Turbocharger Balancing (turborebuild.co.

uk):
Ok, so you are going to save yourself some money and rebuild your turbo yourself when you hear, "How are
you going to balance it? Turbochargers MUST be balanced or you are wasting your money".

If the Turbo Compressor and Turbine Wheels have no sign of damage, then you can go down the route of
making a mark from the tip of the turbine shaft, down over the shaft nut and onto the Compressor Wheel. Then,
once you have stripped, cleaned and renewed the bearings and are rebuilding the turbo back up, you can align
all Turbo Components back up and in effect 'keep the balance' of the turbo pre-rebuild...

Not ideal? Well, we have a better option!

Turbo Rebuild are pleased to offer a balancing service for the ultimate home turbo rebuild. For only £50 (plus
return postage), you can send us your Turbine Shaft, Compressor Wheel, Shaft Nut and Thrust Collar and
within 48hrs we will have returned your freshly balanced Turbo Parts together with balancing printout. All
Turbo Rotors are balanced to as near perfect as possible in some cases to 0.001g, but always to within
manufacturer tolerances.

Some interesting reading on Turbo Balancing...

One of the most important parts of building a turbocharger that will operate quietly and efficiently for a long
time is being sure that the turbo rotating components are properly balanced. The problem is that many people do
not know what “properly balanced” really means.

Imbalance is usually expressed as the product of weight and radius. If a 1g weight is placed at a one inch radius
on a balanced part, the part is said to be unbalanced by 1 gram-inch. Modern turbocharger tolerances are
typically expressed in milligram-inches, or thousandths of a gram-inch. For example, the Garrett T-3 and T-4
frame turbos generally have component balance tolerances around .010 gram-inches (10 milligram inches).
One area of confusion about turbo balancing is component versus assembly balance. Turbocharger rotating
groups are made up of several turbo component parts that are assembled to make up the rotating assembly. Of
these Turbo Components, only the Turbine and Compressor Wheels are component balanced. Balancing of
these components is critical, and must be done prior to assembly. The axial thrust spacers and compressor
locknut are not balanced, and the mechanical fit of these components are subject to machining tolerance limits.
When these pieces are mated, a certain amount of “stackup” imbalance is introduced into the completed turbo.

Stackup imbalance is not a major concern with larger turbochargers. Typically, the turbine and compressor
wheels in these turbos are balanced to a tolerance substantially closer than required by the assembled turbo.
This way, when the components are assembled, the stackup imbalance is not large enough to cause a problem
with the complete turbo.

With the increasing popularity of small turbos in automotive applications, stackup imbalance has become more
of a factor. Due to the light mass and high rotational speeds of these small units, simply balancing the Turbo
Components to an overly close tolerance may not be enough. The typical symptoms of a slightly unbalanced
small turbo are oil leakage from the ends of the bearing housing, and 'screaming' - an imbalance induced
vibration of the turbo rotating assembly. The fastest, most effective method of eliminating the stackup
imbalance that causes these problems is to trim balance the moving parts of the assembled Turbo CHRA (center
housing rotating assembly).

It is possible to build turbos that are well balanced without CHRA balancing. The turbo builder must be very
critical during the inspection and assembly portions of the rebuild to assure the quality of all the Turbo
Components, and their fit with each other. Many of the best “custom” turbo builders do not CHRA balance due
to a combination of critical inspection and careful assembly procedures. Higher volume builders of turbos, and
shops desiring to have complete knowledge and control of the assembly process, perform some type of CHRA
balancing, most commonly VSR Balancing (Vibration sorting Rig) or High Speed "Trim" balancing.

There are two types of Turbo CHRA balancing, high speed (VSR) and low speed (balancing machine). The
VSR (Vibration Sort Rig) is a machine that uses compressed air to spin the assembled Turbo CHRA to a
relatively high speed, while pressure oiling the bearings and sensing vibration of the unit. Small imbalance
corrections are then made on the compressor nose or nut to fine or trim balance the turbo unit.
CHRA balancing consists of mounting an assembled turbo CHRA in a conventional two plane dynamic
balancing machine. The rotating assembly is then driven at a relatively low speed by belt or air, and imbalance
readings are taken on both the turbo compressor and turbine ends of the rotating assembly. Oil is not pressure
fed into the turbo, as the shaft is prelubricated before the balancing operation. The low speed and short cycle
time preclude the need for pressurized lubrication.

Either type of Turbo CHRA balancing will generally eliminate stackup imbalance to an acceptable degree.
Machine balancing has a slight advantage, in that the rotating components are dual plane balanced, as opposed
to single plane balancing with the VSR. The main advantage of the VSR is that the turbo has actually spun at
high speed, so the operator may be able to hear unusual noises from the turbo, and in some cases the oil flow
can be checked (though this is not very reliable).

Another common misconception about turbo balancing is that balancing at higher speeds results in closer
balancing. This is not inherently true. A rigid rotor that is out of balance by 10 milligram inches at 1000 RPM
will be out of balance by 10 milligram inches at 100,000 RPM. The force created by a given amount of
imbalance increases exceptionally as speed increases, but the absolute amount of imbalance does not. It is
critical that the balancing equipment being used has sufficient sensitivity to balance the rotor to the necessary
tolerance at the desired balancing speed, but balancing at operational speed is rarely advantageous. The logistic
and safety considerations of very high speed balancing rarely outweigh any accuracy gained. In conclusion, the
key to maximum life out of a turbocharger is proper selection of Turbo Components, precision balancing of
those components, and careful assembly of the turbo. An additional balancing operation performed on the
completed turbo is not absolutely necessary in most cases, but it does provide a higher degree of confidence in
the final product. Turbo stripdown and inspection for wear and clearances before rebuild and accurate 2 plane
balancing is a MUST in any turbo rebuild.