FX-120I
- Thread starter ShootDots
- Start date
Looking at the scale I have the left side open for the Omega Trickler tube and the right side open for the powder pan. I might try your idea about boring a hole in the side panel for the Omega Trickler. If you are going to bore your hole soon let me know how it works out.ridgeway said:
ridgeway's photo of it is really good. I used masking tape to attach an old RCBS funnel to the hole on top. I take the left side panel out and put my trickler on top trickling into the funnel. Throw the charge from my Harrel into a pan (which I already tared on the balance) trickle up within a kernel or two pretty quickly. It has slow, medium and fast options for the scale, and I use the fast for powder. There is a little bit of lash that you have to anticipate, but it's quite fast for weighing charges. Also the funnel taped to the hole is a handy handle for removing the lid.
What I really like is with "weight sorting" brass to take 10 random cases and put them each into memory. Then it spits out max/min/extreme spread/average/SD/ and CV%. Based on this I usually break the brass into a standard deviation pile for each side of the mean. That way I'm not making an arbitrary 1 grain or half grain class, but breaking the brass into "natural" fractions. The rest beyond the SD are the "jokers" that can be used for hunting, plinking, or fouling shots.
What I had before the FX-120i was a nearly 40-year old RCBS/Ohaus. Talk about being "beamed up". There is intelligent life here, Scotty. Still use that old Ohaus pan.
Am embarrassed to say what I paid for mine. At $400 for this magnificent "magnetic restoration" balance, you are making off like bandits. The Mounties are going to be crossing the border to hunt you guys down!
What I really like is with "weight sorting" brass to take 10 random cases and put them each into memory. Then it spits out max/min/extreme spread/average/SD/ and CV%. Based on this I usually break the brass into a standard deviation pile for each side of the mean. That way I'm not making an arbitrary 1 grain or half grain class, but breaking the brass into "natural" fractions. The rest beyond the SD are the "jokers" that can be used for hunting, plinking, or fouling shots.
What I had before the FX-120i was a nearly 40-year old RCBS/Ohaus. Talk about being "beamed up". There is intelligent life here, Scotty. Still use that old Ohaus pan.
Am embarrassed to say what I paid for mine. At $400 for this magnificent "magnetic restoration" balance, you are making off like bandits. The Mounties are going to be crossing the border to hunt you guys down!
ridgeway
Silver $$ Contributor
Well, got a hole bored in the side break. Be careful if you choose to put one in. I originally started with a sharp tapered single flute hand reamer and was able to bore a small hole and then the plastic spider cracked. This is not lexan and is very hard and brittle. I got my dremel out with a sanding drum and ground the hole. Saved the panel and all is good. I think it will work just fine.
DaveT asked to see some pics of my "field expedient" setup of the FX-120i.
Never posted pics, but I'll give it a go.
1. Made a box around the scale to protect is from football, airplanes, etc that the grandkids toss around. Or an avalanche of the debris that builds up on my desk. The redwood 2x6 desk top is an indication of its (and my) age.
2. Scale with funnel and hand trickler. The scale sets on a surplus 12"x12" granite counter top sample. Which is on top of a freebee computer mouse pad. So the scale is "shock mounted" and is in my experience very resistant to quakes of the various sorts. Not shown is a simple electrical cord on/off switch which turns the scale all the way off without having to unplug it. With this sort of power-down you can hear the balance beam inside the thing go to rest on its carriage.
3. Simple masking tape attachment of funnel to lid hole. No drill, no glue.
4. Slot on box to keep paperwork handy.
Never posted pics, but I'll give it a go.
1. Made a box around the scale to protect is from football, airplanes, etc that the grandkids toss around. Or an avalanche of the debris that builds up on my desk. The redwood 2x6 desk top is an indication of its (and my) age.
2. Scale with funnel and hand trickler. The scale sets on a surplus 12"x12" granite counter top sample. Which is on top of a freebee computer mouse pad. So the scale is "shock mounted" and is in my experience very resistant to quakes of the various sorts. Not shown is a simple electrical cord on/off switch which turns the scale all the way off without having to unplug it. With this sort of power-down you can hear the balance beam inside the thing go to rest on its carriage.
