NORY!!!!
A bubble ballancer is what the kids used to use years ago to ensure that the
soap they were using would indeed make those monster bubbles that fell to
earth faster than a speeding bullet fired in that direction.
Seriously, they were machines(devices?) that first off, had to levelled
themselves, second off, they had a concentric cone in the center so that any
wheel placed on them (they worked parrallel to the ground) would self-center
and facilitate levelness, third off, the tire guy would just align the valve
stem with a mark in the level of the balancer to ensure that any
"Heaviness"(he's my brother) wouldn't be caused by the valve stem.
Basically this device would determine where along the wheel/tire assembly,
the heaviest spot was and the "Mechanic" would them place weights along the
rim in various positions and amounts to center the level's bubble. (Have I
confused you yet? I am working to become an automotive instructor!) It was up
to the mechanic and his math skills to determine how much weight to put on
each side of the rim to equalize the balancing weights between front and rear
sides of this rim. There were no moving parts and this type of balancing was
therefore called STATIC. (have I used my 500 words in this essay yet?) The
biggest drawback was that it was pretty much a guessing game as to whether or
not the wheel was actually in balance when rotating, or if the mech. got
enough weight distributed along the rim so as not to throw the assembly out
of balance in a different plane. (Whew!!!)
It was good enough for gramps in his day of winding solder around the spokes,
but modern technology can outdo this any day. There are ways of machine spin
balancing wire wheels but most shops are reluctant to do so because there
just isn't enough demand.
Let me know if I can explain anything else...
Tom
Just because you found me to be a problem doesn't mean that I'm not one to
everybody... (does that make any sense??
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