Turn Your FX-120i into a Prometheus

[Motoman006]

Adam, how can you re-zero your pan without having to re-set your charge weight? Every different combo I've tried I always end up re-setting my charge weight. The problem I have is not with your product, rather my scale. For some reason my scale needs the empty pan to go back on and see a "0" before the next charge can go on. As long as I do that, it will hold a zero all day long as long as the temp in my reloading room doesn't change. With your auto trickler, that can't be done obviously, unless you want to trickle the whole charge. Right now I am using my Lyman to throw a charge 1.5 grains light and let your machine do the rest. My scale will drift .02 grains every 10-15 rounds and it doesn't just stop there. It will continually drift light. I will have to contact A&D eventually and find out what to do there.

Do you have floresent lighting above or around your scale?
I have seen these cause scales to drift due to the ballast they have in them

 

[TZaun]

Do you have floresent lighting above or around your scale?
I have seen these cause scales to drift due to the ballast they have in them

Yes, but wouldn't they cause it to drift all the time then, instead of only when I don't put an empty pan back on the scale? It's done it since the day I took it out of the box. With my old method, I always put the empty pan back on for a second while my Lyman is throwing the next charge, but I can't do that now. Like I said earlier, for some reason, if I put the empty pan back on the scale just long enough for it to read "0" then it will hold zero all day long. As soon as I don't do that, it starts to drift light. One of those things I guess. If Adam can give me a quick, easy way to re-zero the pan without having to re-set the charge weight, I probably wouldn't even bother sending it back.

 

[jlow]

Adam, how can you re-zero your pan without having to re-set your charge weight? Every different combo I've tried I always end up re-setting my charge weight. The problem I have is not with your product, rather my scale. For some reason my scale needs the empty pan to go back on and see a "0" before the next charge can go on. As long as I do that, it will hold a zero all day long as long as the temp in my reloading room doesn't change. With your auto trickler, that can't be done obviously, unless you want to trickle the whole charge. Right now I am using my Lyman to throw a charge 1.5 grains light and let your machine do the rest. My scale will drift .02 grains every 10-15 rounds and it doesn't just stop there. It will continually drift light. I will have to contact A&D eventually and find out what to do there.

I have not used the autotrickler a lot but I seem to remember that if you use "stop", you can re-zero. If you press "start" but don't press it for a significant amount of time, it does not reset the charge weight you inputted before. I know this happened because I came from the other direction i.e. I could not get it to reset and then realized that it only reset when you press "start" long enough to get that double blink in the display.

Still, a drifting zero is not good and could indicate there is a problem somewhere else with your scale.

 

[adamjmac]

I'm sort of confused about what the problem is, but for clarity and to start off I'll explain how the trickler electronics work:

When "started", it will start dispensing when the scale reads +/- 0.02 grains for about 1 second. It will also resume from a partial charge greater than 0.1 grains.

If you "stop", then it will wait until you press "start". If you press "start" with +/- 0.02 on the scale, it will resume from the previous target. So you can use this to pause for a few seconds at zero, if you want to re-zero the scale without the dispenser running.

The scale has a setting for auto-drifting back to zero. If it is within 0.02 or so, then it will auto correct to zero. The idea is that it accounts for changes in temperature or other things. I believe it is a good thing. Generally it takes less than a second to correct for minor deviations so by the time the trickler starts running again, it has corrected for true zero. Check the manual for the setting, there are different strengths you can set.

 

[ericbc7]

Hi Adam, just checking on shipping dates for the next batch (and adding a bump for thread lol).

 

[adamjmac]

Currently I've shipped every order placed up to May 5. Within the next 1-2 weeks I will be shipping a batch of Sartorius units, since I'm up to the point where that was first released. Then the remainder should go a week after that. I know it's slow but there are a lot of steps to be done and I am trying to get caught up as well as be prepared with an inventory for the future. The goal is in 3-4 weeks from now I'll have shipped everything ordered and be able to fill new orders within a week. Overall the production is 80% done for many more units than have sold but there are a few bottlenecks, notably 3D printing time and the more advanced electronics assembly that takes a lot of my evening time.

 

[sparky123321]

If you can incorporate a feed delay then I'd be very interested. Preferably adjustable or even just a wired standalone start button. Most of us drop light charges and only trickle the last grain or so.

 

[adamjmac]

What if you leave the pan off the scale and drop the light charge into it, then put it on the scale. Some have suggested rotating two pans which I think helps with this method.