3. Simple masking tape attachment of funnel to lid hole. No drill, no glue.
4. Slot on box to keep paperwork handy.
Attachments
When ever the subject of more accurate scales comes up, I have to make a comment on my choice of balance.
First, I do believe the FX-1201 is currently the best bang for the buck in new balances. My friend in Australia just bought one and loves it.
I wanted to eliminate weighing error from the equation in long range bench rest. I bought a GemPro and was happy for a while. It was accurate, as compared to the three beam balances, an ancient RCBS. a somewhat old Ohaus and a newer Lee. Oddly, the Lee was the most consistent! But, in checking with a small weight weight set I found all three would weigh the same weight differently on different days or within one loading session! And, I wanted 1 granule of accuracy and that is about 0.02gr of Varget.
The GemPro had that accuracy, but the response to trickling and the drift with time were not acceptable.
My budget solution, did I say I was cheap?, was a used Ohaus TS-200. This balance is 20 or so years old and they appear on ebay often as well as their TS-120 brother. The TS-200 is a 200gram balance with 0.001 gram accuracy and stability. It also can be adjusted to indicate in grains. I bought mine for around $110 and have been very pleased with it. I also bought a set of weights in M1 accuracy to calibrate it. My feeling on calibrate is different from pure lab standard. My Ohaus will calibrate full scale as well as linearity. For these two measurements, you need a 100g and a 200 g weight. I don't care too much on absolute accuracy, but for best linearity calibration the small weight must be exactly 1/2 the weight of the large one. I have a few 100g masses and I found one that was closest to 1/2 the 200g mass. My opinion of accuracy is that I want consistency so my loads in 2 months will be exactly the same as today. If they are off .02 gr I am not too concerned.
I did find out that when indicating grains. the least significant digit is 0.01gr and it increments/decrements in 0.02 gr so my best accuracy is 0.02gr. If I operate it on the gram scale, it indicates in 0.001g increments which is about 0.015 gr. So, if I convert grain weights to grams, I can weigh to +/- 0.015gr. which is less than a granule of Varget. Good enough for me!
Granted the TS series are old, but if shipped carefully, they are rigged and stable and sell for $50 to $200. the ones to get are TS-120, TS-200 or TS-400D. All these have 0.001gram accuracy, just make sure the TS-400 is the D model, this one has dual ranges. The TS-400S is only 400 gr and does not have the accuracy you want. You may find 4 different versions of these balances and the older ones will not have grain scales, just grams. Not a problem, but some folks stress out with metric measurements.
Another Ohaus TS-120 came on the market recently and I couldn't resist it. $75 and it was mine! This was a V1 model and only indicates grams. Hey! O.K. with me, good for +/- 0.015 gr!
First, I do believe the FX-1201 is currently the best bang for the buck in new balances. My friend in Australia just bought one and loves it.
I wanted to eliminate weighing error from the equation in long range bench rest. I bought a GemPro and was happy for a while. It was accurate, as compared to the three beam balances, an ancient RCBS. a somewhat old Ohaus and a newer Lee. Oddly, the Lee was the most consistent! But, in checking with a small weight weight set I found all three would weigh the same weight differently on different days or within one loading session! And, I wanted 1 granule of accuracy and that is about 0.02gr of Varget.
The GemPro had that accuracy, but the response to trickling and the drift with time were not acceptable.
My budget solution, did I say I was cheap?, was a used Ohaus TS-200. This balance is 20 or so years old and they appear on ebay often as well as their TS-120 brother. The TS-200 is a 200gram balance with 0.001 gram accuracy and stability. It also can be adjusted to indicate in grains. I bought mine for around $110 and have been very pleased with it. I also bought a set of weights in M1 accuracy to calibrate it. My feeling on calibrate is different from pure lab standard. My Ohaus will calibrate full scale as well as linearity. For these two measurements, you need a 100g and a 200 g weight. I don't care too much on absolute accuracy, but for best linearity calibration the small weight must be exactly 1/2 the weight of the large one. I have a few 100g masses and I found one that was closest to 1/2 the 200g mass. My opinion of accuracy is that I want consistency so my loads in 2 months will be exactly the same as today. If they are off .02 gr I am not too concerned.
