Scott wrote:
I have a ceiling fan with a serious wobble. I've done my level best to
balance the thing -- it's better than it was, in that it no longer terrifies
me to run it on high speed, but it's still not right (22g of weight on a
single blade tip seems excessive). The wobble makes a noise somewhere in
the mounting hardware, which is not so good with a bedroom ceiling fan.
SWMBO does not approve.

So, any opinions on pulling the fan down and taking it to the workbench to
maybe get it balanced better? I know the runout is pretty far from OK, and
that's hard to fix right while it's still dangling from the ceiling. It
also seems that static balancing might be a lot easier with the fan
temporarily mounted to a vertical surface.

Thanks,
-Scott


Why take it down. You start with a blade any
blade and clamp the weight to that blade at the
hub. Then you slowly move it outward. Look for
any wobble and listen for any noise. If it is
the wrong blade you will quickly notice it as you
move the weight out, so move to the opposite
blade. Maybe you will have to go to one of the
other blades. When you get it the best you can,
move to an adjacent blade with another weight. if
that doesn't work then move to the the other
"adjacent" blade.

It sounds like you have the main out of balance
figured out, but weights are need on two adjacent
blades. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes,
depending on how fast it spins up. Use anything
that will clip on the blade, clothes pin, small
spring clamp, even a smal c clamp, or just use
tape with coins. For a permanent fix, put an
appropriate screw into the blade(s.

OTOH, if you have lots of runout then you have
poor bearings so fix those first.