My scale has a mind of it's own

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bad375

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My RCBS 10-10 scale (that I've used for years) suddenly lost it's zero. It sits in the same place on my bench, I've been loading a lot lately, same load, same powder, same everything, hadn't adjusted anything. But I always check my powder measure several times. Started out yesterday, ran my measure a few times then weighed, it was way off from where it should have been. Decided I would zero out my scale, couldn't do it, had the adjustment screw dialed all the way in and still couldn't get it to zero. Finally removed a couple of the pellets in the pan that holds the powder pan. The only thing I can think is that I had the window open in that room on Monday and it affected the scale somehow. I have since ordered a digital scale for back up, just a weird experience, any thoughts?
Thinking of naming my scale after my ex wife as it does whatever the heck it wants
 
I don't know but my 5-0-5 started doing the same thing. I bet its just dirty. I am going to clean mine up really well, and check it on a level surface tonight and post the results.
 
It is that old technology you just can't trust it.

Just kidding. It may have some rust on the blade. Can a air draft get to it?
 
use some compressed air to clean any dust off the knife edge and the little blocks where it sits. that may help. definitely worth a try.
 
My 5-0-5 did that when new. Drove me nuts till I finally took a jewelers file to the knife edge on the beam.
 
They are just a simple balance there is not much can be wrong with them.At least thats what I used to think.I wanted another scale for my other bench where I load handguns.Have had a 5-10 for over 30 years so i got on E-bay and got another 5-10 looked new in the box.Set everything at zero set the pan on arm went the whole way up and stayed there pushed it down and zeroed it out. Took the pan off set it back on didn't go back to zero.I cleaned and checked everything agate blocks were free edges were sharp.I fooled with it for a while. send it to RCBS since the 5-10 is no longer made paid the difference for a 10-10.It was in the arm because if I put the arm off the other 5-10 it would work fine.
 
Clean the knife edges and bearing blocks with Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol.

Use a carpenters level and check the bench for level front to back and end to end.

Make sure the beam knife-edge ends are centered in the blocks and not rubbing on either side of the base.

Check the beam for a crack at the hole where the knife edge is pressed through it.

Other then those things, there just isn't much that can change the ability to zero a beam scale.
Especially anything that would ever require removal of lead shot from the pan hanger.

rc
 
beware of nearby magnets or magnetized objects (even a well magnetized nail under the pan...)
 
Mine will act weird from time to time, which is always a sign I need to clean it. These RCBS balance beam scale are the most reliable scales on the planet. So very carefully take a soft tooth brush or something similar and dust everything off real good. Make sure there is nothing in the knife seat and that the knives are still sharp and not flattened.

You said something about the removing some of the lead shot, why? I sure hope you didn't toss those lead shot.
 
My RCBS scale is the most important tool on my desk. It reminds me to never get another one.
 
Thanks for all the replies and possible problems, I did run a q-tip with alcohol over it, But I will check the edges again when I get home and look for cracks.
 
bad375 said:
My RCBS 10-10 scale (that I've used for years) suddenly lost it's zero.
Click to expand...
If cleaning the triangular knife edges won't zero the scale, I would expose the agate stone "V" blocks and clean any dust/powder particles inside the housing to ensure they are "free-floating" when the knife edges make contact with the "V" notches.

I bought my Ohaus 10-10 used (same as RCBS 10-10) and had similar zero issue until I cleaned the agate blocks/housing. Now, it essentially maintains the zero all the time and I hardly need to re-zero. I also made a dust cover so it stays at zero under the cover all the time.

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I had my rcbs for years..It went crazy on me.. i did everything the guys have told you to do, it just wouldnt work, I sent mine back.. they send me mine back with parts replaced,, It works great. I never load a case with out it.Its one tool I can't live with out..
 
Yep, inspect and clean the contact surfaces accordinly. I like q-tips or similar myself. I have a dusty garage and clean mine a couple times a year.

jeepmor
 
I've cleaned and checked everything. With the 2 pellets removed from the pan(which I did keep), it's on Zero, weighed the 250 gr weight, it weighed 249.8, weighed several bullets, 115 gr 9mm, 158 gr 357 they were all so close I feel better about it but I'm going to play it safe and double check with another scale which should be here Monday
 
I cleaned my 5-0-5 with a q tip as suggested by RCmodel(thanks BTW) and all is good. Thanks again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Added one step more to the Q-Tip alcohol cleaning and that was using some jewelers rouge to polish the beam pivot pins and havent had any zero issues since.

10 Spot
 
I have heard that the electro-magnetism for the ballast in flourescent lights will mess with them by trying to magnetize them if grounding isn't proper or ballast is going bad.

Can't prove it and don't know if it is true.
 
Not sure about the heavy-duty industrial lighting ballasts, but I use two 13 watt Compact Florescent light fixtures over my reloading room bench and they showed no "detectable" effect on the Ohaus 10-10, Lee Safety or the MidwayUSA digital scale.

Over my garage bench, I use a shop light fixture and also no detectable effect on my scales.
 
Did pick up some scale check weights from a friend, everything seems good. Jewelers rouge sounds like a good idea though
 
Static electric fields can affect the scale also.

A piece of plastic nearby that has some charge on it can pull the scale off.
 
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