Best Beam Scale

[LoneTraveler]

Lyman D-5 bought in 1966 when I set up my reloading equipment, After returning from 3 years in U.S. Army.
About 10 years ago I bought a RCBS 10 10. Wanted to weigh loaded shells for uniformity.

I have stoned V's on pivot bars of both scales. Clean the V blocks on the scales with alcohol and Q tip when set up.

 

[tigerrose01]

Does anyone here know what the percentage of inaccuracy is common to a balance beam scale like a standard non-accurized 1010 is? I do not.

Lastly is it true or untrue that the electronic trickler/scale combinations are affected by florescent light or other light forms and atmospheric factors like a breeze created by your AC or heat that contacts the scale?

I've been kicking around for YEARS upgrading to a electronic scale and powder trickler but have was to concerned about it being affected by light and atmospheric factors to take the financial plunge.

I spent a good part of my life as an electronic tech and an equal part as an electronic engineer specializing in RF (radio frequency) design. The short answer is that florescent lighting does indeed affect most electronics by adding "noise" to the systems. The "noise" can be mostly eliminated by designing proper electronic filters for the equipment and having proper shielding for the internal circuitry. How well the circuit is designed will determine what the variation of measurement is. Distance from the florescent fixture is also a factor. The farther away, the smaller the "interference".

Believe it or not , the transformers that operate florescent lights can also affect magnetic dampers for beam scales if they are too close.

My recommendation is to use LED or other non-florescent lighting for a reloading bench. Also, do not route electrical lines, cables, etc... directly under your work surface.

 

[nksmfamjp]

RCBS 1010 is what I use for double checking my electronic scale.

I'm not sure what electronic scale you are using, but some are capable of */- 0.01 gr accuracy. The 1010 is rated for */- 0.1gr. I wonder what is being checked??

Puts your mind at ease.
search Amazon for 7pc calibration weights ( 1g, 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g) That's grams not grains. You have to do the math to apply it to your scale and they are less than $8.00 for a set.

Their are sets that sell for $8. I would rather have 2-3 weights appropriately toleranced instead of just getting a good deal. I have the Lyman weights and what came with my TRX-925. The ones with the TRX are much more accurate. It is worth looking up the tolerances before laying money down.

That said, I prefer check weights over check scales.

 

[Texis]

I have been very pleased with my Redding.

 

[leo williams]

If you want the best of the best, look into a Promethius beam scale. Expensive but deadly accurate and fast. I got one and it saves me so much time, gives me confidence and peace of mind

 

[Old Rooster]

I'm not sure what electronic scale you are using, but some are capable of */- 0.01 gr accuracy. The 1010 is rated for */- 0.1gr. I wonder what is being checked??



Their are sets that sell for $8. I would rather have 2-3 weights appropriately toleranced instead of just getting a good deal. I have the Lyman weights and what came with my TRX-925. The ones with the TRX are much more accurate. It is worth looking up the tolerances before laying money down.

That said, I prefer check weights over check scales.

I was using a Pact electronic scale and someone asked ,me if I knew the florescent lights can mess with electronic scales.
Right away I took the RCBS 1010 out and had a small amount discrepensy.So from then on I checked every 3rd load and had to remove some powder and some add a bit,not a lot but some.Thats when I started using LED lights and now I check a couple in 20 rounds and have not had to add or subtract any powder but I still check every now and then.
I have the weights and use them now but back when I had the old lighting system I used the 20 gram weight that came with the electronic scale to check.
At the time I did not have the smaller weights but do now and have not found a single shell with an over or under powder charge from my written loads.
With the Florescent lights I have had as much as .4 grains under and another time I had .3 gr over charge.With LED lights that went away.

 

[Nunu]

If you want the best of the best, look into a Promethius beam scale. Expensive but deadly accurate and fast. I got one and it saves me so much time, gives me confidence and peace of

+1 if the best beam scale is what you're really after for.

 

[emp1953]

I'm not sure what electronic scale you are using, but some are capable of */- 0.01 gr accuracy. The 1010 is rated for */- 0.1gr. I wonder what is being checked??



Their are sets that sell for $8. I would rather have 2-3 weights appropriately toleranced instead of just getting a good deal. I have the Lyman weights and what came with my TRX-925. The ones with the TRX are much more accurate. It is worth looking up the tolerances before laying money down.

That said, I prefer check weights over check scales.

