George Koller on thu 4 mar 04
Hello ClayFolks,
Found a scale with 1/2 gram accuracy, and 3 KG max
- for 40 US$. The Escali 63DS. More below.
It came in yesterday and it lives up to its specs but is
rather a flimsy li'l fella with a 6" by 6" foot print... about
what you'd expect. On the other hand, the strain gage -
the heart of the thing seems robust and well made.
My plan has been to test using in my spray booth. For
a number of reasons it was not useable - see below.
But that was yesterday.....
Now it is separated into two sections and each section has
been adopted to better suit the environment it is working in.
The flimsy scale is mounted solidly, the display is in a much
better location - I can see/hear it much better, also now it
will not get covered with the glaze mist.
I'm writing this up because I suspect there are other
"dedicated" applications for a robusticated studio scale
with features like Tare and Hold - for a total price of
under $50 (if you don't count the boards, screws, and
duct tape).
Warning:
This project will clearly void your waranty.... this requires
working with some sissy little wires - but there are only four
of them and they do screw down well to those modular
phone jacks - just a trick to do. It worked right off for me
so it can't be too hard.
.
More about the scale:
This little fella - the Escali 63DS 3KG scale has 1/2 gram resolution and
3KG max and the basic features like Tare, Hold, LBS, etc. Bought it at
American Weigh (get it?) Scale - no connection. It has 1/2 gram resolution
and accuracy (I have tested it against my 1/10 gram accuracy scale - and
they
agreed nicely). 1-866-643-3444. A guy named Lee was rewarding to
talk to.
My first test in the spray booth revealed these problems:
1: The display was difficult to see under my tile tray.
2: The read out was getting covered in a mist of glaze - making it even
more
difficult to read.
3. It's darned awkward to hit the Tare button without touching the tray
thus
4. The 6" by 6" "foot print" of the lil fella seemed too shakey / whimpy
for the
task
Soooooo, I started taking it apart and one thing led to the next last
night.... it's
handy to share a building with wood workers. Now the thing looks and feels
like
it could weigh cement blocks, and it has also been water proofed.
The case is plastic, it worked out that I could leave both major sections as
they
were. Everything you'll need will likely be found at a larger hardware
stores or a
Radio Shack kind of place, not to mention officeMax/Depot and etc. You
need
the FOUR WIRE Modular Jack & the appropriate cable - be careful - there's at
least one way to mess this up (I found it, cost me a trip). I used some 9
wood
screws with nice big washers to fasten everything down.
Here is a sequence I'd suggest - you need to snip off a few tabs, detach the
buzzer
and such along the way also, here are the main steps:
1. Take out the 4 plastic "foot plugs" and remove the four screws under
them
2. Remove the two small screws at the front of the panel
3. Take off the plastic guard from the weigh plate. (snaps out)
4. Unsrew the weigh plate (two bolts) from the strain gage
5. Lift the top off and snip the 4 wires from the strain gage to the
front panel - about half way - plan this carefully - don't end with
tight wires
on the strain gage!
6. The wires all colored so this is pretty easy.
Strip the 4 wires on each side (base & panel) about 3/8" and
attach these to a modular 4 wire phone jack. (Stripping these
little wires
the number one trickiest thing you'll need to do - not for faint of
heart - and
not for the sausage fingered guys.)
NOTE: The modules will cross wires so you need to allow for this -
you are just
splicing the cable so if you get confused (like i did) just use a
continuity meter and
you'll get it right.
7. Use the four foot holes with screws and washers to fasten the base
to
a board of your desired shape.
I used the 2 forward holes on the panel (where the plastic weigh
piece would be
guided thru) to screw into a piece of 3/4" MDF mounted on top of a
bigger piece -
perfect to replace the body and put the front panel at the right
angle.
8. You can use those tap connectors (radio shack cat # 64-3081) to
move the
battery pack over to the control panel side.
9. I attached a piece of thin plywood to the weigh plate for my
purposes also.
That's about it. That strain gage seems like one neat piece of
engineering - new to
me is that objects put on the right or left edge get added in same as if
centered - the
aluminum(?) bar has two holes in it and two strain gages epoxied on the
sides -
somehow this thing electronically adds these different forces and does it
accurately.
For example as my HVLP system unit is shooting it will register about 30
grams of force
from any which angle. Its fast - but not too fast or sensitive to let me
see how much
weight it is gaining if I let off the trigger and wait a second for a stable
reading. Its
working for my purposes......
george "haven't had this much fun since my last heathkit" koller (Hope BG
doesn't
have a copyright on this.).
sturgeon bay, wi - door county
northport, mi - leelanau county
two great places separated by 100 miles of cold great lake.
Steven Slatin on thu 4 mar 04
George --
A very neat approach to a vexing problem with various scales.
I know it's a pain to ask, but could you post a photo of the
Completed project? I've been looking at various options for
Scales, and was thinking of some more expensive scales to avoid
Problems with structural weaknesses in the less expensive, but
Sensitive models.
