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Beam scale setup
- Thread starter 10wt308
- Start date
I have a screw on the beam end that adjust the frame. On the pan end of the beam there are two nuts (jam nuts) that can calibrate the beam. Its a 50 year old pacific. I’ll try to post a https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...&ved=0ahUKEwiJsu-OopvpAhURS60KHUviDTYQ8gIIvgM
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Scales must be leveled to work. Not so with a balance.
Scales have calibrated numbers dependent on the weight settings, which are dependent on level for accuracy.
A balance has no calibrated numbers and is dependent on setting the zero with a known weight (calibration weights) for zero. It isn't dependent on level; my balance can have the indicator end 3/8" higher than the pan end and still calibtate to zero. I would lose vertical range of motion for the pan, but depending on the charge weight, it would make no difference.
People seem to not know the difference between a "beam SCALE" and a "powder BALANCE".
Scales have calibrated numbers dependent on the weight settings, which are dependent on level for accuracy.
A balance has no calibrated numbers and is dependent on setting the zero with a known weight (calibration weights) for zero. It isn't dependent on level; my balance can have the indicator end 3/8" higher than the pan end and still calibtate to zero. I would lose vertical range of motion for the pan, but depending on the charge weight, it would make no difference.
People seem to not know the difference between a "beam SCALE" and a "powder BALANCE".
Tom, I am not entirely clear what your question is but I offer the following.
my scale sits on a rigid platform that allows me to level it (the platform) on both axis. although your beam scale's zero adjustment does in effect provide you with a near perfect left to right level. What the scale can not do by itself is level itself front to back. For a balance scale to be most accurate the weight must be equally shared by both pivot knife edges.
my scale sits on a rigid platform that allows me to level it (the platform) on both axis. although your beam scale's zero adjustment does in effect provide you with a near perfect left to right level. What the scale can not do by itself is level itself front to back. For a balance scale to be most accurate the weight must be equally shared by both pivot knife edges.
This question of whether a beam-type powder scale (really a balance, as pwc correctly pointed out) needs to rest on a level platform comes up from time to time. The last time it did, I took my 50-yr-old RCBS 510 and ran a little test. First, (again as pwc correctly pointed out), the side-to-side leveling of the bench is completely unnecessary - as long as you can zero the beam - because the beam operates independently of the frame. I knew that would be the case but tested it anyway, placing the scale at a number of obviously odd angles, using one of my check weights, and finding no difference in either accuracy (the ability to get a known weight correct) or precision (the ability to reproduce the same weight multiple times). (If there are any other scientists out there, yes, I know strictly speaking a balance measures mass, not weight.)
I next checked the front-to-back leveling question, propping up the frame of the scale at a few angles that anyone could see were clearly not level - I didn't attempt to measure, but I would say up to around 15 degrees or more off level - and was somewhat surprised to find that there wasn't any difference there either. Now, I'm sure that at some point the front-to-back angle would become so severe as to impact performance, but there's apparently no need to get the level out and agonize over it. And, of course, other types/brands of scales may perform differently.
I next checked the front-to-back leveling question, propping up the frame of the scale at a few angles that anyone could see were clearly not level - I didn't attempt to measure, but I would say up to around 15 degrees or more off level - and was somewhat surprised to find that there wasn't any difference there either. Now, I'm sure that at some point the front-to-back angle would become so severe as to impact performance, but there's apparently no need to get the level out and agonize over it. And, of course, other types/brands of scales may perform differently.
scatterbrain
New member
My RCBS M500 and 5 0 5 both have that adjustment screw in the base and so does my old Lyman. I have always used screw to get the zero on the beam, but, I'm left handed.
This is correct. If you don't zero the balance with it level, you are compromising the resolution of the readings, though a small error off horizontal won't do it much. The reason is not obvious because we conceive the balance to be an arm centered on its center of gravity. It is not. Consider the traditional two-pan balance. If the beam were on its center of gravity, when the two pans had equal masses in them, the arm position would be stable at any angle as gravity would pull on neither weight any harder than on the other. In order to tend to go horizontal with equal weights, the fulcrum (knife-edge pivot point) for the balance is above the arm's center of gravity so that when the arm is tilted, the center of gravity of the balance arm below the fulcrum is swung to one side and starts adding torque from the pull of gravity on that side, causing the arm to go back to horizontal. But that means the arm's torque due to gravity's pull on its center of mass is adding to the pull on the mass on the side the CG swings toward. If you zero it to the zero mark on the base with the base out of level by adjusting the jam nuts to neutralize the pull on the center of mass, this changes the angle at which gravity pulls the mass being measured down and increases the pull on the displaced CM. The combination causes the angular displacement of the beam for a given mass difference to decrease. The little calibration marks on the pointer scale would need to be spaced closer together to remain accurate at that point.
big al hunter
New member
. I have a screw on the beam end that adjust the frame. On the pan end of the beam there are two nuts (jam nuts) that can calibrate the beam. Its a 50 year old pacific.
Put the scale on your work bench/table. Set the scale sliding weight markers so that all are on 0. Then adjust the frame leveling screw on the beam end of the scale until the scale reads 0 on the left/beam end of the scale. Don't mess with the nuts on the end of the beam at the pan end unless you read the manual first. The newer manual for the Hornady LNL that you posted pictures of will be the same information that you need for your older scale. But it is more readily available online.
Put the scale on your work bench/table. Set the scale sliding weight markers so that all are on 0. Then adjust the frame leveling screw on the beam end of the scale until the scale reads 0 on the left/beam end of the scale.
Yep, ain't rocket science.
Don