 

[sparky123321]

Appreciate the suggestion, but these scales should always have a moment to zero out. Even just the air moving as you place the pan on the scales causes variance.

 

[adamjmac]

Appreciate the suggestion, but these scales should always have a moment to zero out. Even just the air moving as you place the pan on the scales causes variance.

Right, I like to let it start from zero and then drop my scoop. But you have to drop within the first few seconds or you might scoop over.

What could be done is to never dispense from zero. Force the user to drop something in, and then it would continue. I wouldn't want to do this for everyone but I could customize yours for this.

 

[sparky123321]

If I could get one that doesn't start until after some weight is added, say a grain or two, or has a manual start button I'd give it a try.

 

[1lnbrdg]

Mine works great as is. I could throw a short-charge and then let it trickle out the remaining needed though. Loaded 120 rounds last night, weighing powder and seating bullets on 2 different cartridges, 90 minutes in and out the door. Most time was spent on set-up for seating the different cartridges.

 

[adamjmac]

If I could get one that doesn't start until after some weight is added, say a grain or two, or has a manual start button I'd give it a try.

Sure, place an order and I'll make a note to customize it if that's what you would like. autotrickler.com

 

[jlow]

What if you leave the pan off the scale and drop the light charge into it, then put it on the scale. Some have suggested rotating two pans which I think helps with this method.

This is basically what I do. When the charge is weight, I put another pan that has a light charge in and switch it out with the one that is done. That way, I can be doing other things like weighting the case, case with powder etc (with another balance) and when I am done, I can repeat the cycle. All it takes is two pan that weights the same and that can be done by using a little tin snipper (for coarse weight adjustment) and a Dremel tool (for fine weight adjustment).

 

[memilanuk]

Adam,

Given that I don't use powder scoops - pretty sure I'd spill even more powder than I already do, using those dang things - but instead use a powder measure like I'd imagine most folks do... I think it would be helpful to have some way to let the scale settle out and be re-tared *without* having to lose the setpoint and then have to reset it.

Monte

 

[adamjmac]

The trickler waits until the weight reaches 0.02 or less for 1 second. This is enough time for it to settle to zero on my scale. It could be simply made to wait 5 seconds, or require that the weight be exactly or closer to zero. It will not start dispensing when the weight is greater than 0.02 but less than 0.1, since that clearly means it needs to be zeroed. So what would the code change be... if I set the delay time to 2 or 3 seconds, would that solve sparky's problem as well? However that's 2-3 seconds of additional time per charge for an accuracy gain of less than one scale division, so personally I wouldn't prefer that.

 

[jlow]

The trickler waits until the weight reaches 0.02 or less for 1 second. This is enough time for it to settle to zero on my scale. It could be simply made to wait 5 seconds, or require that the weight be exactly or closer to zero. It will not start dispensing when the weight is greater than 0.02 but less than 0.1, since that clearly means it needs to be zeroed. So what would the code change be... if I set the delay time to 2 or 3 seconds, would that solve sparky's problem as well? However that's 2-3 seconds of additional time per charge for an accuracy gain of less than one scale division, so personally I wouldn't prefer that.

Agreed! It's not necessary.

 

[1lnbrdg]

I've tried a couple of times with the scale empty. Double check that it is showing the -7.773g (tare weight of my pan) and then put the pan on the scale with a light charge. Works as it should.

Is the empty scale reading the -7.773g as accurate as checking that the pan reads -0- before starting the process?

 

[adamjmac]

I've tried a couple of times with the scale empty. Double check that it is showing the -7.773g (tare weight of my pan) and then put the pan on the scale with a light charge. Works as it should.

Is the empty scale reading the -7.773g as accurate as checking that the pan reads -0- before starting the process?

Pretty much. The only difference I can think of is that the scale will auto-zero itself when very close to zero which doesn't happen if your reference is -7.773.

 

[Dakota_Mike]

You may be able to install something like this for future revisions so that the user can select a couple different options like not starting at zero. That is assuming there is room and you have inputs available on the micro.

I prefer to transfer a load about .2-.3gr under and as long as my scale reads -149.96 (my pan weight) I am good. You do have to watch and occasionally re zero as it will drift both up and down depending on the day. I myself would prefer it did not start with a zero weight as I have tried the scoops and made a mess so went with a precharged weight from a chargemaster with some setting changes for faster throwing.