Adventures in making my own scale pan hanger

[gsbuickman]

Hiya Guys ..

So the other day I got this Ohaus - RCBS 5-10 powder scale that came with some miscellaneous reloading stuff that I picked up. It came with the pre weighed scale pan, but not the wire hanger the pan sets in.





I called Vista Sports and spoke with an RCBS rep and found out they had the scale pans and the pan supports in stock but they wouldn't sell me just the pan support (wire hanger) and depending on which rep I talked to I wasn't going to spend $50 on a new scale pan with wire hanger or even $25 for one, so, I decided to try my luck and make one and get it set up so it weighs correctly on the scale.

About the best thing I could think of to use that I had on hand was some Oatey radiator solder that you use with flux paste and a torch, not the soft flux core electrical solder. After playing with the design a little bit I finally came up with a hanger I was satisfied with so the pan hung high enough and level to get the job done.




I grabbed my American weight scales MCD-100 digital scale & started going thru some 9mm bullets I had, out until I found one that weighed 100 grains even for my baseline weight.



I set the scale for 100 grains even and put the scale pan in the hanger, hung it on the scale and dropped the 100 grain bullet in it and it weighed light



I started to snip little bits and pieces of solder off the roll and drop them into the skull pan and with a little trial and error after pulling pieces back out and snipping and trimming and dropping them back in the pan I finally got it to weigh out dead on Zero.



I pulled the scale pan off the scale and dumped all the little bits and pieces of solder into another powder pan that I already had zeroed on my digital scale to get a weight on them so I knew how much weight I needed to add to the scale so it would weigh properly. I already had another piece of leftover solder out from another project and it looked plenty big enough to handle the job so I waited and found out it was almost double what I needed in weight so I sniped it almost in half and weighed the shorter piece. It was really close to the weight I needed so I started to trim little tiny bits off of it and weigh it until it weighed exactly what I needed it to weight & hung it from the back of the wire hanger that the pan hangs from.




I dropped the 100 grain bullet back in the now empty scale pan and sure as heck it came out dead on Zero just as it should have ..

 

[FROGO207]

FYI the scale pan you have will come apart if you remove the screw and you can add the weight or pieces inside so you will not loose them. Those pans usually have lead shot inside to do just that. They also come with aluminum pan that sets inside you can remove and dump the powder with as well, this adds to the weight so less solder would be needed. Good work around using what you had on hand though! Lots of reloaders tend to be quite resourceful it seems.

 

[higgite]

You used the right procedure, but you left something out. What you’re calling the pan is the pan support. You need to calibrate the scale with the empty powder pan that you are going to use with it.

 

[jaguarxk120]

The pan hanger is made of aluminum wire!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

As said above, if you remove the screw from the pan support you can add or remove lead shot as needed. Also said, where is your pan? You will need to recalibrate with the pan sitting on the support. Why are you using a bullet to calibrate? You should zero with the hanger, support and pan alone.

You didn't mention the adjustment foot. You should turn the screw do it to the middle of the range before calibration so you have adjustment available in both directions.

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0004498917/scale-pan-(5025051010)

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0004498918/scale-pan-support-(5025055101010)

A pan is probably worth buying for $18 since you have a scale worth over $100 that you got in a box of stuff.