap wheel to get it down about 1mm so it would fit the "1.375" inset. Have fun and don't give me **** about dynamic balancing as that is out of the scope of this post. :)