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Posted: 3/28/2010 6:29:22 PM EDT
| i have 3 scales 5-0-5 a lee balance beam and one of those cheap 30 dollar scales from midway. I zeroed them all use the 5-0-5 to get 20.7gr of powder move it to the lee it says its high move it to the digital one and again says its high 22.2gr Im to ocd i think i dumped all the powder back into the can. I figured i cant trust the digital one too much but if i throw the 20g weight on it calibrate it, it shows 308.8 gr moved the same weight to the 5-0-5 and it balanced out at 308.8 Do i just trust the beam scale or what? because it still doesnt match the lee beam scale. Im using imr 4198 because its the only thing i have left for powder so im working up but the window for that in .223 is kinda small 19.7 to 21.3 so if the other 2 are right im outside of the window. I miss having h335 |
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I've posted this several times in the past. I picked out a shiny new dime and gave it to all my friends to weigh on their scales:
34.4 Dillon electronic 34.5 Lyman beam 34.5 Redding beam 34.5 PACT electronic 34.6 Dillon beam 34.7 RCBS beam Of course, none of that really matters, because you start low and work up using your scales and equipment... Ten percent off of 21.3 is 19.2. Start there with the best scale you own (the 505) and work up. |
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Quoted:
id be fine if my difference was .1 or .2 but its as much as 2gr thats enough to blow my pistol rounds apart probably I'd say to trust the 2 that are the same.. Obviously there you have 3 scales and 2 of them read the same, the one that is way off would be suspect.. You need some calibration weights to check for 100%. I've never used a beam scale, But I trust digital devices more anyway.. My dad worked in the tool calibration department for Rolls Royce (Jet Engines) for almost 30 years and the amount of mechanical test equiptment that failed calibration vs the digital test equiptment that failed was HUGE... One reason Digital is better is because there's no mechanics to wear out, be affected by heat/cold or by being droped, etc.. Also typically Digital equiptment has simple calibrations which are done often which keeps them on track vs mechanical equiptment which is typically only calibrated on a timed schedule in a company, at home is probably never calibrated.. Also the fact that Digital equiptment can be calibrated, alot of mechanical equiptment doesn't have a calibration adjustment, it's either right or it's not. -Masta |
| Bone84, that is similar to what I saw when I bought one of the Midway el-cheapo digital scales. It showed a couple of grains higher than the beam scale I have trusted for 45-years or more. I Discovered if I turned on the digital scale and let it just idle until it turns off (1-min delay) and turn it back on, it would read within .2 or .3 after warming up. I reload in a climate controlled area and that works. Outside in the cold I doubt the digital would ever weigh correct. Given what you have I would trust the beam scale. ....Ed |
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to check your scale you need a check or calibrateing weight set I check my scale before each session Dillon, stock # 12297 $22.50 or stock # 12458 $45.95 I had the same problem with scales ( varrious brands ) am now useing Dillon D.terminator (very happy with it ) ( electronic scales need to warm up 10 to 20 min. before use ) |
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Coming from working in the medical science area for 30 years, I can tell you that digital scales can be very accurate and reliable, but it depends….
As it is with anything we use, if you buy the cheapest one, you get what you pay for. This is especially true when it comes to delicate instruments. Even the more expensive ones are not all made the same. The other things that affect accuracy is how the instrument is set up – is it sitting level, has it been allow to equilibrate? Is there a breeze in the weighting area? Is the balance sitting on a solid, non-tilting, and non-vibrating surface - for example, if you have a tumbler working at another corner of the table - that is big trouble. I know that is an obvious one, but sometimes even things like a refrigerator (because it has a vibrating compressor) close by may be a problem. Has the balance been abused – yes, dropping it or dropping heavy weights on it will make it not happy. If you calibrate the balance, make sure you use the appropriate weights. Say for example if you are going to be weighing in the 5 grain range, don’t use a 100 grain weight to calibrate your instrument. If you are going to use a small calibration weight, do not touch the calibration weight with your dirty finger since the oils and sweat on your fingers will make it heavier and that will throw of f your calibration. Initially, if you don’t trust your balance, you can set up a method to double check. Start with weighting your empty brass (for example it might weight 96.32 grains), weigh your powder (22.04 grains), weight your brass with the powder (118.32 grains). The difference in weight of your brass with and without the powder should be close to your powder weight (118.32-96.32 = 22.00 grains – OK). |
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