My scale rabbit hole

hogie

hogie

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I went down the rabbit hole on beam scales. I have my original RCBS 505 from my kit I bought around 2005. It was good but I ended up getting a chargemaster about 4 years later.

I like beam scales and started researching them again. That led into buying a few lately .

I purchased a RCBS 10 10 scale couple months ago. Went through it , take apart and cleaned up all the surfaces. It was used a fair amount. Good shape but not great. Its actually still weighing correct and repeatable results 90% of the time. Not as good as I was hoping for.

Then I came across a Ohaus 10 10 on Ebay. Price was right and looked like new. Get it and realized thats its a metric relaoding scale. It never occurred to my that they made metric reloading scales. Grams not grains. I don't believe it was used at all due to being metric. So I do my process of cleaning everything again. Use conversion calculation to grains. This scale is dead on. Comes back to zero, add wieght, check perfect. Its operating just like it should.
Now I have a really good scale, but its metric. Not the end of the world but I would prefer grains.

Once again I'm looking on Ebay. I find what appears to be a brand new Lyman M5. Seller will ship from USA. Took forever to get here. If this has been used it was minimal. Looks like new. So once again take it apart and clean everything. Set it up and its dead on. Whatever check wieght I put on it's perfect. Take wieght off and scale back at zero with no issues.

Basically all I'm doing is using alcohol to clean all the surfaces where the bearing are. Remove them and get rid of dust. Same with the magnets , take them out and clean with alcohol. Polish the pan holder where it contacts the hanger. Funny how doing a few little things changed how consistent scales work.

I figure that these are kinda cool on there own. I like antiques, so there is that factor on them as well. I will be using them.1786394002263763335959901421255.jpg1786394315306320671176714055923.jpg17863944713932017416873548406261.jpg
 
I have owned and used an RCBS 10-10 for decades. Always worked well.
I have a couple of chargemasters now, and they have saved me a lot of
time at the bench. My balance beam scale to verify is now an RCBS 304
In my opinion, an elite scale. Important to keep them clean, a small amount
of dust on a pivot can wreak havoc with consistency. Dave.
 
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I started with a 505, then moved to a 10 10, before going to an RCBS scale, then finally a Chargemaster. I haven't had issues with any scale, other than when helping a friend who has a LEE scale. It's as if LEE designed their scale to frustrate people, with so much plastic, and no magnetic damping.
 
stubblejumper said:
I started with a 505, then moved to a 10 10, before going to an RCBS scale, then finally a Chargemaster. I haven't had issues with any scale, other than when helping a friend who has a LEE scale. It's as if LEE designed their scale to frustrate people, with so much plastic, and no magnetic damping.
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You can use your thumb as a damper to speed things up a bit, but the best way to fix a LEE scale is to buy something else.
 
jethunter said:
the best way to fix a LEE scale is to buy something else.
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Haha, good advice.

I like my ohaus made rcbs 505 and 10-10 scales.

Little tip for OP and others using these scales: glue a little piece of foam where the beam arm end rests so when you take the pan off the beam does not crash down on a metal surface but lands on the foam.
 
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