Author Archives: Scale Man

Adam PGW Lab Balances are Built For Everyday Use

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All metal construction, an oversized backlit display, and simple, intuitive operation make the PGW a winner in laboratory and industrial applications. That’s because every PGW comes LOADED with solutions for the critical issues that users face: Reliability – The Adam Equipment PGW balance offers proven processing technology plus GLP and custom printouts with date and time, and a capacity tracker to monitor weighing range. Flexibility – Choose a PGW model with internal or external calibration and customize text prompts in English, Spanish, French, or German. Simplicity – The PGW boasts an oversized backlit display with 24mm digits plus modes to meet every lab’s need: counting, percentage, animal weighing, check weighing, net/total, & auto density calculation.

* 18+ Weighing units (including one custom unit)
* Selectable digital filtering for animal / dynamic weighing
* Adjustable filters
* Simple user-friendly operation Continue reading →

CAS LPII and PD-1 Scales Being Discontinued

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Time to upgrade to the CL5000 Label Printing Scale and PD-2 POS Interface Scale.  Effective immediately, CAS Corporation is discontinuing the production of the CAS LPII Label Printing Scale and PD-1 POS Interface Scale. Limited stock is available for both LP-2G and LP-2W models. Have you tried the CL5000 Label Printing Scale or PD-2 POS Interface Scale?  Contact your Central Carolina Scale sales rep or visit the CL5000 and PD-2 web pages for product information.

The CL5000 Label Printing Scale has the functions you need at an affordable price. Includes CL-Works software package. Use in supermarkets, specialty stores, deli’s and more. The CAS PD-II Electronic Cash Register Scale comes complete with an RS-232C Interface, and bright VFD Display. The PD-II scale is ideal for retail establishments Continue reading →

Test Weights And Boats

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A customer recently mentioned having an odd question to ask.  His firm does stability testing on boats and ships, and has rented 1000lb NIST Class F Cast Iron Test weights in the past.  He was looking to do a similar test in the U.S. Virgin Islands and having problems finding a local vendor for test weights.

Curious, we asked what exactly do you use the weights to test?  Normally around here, the weights are put on a truck scale for a yearly calibration or to test a floor scale out.  The customer said, he does stability testing on ships and other small craft such as yachts. With larger ships, large blocks of concrete (which are weighed before the test) are often used; however with smaller vessels where deck space is tight, your 500, 1000 and sometimes 2500 lb test weights are ideal and are easy to handle.

They have the added benefit of being certified weights, thus there is little question about accuracy. On some smaller vessels they used the 50lb weights and moved the weights by hand during the test. Basically the test weights are placed on board and then moved transversely from side to side to apply a known moment as the heel angle is measured. Using the principles of naval architecture, the vertical center of gravity is then calculated.

No Network Available for Data Collection? No Problem.

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Over the past several years Doran Scale has become a leader in scale communication and data collection applications. With the new advanced features on the 2200 series this system now offers more flexibility in real world data collection applications. While collecting data using Ethernet and a Local Area Network (LAN) is ideal in many instances, there are times when this is not practical because of complexity, facility restrictions or cost. An ideal solution when a LAN is not available is the Doran 2200 Scale with the Bluetooth option utilizing data buffering.

The 2200 with the Bluetooth option (EXOPT205 ) is set up with an appropriate data string which could include Product ID, Description, User defined fields for Lot ID, Employee ID or Location and scale information. Data buffering is enabled in configuration and the data output method is selected. This could be a manual output by pressing the PRINT button or one of several automatic outputs. When weight is on the scale and data is output manually or automatically, the configured data string is Continue reading →

Avoid dimensional weight charges

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Many years ago in the shipping world we just weighed a package on top of a shipping scale and paid charges based on the weight. Today, you pay shipping charges based on both weight and the size of your box that you are shipping. Smaller packages are greener packages because more of them fit on a pallet or in a truck, meaning it takes less fuel to move them. Larger packages take up more space and, ultimately, use more fuel. That’s the principle behind dimensional weight. Since dimensional weight is a very important measurement it can be a good idea to add a dimensional weighing and measurement tool to your shipping process. Continue reading →

What Does Class III Refer to When Discussing NTEP Requirements?

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Handbook 44 from NIST spells out rules and regulations for the weighing industry and separates weighing devices into five accuracy classes. Depending on the number and value of scale divisions, equipment can be either class I, II, III, III L, or IIII, with Class I having the highest precision. All Legal-for-Trade scales fall under one of these five classes.

