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Beam scale predicament question

DngBat7

Silver $$ Contributor
I’m trying to diagnose a beam scale issue I’m having. Want to see if anybody else has ever had the issue. I have a SP tuned Ohaus m5. Dropping one kernel of h4350 the beam slightly moves as expected. So sensitivity wise it is fine. But here is the problem I noticed. I’ll zero it out and test it with the weight. Scale is at dead zero when I start using it. However 10 or so loads in, I’ll recheck zero which I guess you would not think is necessary on beam scale. And the beam settles at 1/10 or more over or under. I don’t understand how this is happening. Could something be getting hung up with the blades or something?

Thanks
 
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I'll be watching this closely. My Ohaus is doing the same thing. i carefully measure a charge when starting to load, set that cartridge aside and after 10 charges, pour that charge back into the pan. It often shows being overweight.

Suspecting an electrostatic issue. Magnets and copper make electricity.
 
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I'll be watching this closely. My Ohaus is doing the same thing. i carefully measure a charge when starting to load, set that cartridge aside and after 10 charges, pour that charge back into the pan. If often shows being overweight.

Suspecting an electrostatic issue. Magnets and copper make electricity.
Hope to find a solution. Have decent amount of money invested in this.
 
My Ohaus 10-10 has started to do the same thing. Wondering if it is the magnets losing their way. Put up my newer Ohaus/RCBS 5-0-2 and it is working much more consistently.
Mr. Parker?
 
There are a couple of real beam-scale guru's on this forum, so you should be sorted soon...

In the mean time, I would check to make sure the bearings/bearing housings are clean, and that the bearings are free to move inside them. Also check from above to make sure the balance arm is running in the center so that the copper plate does not touch the scale body at all.
 
Once every couple of weeks I clean the knife edge cradle with a Q Tip dipped in 91% alcohol. I rub a pencil lead on the knife edge and of course inspect it to make sure its sharp and burr free. Also keep it covered with when not in use. Having it on a level solid surface with no air current goes without saying. Placing the pan the same each time and even having the check weight in the same spot in the pan matters. That's all I can think of

Mr Sparker?
 
I had my trusty RCBS M1000 scale and used it for years without issue. Moved on to a high dollar FX120i and while its the cats azz it was beyond my ability to shoot super high quality made ammo so I sold it. Couple of months now back with my M1000 and I miss the speed of the FX120i and ordered a new one this morning. Live and learn I guess...
 
What is your scale sitting on (or attached to)? Have you noticed any movement of the base of the scale vis a vis the bench or platform as you are using the scale. That might be throwing off the weight. I noticed this on a Redding beam scale on a bench. I used a magic marker to outline the entire base of the scale on the bench. So far, it has solved my problem.
 
i carefully measure a charge when starting to load, set that cartridge aside and after 10 charges, pour that charge back into the pan
i have seen this and blame the imperfect bearing system. trickling up there is more static friction, and dumping in is more like sliding friction, so to speak. coefficients are different for static vs sliding.

try dumping 80@% of your check charge then trickling in the rest... see if it settles to the desired wt. so which number is the 'real' one? dunno but might not matter as long as you are consistent.
 
I’m trying to diagnose a beam scale issue I’m having. Want to see if anybody else has ever had the issue. I have a SP tuned Ohaus m5. Dropping one kernel of h4350 the beam slightly moves as expected. So sensitivity wise it is fine. But here is the problem I noticed. I’ll zero it out and test it with the weight. Scale is at dead zero when I start using it. However 10 or so loads in, I’ll recheck zero which I guess you would not think is necessary on beam scale. And the beam settles at 1/10 or more over or under. I don’t understand how this is happening. Could something be getting hung up with the blades or something?

Thanks
Have you tryed asking Scott Parker..? I would PM him here and see if he knows...
 
It seems to me that if I spent money to have a scale accurized by somebody and it didn't work as expected, I'd go back to that guy and ask him what to do. I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to fix it myself, if I could do that then why would I pay somebody else in the first place. :confused:
 
It seems to me that if I spent money to have a scale accurized by somebody and it didn't work as expected, I'd go back to that guy and ask him what to do. I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to fix it myself, if I could do that then why would I pay somebody else in the first place. :confused:
To be fair, I was not blaming anybody for anything with this post. It may be a problem that is irrelevant of who tuned it. I have no idea at this point
 
To be fair, I'm not blaming anybody for anything either, I just don't understand why you'd pay somebody to tune something that you now want to tune yourself. If I thought I was capable of tuning the scale now then why wouldn't I have done the job myself?
 
To be fair, I'm not blaming anybody for anything either, I just don't understand why you'd pay somebody to tune something that you now want to tune yourself. If I thought I was capable of tuning the scale now then why wouldn't I have tuned it in the first place?
I wish I was capable. I simply have no idea how to do it.
 
I’m trying to diagnose a beam scale issue I’m having. Want to see if anybody else has ever had the issue. I have a SP tuned Ohaus m5. Dropping one kernel of h4350 the beam slightly moves as expected. So sensitivity wise it is fine. But here is the problem I noticed. I’ll zero it out and test it with the weight. Scale is at dead zero when I start using it. However 10 or so loads in, I’ll recheck zero which I guess you would not think is necessary on beam scale. And the beam settles at 1/10 or more over or under. I don’t understand how this is happening. Could something be getting hung up with the blades or something?

Thanks

check to see if some small strand of fiber or something might be spanning the slot between the magnets. This can cause repeatability issues like you are seeing.
 
My Ohaus 10-10 has started to do the same thing. Wondering if it is the magnets losing their way. Put up my newer Ohaus/RCBS 5-0-2 and it is working much more consistently.
Mr. Parker?

Scale Instructions:

Use the check weight value to set the level of the scale. After moving the main poise, depress the pan with your finger and let the beam swing a few times. This allows the washer on the right side of the poise to find the bottom of the V-notch. Throw charges about 1/2 grain light and trickle up each time. This will yield the most consistent charges.

Scott
 
My RCBS 1000 works well and consistently but I did notice one thing. My scale is at eye level for ease of reading. Consequently, you have to raise the pan up to eye level in order to set it on the support tray. It’s easy to tilt the pan when doing this. On a couple of occasions, I have noticed a couple of kernels laying in the support tray. If you don’t catch this, it will cause variation in subsequent loads. I follow all the sage advice on maintenance and storage of the scale, posted by these great shooters.
 

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