Beam scales - A new idea

[allan1066]

Just thought I'd share my new idea with you guys.

Anyone who prefers to use a beam scale and has a smartphone, this will cost you nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=slqE3kodO8Y

[fgw_in_fla]

A few months ago there was a guy that put up something similar using a small video camera & a monitor with his scale & electric auto-trickler (or whatever it was).
Pretty cool gadget. Something like that could come in real useful for use more mature reloader with arthritic afflictions. I know I get a little frustrated when the powder measure develops its own personality & throws charges varying by 1.5gr. Sometimes, I think mine is possesed....

Frank in Fla.

[Blue Avenger]

Nice camera Idea.



Frank, what brand of dispenser?

[12fv 308]

Thats great idea. I stopped using my Lee beam scale becuase it was hard to read. I bought a cheap digital scale but after a year of light use it broke, and I didnt trust it.. went back to the beam and dont think I will stop using it..

[allan1066]

A few months ago there was a guy that put up something similar using a small video camera & a monitor with his scale & electric auto-trickler (or whatever it was).
Pretty cool gadget. Something like that could come in real useful for use more mature reloader with arthritic afflictions. I know I get a little frustrated when the powder measure develops its own personality & throws charges varying by 1.5gr. Sometimes, I think mine is possesed....

Frank in Fla.

I've just dragged up the older thread frank - That was me posted that video too.

[allan1066]

A few months ago there was a guy that put up something similar using a small video camera & a monitor with his scale & electric auto-trickler (or whatever it was).
Pretty cool gadget. Something like that could come in real useful for use more mature reloader with arthritic afflictions. I know I get a little frustrated when the powder measure develops its own personality & throws charges varying by 1.5gr. Sometimes, I think mine is possesed....

Frank in Fla.

This is where I first showed the camera idea.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011/05/forum-member-rigs-video-display-for-balance-beam-scale/

[fgw_in_fla]

That set up in the video is pretty much the same as the one somebody posted here a few months ago. I can't remember the guys name but he had the auto-dispenser with video cam & computer screen (I believe it was a computer screen) and he was telling me & someone else about the set up.
They lost me when they started getting into the computer / video specs & such.

As a matter of fact......

I just looked at the link again & scrolled down a wee bit. That was the video I was talking about.
Y'all should know better than to make me try to remember something from that long ago. Now I gotta take a few million aspirins & lay down.

Frank in Pain....

[fgw_in_fla]

I've also noticed over the months that I've been loitering around here, I see several of y'all trying a digital scale, have it break, malfunction, give false readings, whatever and go back to a beam. Does anyone make a reliable diggy scale or are they all junk?

Or do you have to spend the grandkids inheritance to get a decent one?

I take a notion to try one every now & again but then I read a few posts here or some other reloading site & see guys getting frustrated by them (diggy scales).
I'm getting to the point where I'd like a little better scale for my room. The 'ol Lee Safety Beam is getting harder to read as time goes on between my eyesight & the paint wearing off.
Frank in Fla

[kelbro]

Wish I had room on my bench for a laptop :)

[243LPR]

I've been using a digital from midway,frankford arsenal I think,for years now and has worked great so far.I think they're only about $25.

[kschilling]

One more gadget to add to all the other stuff...... Cool idea.... but execution doesn't seem as smooth.

[thomae]

I have a 20 year old (give or take a few) Pact digital scale. Still works like a champ. My only complaint is that it does not have the built-in recesses to hold the checkweights.

[mnbogboy2]

Back in the early 80s I set up something kind of similar but it used an electric eye to stop my "homemade" tricklers....The first tricker was a modified Redding that used a gearmotor for fast charging...The second modified trickler used a second gearmotor only slower to trickle in after the first motor was shut down by a preliminary "electric eye" which was activated by beam position....the second and slower trickler trickled in the last part of the charge until a second "eye" shut it down at zero.....It was slow and only was accurate to a tenth of a grain because of powder clumping in the Redding trickler....If I only knew the "straw" trick back then....I made a second automatic powder scale a few years later with a stepper motor and digital circuitry this one was faster and only used one "trickler" but again the accuracy was only a tenth of a grain....I trickle in to a "kernal" or so when doing it by hand...But thats just me...

The unit was very bulky and was dismantled twice for moves a couple of houses and relationships ago....Parts were lost and it was never put together after that.....Then they came out with the "Charge masters"......But I never bought one I only load 1 or 2 thousand rounds a year now for my rifles and weigh every charge by hand on an old Bonanza model "C"...

The authors idea is good..because the beam scale when cared for and maintained properly should never read a grossly erroneous charge...Most electronic scales have the possibility to error that the user may be unaware of. The mechanics of a beam scale will reduce the likelyhood of major error....Within reasonable affordability a good beam scale (without magnetic dampening) will often weigh more accurate than an affordable electronic scale.....

Just my .02,
Randy

[allan1066]

The authors idea is good..because the beam scale when cared for and maintained properly should never read a grossly erroneous charge...Most electronic scales have the possibility to error that the user may be unaware of. The mechanics of a beam scale will reduce the likelyhood of major error....Within reasonable affordability a good beam scale (without magnetic dampening) will often weigh more accurate than an affordable electronic scale.....

Just my .02,
Randy

I totally agree with Randy - I have a good many beam scales and some of my favorites are the oil damped ones such as the old Webster or even the Redding No1 that were in use well before the magnetically damped arrived on the scene in the late 1960's.

Something like the Redding No 1 can be picked up for pennies but can easily be modified with an added magnetic damper and a better pan-hanger set-up. And because they only weigh to 300 gns they are also easier to get to react to a single kernel of something like Varget.

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