I wanted to see if I had wasted my 8 bucks so I took the weights to the chem lab at my work. They have extremely accurate weight measuring devices. They found the 50g and 100g to be dead nuts on ( within .1 milligram ) while the 5g, 10g, and 20g were 0.1g over. I stood there with a file and shaved that off until the readings were exact. The two lightest ones were light by 0.1 so I set them aside and never use them.

 

[DartonJager]

I spent a good part of my life as an electronic tech and an equal part as an electronic engineer specializing in RF (radio frequency) design. The short answer is that florescent lighting does indeed affect most electronics by adding "noise" to the systems. The "noise" can be mostly eliminated by designing proper electronic filters for the equipment and having proper shielding for the internal circuitry. How well the circuit is designed will determine what the variation of measurement is. Distance from the florescent fixture is also a factor. The farther away, the smaller the "interference".

Believe it or not , the transformers that operate florescent lights can also affect magnetic dampers for beam scales if they are too close.

My recommendation is to use LED or other non-florescent lighting for a reloading bench. Also, do not route electrical lines, cables, etc... directly under your work surface.

Great thanks. Am actually about to upgrade my entire basement including my reloading room from florescent in the non reloading room basement and 100W incandescent in my reloading room to LED lighting.
Replaced all my 2'x2' florescent fixtures and incandescent lighting in my house to LED's and was astonished beyond measure how much brighter and better the over all lighting quality was. I have two 2'x2 lay fixtures for my laundry room. When I replaced them with two LED's the lighting output was literally blinding, I actually ended up installing a second light switch so each could be operated separately and 99% of the time only one gets used but a second switch was a MUCH cheaper and MUCH less labor intensive solution than modifying the grid of my drop ceiling. And I am a industrial maintenance electrician and we have upgraded about 70-80% LED lighting in my plant but still was amazed at the output of these new LED's I put in my house. Garage is next..

 

[RegionRat]

I wanted to see if I had wasted my 8 bucks so I took the weights to the chem lab at my work. They have extremely accurate weight measuring devices. They found the 50g and 100g to be dead nuts on ( within .1 milligram ) while the 5g, 10g, and 20g were 0.1g over. I stood there with a file and shaved that off until the readings were exact. The two lightest ones were light by 0.1 so I set them aside and never use them.

Nothing wrong with what you did.

Higher performance cal check weights are expensive.

Weights used to set the gain to calibrate electronic scales need to be pretty close to what they are labeled to be useful, but not the other ones.

Another way to roll, is to use a very high class laboratory scale to just record your smaller weights as they are. While even the reference scale is imperfect, as long as this lab scale's uncertainly is well below your reloading scale's resolution, you are okay to just record the actual weights.

For example, I bough cheap weights off of Amazon a few times to use for friends and as long as my lab reference scale was 0.1 milligrams uncertainty and the reloading scales only read to 6.5 milligrams, then just recording the weight is just as good as adjusting them off to a perfect interval. YMMV

 

[justinp61]

Nothing wrong with what you did.

Higher performance cal check weights are expensive.

Weights used to set the gain to calibrate electronic scales need to be pretty close to what they are labeled to be useful, but not the other ones.

Another way to roll, is to use a very high class laboratory scale to just record your smaller weights as they are. While even the reference scale is imperfect, as long as this lab scale's uncertainly is well below your reloading scale's resolution, you are okay to just record the actual weights.

For example, I bough cheap weights off of Amazon a few times to use for friends and as long as my lab reference scale was 0.1 milligrams uncertainty and the reloading scales only read to 6.5 milligrams, then just recording the weight is just as good as adjusting them off to a perfect interval. YMMV

This is what I did. I worked in a large ISO 9001 certified chemical plant and took my test weights to check on the scales in the lab. The heavier weights, 1 gram and above were dead on, several of the very light ones were off a little. I made and laminated at sheet with the marked weights and the correct weights, it stays in the container with the test weights.

 

[Danehunter]

I still have and use my OHAUS 10 10.

 

[shinbone]

. . . With the accuracy and speed of the A&D FX120i, there's no way I'd go back to a time consuming beam scale.

Folks are free to use whatever they want, but, I agree with Tumbleweed.

 

[JakeC]

Anyone using the newer Lee that has the magnetic dampeners?

I want to save anyone who's tempted by the Lee while researching beam scales. I like Lee, lots of value throughout the lineup. The scale will make you blow your lunch though. Fastest I've ever returned something.