Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader - July 2008 - (Page 29) SPECIAL FEATURE STORIES BIKER OF THE MONTH ? Doug said, “especially on motorcycles. I sleep better at night.” The critical tolerances used at the House of Balance are far more stringent than most factory standards and this is explained well on the company web site at www.houseofbalance.com. “All internal combustion engines, regardless of type or use, are balanced to factory standards (0.5 to 0.6 ounce-inches) before they are assembled at the factory. It is easy to take factory procedures for granted and assume that the products released by them are as near perfection as modern machines can make them. Unfortunately that is not the case. In many of the assembly plants the assembler is given a large quantity of rods and pistons randomly.” The result is that parts are then assembled that vary considerably from each other. House of Balance’s mission is to account precisely for factory variances and then balance the assembly to the specific engine’s parts. Doug addresses the variances through precision measurement of the weight of each assembly. The rod, piston, rings, pin and clips are all weighed. Then a bobweight is constructed based on the exact assembly weight and attached to the crank. The weighted crank is then spun and measured for imbalance across the crankshaft at each end independently. This way, balancing is not the process of averages but one of exact specifications. Sometimes instead of taking off weight, Doug said the opposite is required, additional weight has to be added. This can occur when heavier Our second Biker of the Month, Doug Simms Sr., is shown astride his ‘05 V-Star. the heavy side of the flywheel to lighten it so that the crank will not move when placed at various positions, meaning that the assembly is in static balance. The problem with simple static balancing, both men explained, is that the imbalance is often significantly different across the shaft. For example, the left side can be heavier in one spot while the right side is heavy in a completely different place rotationally. What happens, Doug and Dick explained, is that static balancing only averages out the differences. Dynamic balancing separately balances each side of the shaft. The dynamic balancing process replicates the engine in motion by spinning the crank and then measures each side of the crank independently. One side is “locked out” while the other side is read for a very precise measurement of imbalance, for better than factory tolerances. House of Balance uses the standard of .2 ounce-inches per plane. “I like to go below that,” The Essex Motorcycle Club gathered for this shot in front of the House of Balance. Several members work here. WALNECKS.COM I WALNECK’S CLASSIC CYCLE TRADER® I JULY 2008 29 http://www.houseofbalance.com http://WALNECKS.COM
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