Been doing a bit of research again on electronic scales. Irrespective of which scale/setup one feels to be "the best," one thing I've often seen mentioned is things like "it worked better when I got it off the bench with the press" and the like.

That got me to wondering if an electronic scale's performance, any brand or model, could not be improved by isolating it from the work surface? I'm thinking maybe a piece of counter-top granite (or maybe two, glued together, for more mass?) with vibration-dampening feet on the four corners?

Someone posted pictures of their reloading bench here recently and they had their scale mounted on a slab of rock, granite I guess.

It certainly won't hurt anything. Vibration dampening would likely help as well if it can be effectively done.

Now all that being said, unless you have a lab-grade balance, it may not be worth the effort and costs.

Leveling and consistent technique might be more important.

RMD

I am new to "lab grade" scales having had one for two weeks now. Isolating the scale from vibration while weighing is necessary but, more importantly, in my experience, is eliminating any breeze or wind. I found that I have a hvac vent behind a bookshelf that is within 6 feet of the scale. I had to seal the area between the bookshelf and the wall to keep the wind from upsetting the scale when the A/C was on. While this may sound like common sense, the breeze was completely imperceptible to my skin but its impact could clearly be seen on the scale's screen.

I would say that the scale needs a level and stable surface with minimal vibration and NO (zero) wind. The scale has trained me to move slowly when moving the pan on/off the scale and to breath slowly and in a different direction.

I have noticed a very positive improvement in consistency of velocity and some very low standard deviations from using the scale.

Henryrifle

quote:

Originally posted by henryrifle:
I am new to "lab grade" scales having had one for two weeks now. Isolating the scale from vibration while weighing is necessary but, more importantly, in my experience, is eliminating any breeze or wind.

YES, this. Turn your fans off. You can actually see the difference in how the calibrated weight bounces around with the fan on or off. I guess this is why high accuracy lab balances are always inside of a glass case.
 

Also clean power and no transformers (ie flourescent ballasts) nearby or off same curcuit. Once I moved mine and plugged it into a socket not common with the flourescent shop light feed, I noticed an improvement in stability.

Wind/breeze is on my short list of learned experiences with my new scale. Move slow around these scales...


And remember the digit that is moving is probably not as meaningful as it appears.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
I guess this is why high accuracy lab balances are always inside of a glass case.

Keep the scale under a cake dome and most of your problems go away.

quote:

And remember the digit that is moving is probably not as meaningful as it appears.

Good point. That 0.01 Gr may not be important depending upon your shooting discipline. I never have under stood how the benchrest guys reload accurately under field conditions.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
I guess this is why high accuracy lab balances are always inside of a glass case.

Keep the scale under a cake dome and most of your problems go away.

Yeah, but it's tough to reach when it's under the dome.

The FX-120i comes with its own enclosure. I remove 2 sides and leave a top on it and turn off the ceiling fan. The AC stays on but the nearest vent points to other way.

It's also a good idea to keep the cellphone away from the scale.

Sure, plus getting it off the bench plus never moving it. Mine is mounted on a shelf on the wall. It stays right there, haven't moved it in like 8yrs?

quote:

Good point. That 0.01 Gr may not be important depending upon your shooting discipline. I never have under stood how the benchrest guys reload accurately under field conditions.

Even for a bench rest shooter, truing to do better than 1/10gr is pointless. The internal case volume will be great variation than 1/10gr. Most good scales & measures will measure that fine.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:

quote:

Good point. That 0.01 Gr may not be important depending upon your shooting discipline. I never have under stood how the benchrest guys reload accurately under field conditions.

Even for a bench rest shooter, truing to do better than 1/10gr is pointless. The internal case volume will be great variation than 1/10gr. Most good scales & measures will measure that fine.

But failing to true to the nearest 0.02 Gr fails to satisfy my OCD needs.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Even for a bench rest shooter, truing to do better than 1/10gr is pointless. The internal case volume will be great variation than 1/10gr. Most good scales & measures will measure that fine.

I sure that's true (*), but, thing I learned from a buddy of mine back in my street-racing days was lots of little things add up to a big thing. It's kind of like exx1976's comment in a previous thread I'd started: "...the ammo you produce is only as accurate as your weakest link." Idea is to eliminate as many "weak links" as possible. The weak links you can't control, well... you can't control

That "lots of little things" resulted in a mostly street-stock car that never failed to beat anything in its class on the street, btw (And it got astonishing highway mileage, to boot.)

(*) I assume 99-44/100% of posters here know a whole heckuva lot more about reloading than I.