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using a new digital scale for the first time


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i found a scale at the thrift shop and spent $3 for it.  got it to the battery specialty store where a new battery was $8.  the clerk installed it and showed me the clock that was built in.   i did not have any questions and the store was busy so i left.   once home, i worked out Tare.   very happy with my new scale that will go to 5000.  (something)

now i want to mix a glaze and realized it does not seem to have what i am used to.   on my ohaus triple beam, i set the goal weight and add ingredients until it balances.   simple.

how do i set a goal weight on the digital scale, or is it even possible?     the only problem with thrift stores is that there are never instructions.

 

edit:  forgot to add that the measurements are similar to this    3.234  that decimal is a killer on a triple beam.

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Sorry @oldlady but it's highly unlikely to have that if it's a domestic scale.  Mine has two buttons, one to switch between metric and imperial measurements, the other is the on/ zero button.   Doesn't even have an off button.

Just keep adding ingredients till you get what you want, or zero between each addition.

 

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I have a few digital scales-most have a value button-grams ,pounds.oz etc 

Most have a tare function

none have a (how do i set a goal weight ) they just read weightb as you add weight.

They are fast and easy to use.You really do not usually need any instructions

I wioll sugget next time to get a model that used standard batteries-tyhose are always chaeper to run.

 

 

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The 5000 could refer to grams which would be very high for a digital scale. That it goes to 3 decimal places could indicate that the 5000 refers to centigrams giving you a half-kilo capacity...Can you send a photo of the scale and its buttons? You won't have a goal weight capability as others have noted...just add your stuff 'til you get where you want.

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johnny, would be happy to show photo but i now have  windows 10 and still have not figured out how to permanently put photos into it from my camera.  i do not know if the scale has any decimal places, how would that be determined?

mark, it is 5000 grams.  and there will not be a next time, that i why i got it.   a buy like that cannot be passed up.

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My (somewhat cheapie; the Amazon reviews were good-oh!) digi scale max is 2000 grams; in gram mode, it displays tenths, e.g. 100.0 g  ...in oz mode, it displays in thousandths, e.g. 3.527 oz

I use gram mode almost exclusively. You could suss out the mode(s) by weighing out something you know, like 100 ml of water (100g, of course, once't the container is tared {yep, tared is inna dictionary, as a verb… so tiresome… aahm tar'd too!})? ...ahem, and toggle the modes. I'm curious what those units are! If you're working in ounces, rounding is likely in order, as Liam said.

So far, I'm not finding a tenth of a gram signifies, but a few tenths sometimes do, for small/test batches. A single tenth o'gram ain' much, breathing on it registers.

Copying your photos in from your camera might be a driver(software) issue; I've had Win10 for a few years now, but haven't been using my old camera (been using phone camera) - will get a battery for that ol' camera and try it out...

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@oldlady, if you can find the make and model number there is probably an online manual available.

I use 2 digital scales, the one for finer weights goes up to 500 grams with hundredths of a gram resolution. Anybody use one that measures in thousandths of a gram?

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I do, I have a jewellers scale for thousandths, but I've only ever used it (in a pottery sense) for measuring chrome.

It is max 100 grams.  

My main digital scale is 5000 grams max so I cant tare myself up a 5 gallon batch, I just measure each ingredient separately.

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I have three digital scales,  the largest capacity one has a digital clock on it and it eats up my battery.   I remove it when I am not using it and tape it to the scale so it will be there when I need it.  Denice

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thank you all, and denice, i will run right out to the studio and take the battery out.  after i take a photo.  and look for a brand name.  it looks like a very stylized and tall CE.  there are 3 buttons, unit, time and on/tare.  it also says Max.5000g  d=1g  

the cover of the battery section has   1X3V  and below that   CR 2032.    that second number is stamped on the battery.  the only other label is a tiny silver spot saying   QC  pass  04.  (i think i know what that means;))

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Pres spend about 12$ on amazon-once you use a digital you will rarely go back-so much faster and easier.My trible beam in only used for super small test batches now.

scale time is cut into less than 1/4 the time for a digital-tareing is a snap with larger containers and the dreaded 2700 gram limit is toast

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Three points:

I have not seen a need for any pottery measurement to require more than three significant digits; frequently two significant digits are adequate.  

Mark is a production potter that makes large batches of stuff at a time.  He needs a measuring device that can handle multiple kilos at a time.  Pres and others make smaller batches, needs a measuring device that handles maybe two kilos occasionally, and a smaller device is called for.  I am in the Pres group and I prefer the balance device.   

Unless you routinely, and carefully, recalibrate your scale just before making measurements, your 'accuracy' will most likely not be as good as advertised by the salesman. 

LT

 

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My glaze compendium is made up of a spread sheet for empirical to 5000g. to 7500g. In this case even my metallic oxides are in the 100+ gram areas. I have often thought of having a digital for smaller test batches, 100g. or so. And yet when looking into them about 5 years ago, could not find much other than 2g. increments. So I quit looking. Now I see, maybe it would be viable. 

 

best,

Pres

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14 hours ago, liambesaw said:

I use the cheapy from Chinese clay art, I think it's like 10 bucks and measures to the tenth of a milligram, max 7000 grams and so far so good.  The display is a little dim, but I can relate.

Agreed, I have a bunch but fall back to the ease of a cheap  2000 gram digital  (10-15 bucks) but good to the hundredth  which almost always lands within a couple hundredth of my 500  g test weight. Batteries last forever, lcd a bit dim but it just keeps working. Kind of like my cheapest amprobe which has outlasted all my ridiculously expensive ones for daily use and just gets thrown about in the tool drawer or bucket or trunk.

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Hundredth of a gram. Is it accurate, who knows? Blowing on it affects those readings, In absence of wind it displays fairly stabile. I have a 500 gram certified calibration weight which it usually hits plus or minus a few tenths. It can be calibrated with the push of a button and recalibrations seem repeatable. Accurate enough for my glazes for sure. The 500 mg test weight  was a typo, should have said 500 g

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