Regardless of whether this is do-able or not, congrats on what
sounds like a really neat solution to a common problem.
Regards -- Steve Slatin
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of George
Koller
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 9:52 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: How to Robusticate a $40 Scale for remote Read/Control
Hello ClayFolks,
Found a scale with 1/2 gram accuracy, and 3 KG max
- for 40 US$. The Escali 63DS. More below.
It came in yesterday and it lives up to its specs but is
rather a flimsy li'l fella with a 6" by 6" foot print... about
what you'd expect. On the other hand, the strain gage -
the heart of the thing seems robust and well made.
My plan has been to test using in my spray booth. For
a number of reasons it was not useable - see below.
But that was yesterday.....
Now it is separated into two sections and each section has
been adopted to better suit the environment it is working in.
The flimsy scale is mounted solidly, the display is in a much
better location - I can see/hear it much better, also now it
will not get covered with the glaze mist.
I'm writing this up because I suspect there are other
"dedicated" applications for a robusticated studio scale
with features like Tare and Hold - for a total price of
under $50 (if you don't count the boards, screws, and
duct tape).
Warning:
This project will clearly void your waranty.... this requires
working with some sissy little wires - but there are only four
of them and they do screw down well to those modular
phone jacks - just a trick to do. It worked right off for me
so it can't be too hard.
.
More about the scale:
This little fella - the Escali 63DS 3KG scale has 1/2 gram resolution
and
3KG max and the basic features like Tare, Hold, LBS, etc. Bought it at
American Weigh (get it?) Scale - no connection. It has 1/2 gram
resolution
and accuracy (I have tested it against my 1/10 gram accuracy scale - and
they
agreed nicely). 1-866-643-3444. A guy named Lee was rewarding to
talk to.
My first test in the spray booth revealed these problems:
1: The display was difficult to see under my tile tray.
2: The read out was getting covered in a mist of glaze - making it even
more
difficult to read.
3. It's darned awkward to hit the Tare button without touching the tray
thus
4. The 6" by 6" "foot print" of the lil fella seemed too shakey /
whimpy
for the
task
Soooooo, I started taking it apart and one thing led to the next last
night.... it's
handy to share a building with wood workers. Now the thing looks and
feels
like
it could weigh cement blocks, and it has also been water proofed.
The case is plastic, it worked out that I could leave both major
sections as
they
were. Everything you'll need will likely be found at a larger hardware
stores or a
Radio Shack kind of place, not to mention officeMax/Depot and etc. You
need
the FOUR WIRE Modular Jack & the appropriate cable - be careful -
there's at
least one way to mess this up (I found it, cost me a trip). I used
some 9
wood
screws with nice big washers to fasten everything down.
Here is a sequence I'd suggest - you need to snip off a few tabs, detach
the
buzzer
and such along the way also, here are the main steps:
1. Take out the 4 plastic "foot plugs" and remove the four screws
under
them
2. Remove the two small screws at the front of the panel
3. Take off the plastic guard from the weigh plate. (snaps out)
4. Unsrew the weigh plate (two bolts) from the strain gage
5. Lift the top off and snip the 4 wires from the strain gage to
the
front panel - about half way - plan this carefully - don't end
with
tight wires
on the strain gage!
6. The wires all colored so this is pretty easy.
Strip the 4 wires on each side (base & panel) about 3/8" and
attach these to a modular 4 wire phone jack. (Stripping these
little wires
the number one trickiest thing you'll need to do - not for
faint of
heart - and
not for the sausage fingered guys.)
NOTE: The modules will cross wires so you need to allow for
this -
you are just
splicing the cable so if you get confused (like i did) just use
a
continuity meter and
you'll get it right.
7. Use the four foot holes with screws and washers to fasten the
base
to
a board of your desired shape.
I used the 2 forward holes on the panel (where the plastic weigh
piece would be
guided thru) to screw into a piece of 3/4" MDF mounted on top of
a
bigger piece -
perfect to replace the body and put the front panel at the right
angle.
8. You can use those tap connectors (radio shack cat # 64-3081) to
move the
battery pack over to the control panel side.
9. I attached a piece of thin plywood to the weigh plate for my
purposes also.
That's about it. That strain gage seems like one neat piece of
engineering - new to
me is that objects put on the right or left edge get added in same as if
centered - the
aluminum(?) bar has two holes in it and two strain gages epoxied on the
sides -
somehow this thing electronically adds these different forces and does
it
accurately.
For example as my HVLP system unit is shooting it will register about 30
grams of force
from any which angle. Its fast - but not too fast or sensitive to let
me
see how much
weight it is gaining if I let off the trigger and wait a second for a
stable
reading. Its
working for my purposes......
george "haven't had this much fun since my last heathkit" koller (Hope
BG
doesn't
have a copyright on this.).
sturgeon bay, wi - door county
northport, mi - leelanau county
two great places separated by 100 miles of cold great lake.
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