OP, do you really have your heart set on a beam scale???
I'm not knocking them and used one for several decades. I did have to replace the knife edges and the V blocks a few times. The scale is an Ohaus, close to sixty years old and still going strong.
I tried out several different balance beam scales, didn't find any noteworthy differences between them, including RCBS, Hornady, Redding and Lyman. All were basically knock offs of each other, except for the LEE
I finally ended up with a Dillon Precision D-Terminator, now appx ten years old. I've weighed thousands of charges on it and still haven't had to replace the batteries.
I do check the batteries to make sure they're still OK as far as charging and leakage.
I was able to get a couple of friends to bring over their digital scales for comparison.
One brought over a DS-750 Digital Reloading Scale
DS-750 Digital Reloading Scale
4.4 out of 5 stars 2,931
CDN$49.99
5 used and new from CDN$49. which he had picked up from Amazon, another brought over a Hornady G2-1500, which is also a very small mini digital, for around the same price.
I compared them to my Lyman D5, Ohaus 505, RCBS 5-0-5 and my Dillon Precision.
All of them weighed the same charge, in the same tray with close to identical results. The digitals were all within a tenth of a grain reading. The cheap ones were just as accurate and repeatable as the relatively expensive Dillon.
The beam balances were all accurate and repeatable on the same charge/tray and the only differences, around a tenth of a grain again, depending on how much care had been set to zero the balance bar.
All of the scales, balance or digital, weighed that same charge to +-.01 grain of the weight originally calculated on the Dillon.
I prefer the digital types. I have the Dillon as well as an MtM mini digital DS-750, which is identical to the C$50 unit above.
The only reason I prefer the digitals is because the load cells used to determine weight aren't bothered by a bit of a breeze across them, say from a fan or an open door, window.
The balance beam types are very dependable but are subject to breeze influence and their knife edges on the balance beam, pivot point, wear against the V blocks.
There is no way to lube those points. If you try, your results will not be consistent.
I used to repair/rezero huge triple balance beam scales to measure the ingredients used in making glass for commercial containers. When they were finally phased out and replaced with load cells, we ran into different issues, but very few and easily fixed. Maintenance expenses went way down and the operators of the equipment could easily check the zeroes by pressing a few buttons and getting readouts.
Same with digital powder scales. All you have to do to keep them accurate is use the little weight that comes with them to check the zero set on start up. Just press the reset button and check it out with the supplied weight.
The only other thing, the digitals have four rubber pads to rest on. The unit needs to be stable and works best when approximately level.