I did find out that when indicating grains. the least significant digit is 0.01gr and it increments/decrements in 0.02 gr so my best accuracy is 0.02gr. If I operate it on the gram scale, it indicates in 0.001g increments which is about 0.015 gr. So, if I convert grain weights to grams, I can weigh to +/- 0.015gr. which is less than a granule of Varget. Good enough for me!
Granted the TS series are old, but if shipped carefully, they are rigged and stable and sell for $50 to $200. the ones to get are TS-120, TS-200 or TS-400D. All these have 0.001gram accuracy, just make sure the TS-400 is the D model, this one has dual ranges. The TS-400S is only 400 gr and does not have the accuracy you want. You may find 4 different versions of these balances and the older ones will not have grain scales, just grams. Not a problem, but some folks stress out with metric measurements.
Another Ohaus TS-120 came on the market recently and I couldn't resist it. $75 and it was mine! This was a V1 model and only indicates grams. Hey! O.K. with me, good for +/- 0.015 gr!
ridgeway
Silver $$ Contributor
I originally started with a single flute tapered hand reamer that I use to make clean holes in lexan. Well the panels are not lexan...they are hard and brittle. I spider cracked where I started to make the holes. I grabbed my dremel with a 3/8th sanding drum and worked my way out. Worked great. I used a circle template to draw a sharpie circle.Dave T said:
Our FX 120i arrived last week....at the old price thanks to this forum. My son and I have both used it and are very satisfied with the scale and Cambridge. It is subordinating a GemPro 250 I bought last year. There is no comparison. The GemPro certainly does the job. The FX 120i is a pleasure to use, fast, precise and accurate. I think that even at $525C it is still a deal especially if you do a lot of precision shooting. Thanks again!
You can automate them as well 
. Below are a few videos of my automated A&D scale -- nothing special just figured I would share.
Using a PIC16F876 to run the "dispenser/trickler" and PERL to interface the scale and the ucontroller...creates logfile for each charge...i'm ok with +/- .02 from target.
Log from last run (target was 30.2)
1) was: 30.18 0
2) was: 30.22 36
3) was: 30.18 97
1) was: 30.18 0
2) was: 30.18 84
1) was: 30.22 0
2) was: 30.22 86
3) was: 30.18 231
4) was: 30.24 273
5) was: 30.18 334
6) was: 30.24 378
7) was: 30.22 441
8) was: 30.18 559
9) was: 30.18 622
10) was: 30.22 683
Couple of videos from initial run -- code is a bit more sophisticated now so it is slightly fast than in the videos.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/hh93Jpd4zEE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtu.be/0XLYvD0s7bI[/youtube]
. Below are a few videos of my automated A&D scale -- nothing special just figured I would share.Using a PIC16F876 to run the "dispenser/trickler" and PERL to interface the scale and the ucontroller...creates logfile for each charge...i'm ok with +/- .02 from target.
Log from last run (target was 30.2)
1) was: 30.18 0
2) was: 30.22 36
3) was: 30.18 97
1) was: 30.18 0
2) was: 30.18 84
1) was: 30.22 0
2) was: 30.22 86
3) was: 30.18 231
4) was: 30.24 273
5) was: 30.18 334
6) was: 30.24 378
7) was: 30.22 441
8) was: 30.18 559
9) was: 30.18 622
10) was: 30.22 683
Couple of videos from initial run -- code is a bit more sophisticated now so it is slightly fast than in the videos.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/hh93Jpd4zEE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtu.be/0XLYvD0s7bI[/youtube]
Nmjwolf, would it be easier to interface or somehow connect a rcbs chargemaster to the serial port on the fx120?
I got as far as reading what each pin controls on the fx120 but I could not find a schematic or details for the chargemaster....
Jay Christopherson
Not An Admin
nmjwolf said:You can automate them as well
Using a PIC16F876 to run the "dispenser/trickler" and PERL to interface the scale and the ucontroller...creates logfile for each charge...i'm ok with +/- .02 from target.
PERL. Is there anything it *can't* do? Awesome work dude.
I think I get most of it, but what does the RJ-11 (at least, that's what it looks like, hard to tell maybe it's just a ribbon cable) cable that you've tied in do?
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.