Table 7a of Handbook 44 breaks down the description of each class. Class III states: “All commercial weighing not otherwise specified, grain test scales, retail precious metals and semi-precious gem weighing, animal scales, postal scales, vehicle on-board weighing systems with a capacity less than or equal to 30,000 lb, and scales used to determine laundry charges.”

NTEP scales

Basically, what it’s saying is anything that doesn’t fall elsewhere would go in this weight class, providing the device meets the criteria for the quantity and size of divisions. Class III covers many different types of scales, making it a bit of a catch-all. Produce scales would be one type of Class III application. While some jewelry scales are Class III if the resolution is appropriate for the application, meanwhile, a more precise jewelry scale could be Class II. It all depends on the number of divisions and capacity. Precision laboratory devices usually fall under Class I.  

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Class III L, which covers heavier capacity on-board applications, truck scales, livestock scales and railroad scales. Class IIII applies strictly to axle scales and wheel loader devices for highway weight enforcement.

Get Started With Central Carolina Scale

At Central Carolina Scale, our philosophy has always been to work directly with customers to help them choose the proper weighing equipment. If you have specific questions about scale classes, call us at (919) 776-7737 or email us at info@ccscale.com.

Scale Service Agreements Give Piece of Mind And Save Money

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If your business in central North Carolina depends on pallet scales, lab balances, or weighing something, then hopefully you have some kind of calibration or scale service agreement in place to calibrate and maintain your scale equipment. If you don’t have a plan, you really need to contact Central Carolina Scale immediately for a quote. Many times when money is scarce and the economy is unsteady, the “plan” a lot of folks try to use is merely to use your scales until they need to be re-calibrated or repaired. Would you adopt this plan for your car or boat? This plan could work, but you know how it goes… if you don’t get your scale checked regularly, the one day you need it most is probably going to be the day the scale has some kind of a freak issue. Companies that can’t afford for their scales to be out of comission, usually have them calibrated and / or maintained on a regular basis.  Scales that are maintained regularly last longer, work better, and break down less often. As part of your maintenance plan, it is popular for scale companies to offer a Service Contract, also known as a Service Agreement.  It’s a win-win for both parties. Service Agreements can be a great value for three key reasons.  Continue reading →

Auditing Freight Bills

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In a world where every dollar counts, more and more folks are scrutinizing every bill and every charge their company receives. Freight charges are no exception, that is why more customers than ever are investing in a heavy duty NTEP 4×4 Floor Scale. When you do find discrepancies with your freight carrier, don’t be surprised if it has to do with the readability of their scale.

Recently, I stumbled onto something that at first looked coincidental. I was auditing freight bills for a customer and I kept coming up with corrected weights by the carrier and the corrected weights all ended in either a “5″ or a “0″. One shipment contained 8 pallets and each pallet had a corrected weight that ended in 5 or 0. That intrigued me. Coincidence? I then researched and found that of 170 corrected freight bills due to weight changes, all 170 ended in 5 or 0.

My hypothesis was that perhaps forklift scales had something to do with this. I knew that carriers had been using forklift scales for some time so I decided to do some research. I contacted a few carriers and the manufacturer and learned the following: Continue reading →

Common Questions Answered Regarding Counting Scales

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Counting Scales are very similar to other scales in terms of weighing, but the counting scale does two additional functions, by performing operations in division and multiplication based on the internal resolution.  Please continue reading below as Jim Daggon and Ann Crowley from Rice Lake Weighing Systems answer some of the common questions relating to counting scales like the Digi DC-300, Digi DC-190, DC-788 and the DC-782.

1. What is internal resolution?
The internal resolution of a counting scale is the number of divisions into which it divides the total capacity of the scale.

Example: A 50 lb counting scale with 1 million count resolution divides up the 50 lb into 1,000,000 parts. This means each internal resolution is translated to 50/1,000,000 or 0.00005 lb.All of the weights are calculated on this basis. For example, if some parts were placed on the counting scale, and the internal calculation was 210 internal counts, the weight to be displayed would be 210 times 0.00005 lb = 0.01050 lb. Since the weight display might only be five digits, then the weight display would be 0.01 lb. This is the external resolution. (rounded off).

The operator can key in the sample quantity—for example, ten pieces. The scale still “knows” how many internal counts are being used (210) and now divides that number by 10 to get the number of internal counts per piece (210/10 = 21). Continue reading →