When at the local Walmart the other day, I decided to look for a scale so I could weigh all my cars to NMRA standards. I found a digital postal scale for 25 bucks which is a bit much to me; but that was the only scale they had.
I’m perfectly fine with an older dial scale (I had one that got broke at work, so I fixed it but had to give it back). And I really don’t need all the bells and whistles. Anyone know of anything cheaper that would work?
All else fails, I could make a balancing scale.
I think I got mine at the grocery store, in with the cooking utensils. Cost maybe $7-8, made for weighing ingredients like in cake mix or something I guess.
When I read the topic of your post I originally thought “What’s-a-the-matter? You no-a-like-a ‘Do-Re-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do’?”
Now that you have picked yourself up off of the floor after rolling around with rib-splitting laughter . . . . . . . . . .
To be honest I think you are going to have an extremely difficult time finding an accurate–let’s define that as a scale with ±1% accuracy–for less than the 25 bucks you encountered on your trip to Walmart. I will give you a couple of possibilities.
Firstly, someone–I’m going to say Micro-Mark but I can’t find my current catalog at this time and it may well have been an advertisement in one of my home machinist periodicals–had a scale with a digital display that read both grams and ounces but if I remember correctly the price was in excess of that 25 bucks.
Secondly, you mentioned about a balancing scale; you can get very accurate ones at Jeweler’s Supply houses but I am going to believe that their accuracy is going to make them fairly expensive. Cheaper ones, I am sure, are probably available at places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby; there are certain crafts where the weight of materials is sensitive but not critical and therefore these balancing scales need not be as sensitive–nor as expensive–as those used in jewelry fabrication.
I bought a nice digital one off of ebay about a year ago for less than $20.00 including shipping. A little more now. It is model number WO-USC-300. I would post the ebay link but the powers to be would go ballistic.
Search ebay or the Internet for the model number.
On/Off, Mode, Tare, Cal push buttons. Good postage scale also. Ounce and metric.
I took it to the local small post office and compared it to theirs. Quite accurate.300 grams max.
I looked at the Micro Mark website and the lowest price scale is $34.00.
Rich
A used thrift store like the Salvation Army or something like that. You can get a good blender for $5.00 for all that paint/ groundfoam mixing and I have seen digital scales for dirt cheap also.
Brent
Here’s a MicroMark item. http://www.micromark.com/DIGITAL-SCALE-11-LBand5kg-CAPACITY,8812.html
Yes, it’s on the expensive side. But it, or something similar, should last you a long time. I personally don’t like those platform style mechanical postal scales, such as http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Pelouze-2-lb.-Mechanical-Postal-Scale_251936_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH. There isn’t that much difference in price, and depending on how you look at the pointer thingy you can introduce some inaccuracy from weighing to weighing. I don’t know what these actually have inside them, but they do seem to change in accuracy over time. I belong to a club where one of the criteria was that all cars had to be weighted to the NMRA standard. Much frustration, agony, and grinding of teeth when a car weighed properly one year and then weighed out of spec the next. I always said this was because the car owner didn’t grasp the gravity of the situation.
Hi!
Twenty Five bucks is a bit much for a “train” scale, but I have to admit the one I got at Office Depot has seen a lot of use in other areas, particulary when doing mailings and Ebay sales.
These things are awfully accurate, and if you can afford it, I suggest you get one.
Mobilman44
Here is a photo of the one I bought off of ebay. Very accurate when I took it to a local post office for comparison. You cannot go wrong. There are a lot of inexpensive digital devices now a days if you know how to search the Internet.
http://www.scalepalace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=199
Here is how I use it to measure the weight of HO scale cars. It powers up as zero, put the ruler on it, hit Tare, the scae show zero again, put the car on and I see 1.782 oz here. The scale powers down after couple minutes of no use.
Rich
Got mine at either “Bed, Bath and Beyond” or “Linens and Things” in the kitchen utensil section. About $15. Reads to 1/10th of a gram. (digital read out) Pretty accurate. I think it’s a Weight Watchers product.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I’ll be downtown for a bit tommorrow, so I’ll check the other places that were mentioned for a less expensive one.
RTpoteet, I don’t think I get the joke. However it did make me smile a bit and I really needed that (check the dinner for why)
Rich, if all else fails, I’ll probably get that one.
Loathar and Brent, wished I would have asked earlier. I went to the LHS today, all of those places are across the street from it.[banghead]
Don’t know just how accurate you want to be. I got a little platform postal scale at Staples (office supplies) for under $10 a while back. Good luck,
I got a digital scale at Harbor freight for about $8. They go on sale a lot so watch their prices. If you don’t have one of their retail stores near you, try their web page.
I bought a plastic food scale with dial at a kitchen wares store for around $5 years ago. I calibrate it with pennies. It has a shallow bowl which I fill up with the car (or parts if it is a kit) and then add weight as necessary usually pennies again. For this purpose, it has enough accuracy.
Paul
I also purchased this scale, along with a set of lead weights for a reasonable price on the web site. I’ve also seen the deal in the catalogue.
The big problem that I have is that when I go to use it, My wife has taken it to check portions of meat before she refrigerates it. I always remind her of that when she gives me the “face” as I’m showing her a newly acquired treasure.
Len S
I would get one that goes to at least 500 grams, 17.637 oz. Mine goes only to 300 grams, 10.582 oz and is not usable for some locos.
Rich
I got the Harbor Freight one. It works quite well. All the lower end ones pretty much use the same sensor and so forth, so why spend $20 when you can get the same thign for $8? Same with multimeters. The $3 one I got a harbor Freight uses the same chip in it as ones I’ve seen sold for as much as $15-$20. It’s basic, but plenty good enough for model railroad use, and at the price I shoudl pick up some more and just keep one in various palces rather than keep digging the one out of my model toolbox. Sure it’s no $200 high end high precision Fluke but that’s completley unecessary for model railroad use.
I like Micro Mark, they have some nice stuff, but unless on sale they seem on the high side price-wise relative to the same items I can get from a tool vendor who shows up at all the local train shows, or Harbor Freight.
–Randy