2012 - Volume #36, Issue #1, Page #19

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Homemade Beam Scale Is Accurate

Homemade Beam Scale Is Accurate FARM SHOP Miscellaneous “My beam scale is accurate enough to weigh something as small as a soda can and anything up to 50 lbs I built it myself for about $40 from parts I bought at Home Depot ” says Dick Carrier of Wimauma Fla Carrier’s parts list includes a 1 by 3-in oak board 30 in long 3 shackles that fit over the board 3 ft of #4 chain that the shackles will fit through and a small 2-in level that can be glued to the board A pointer wire is also needed which can be made from a perfectly straight piece of electrical wire or a coat hanger Carrier built his scale because he needed an extremely accurate and repeatable device for measuring chemicals that he uses in his home-built biodiesel processor “Every electronic scale I tried was off by 2 to 10 pounds and that didn’t cut it for what I needed ” he said To build the scale Carrier first measured the size of the cleave bolt and drilled a hole that size exactly in the center of the oak board left to right and top to bottom He stresses that the bolt has to slide easily through the hole but can’t be loose from side to side He drilled the same size holes for each of the side cleave pins 2 in in from the ends of the boards again exactly in the center Next he attached the level to the board beneath the center hole so the centerline of the level was exactly in the middle of the hole Carrier cut the chain into three equal lengths and made two hooks for the bottom of the side chains to hold the material pails After attaching the side chains to the board with two shackles he attached the third chain with one shackle to the hole in the center of the board Carrier said the center chain could be attached to a ceiling beam or anything that will hold 100 lbs without sagging Carrier bought two new buckets to hold material that he weighs He replaced the wire handles with sturdier handles that he made from threaded 1/4-in rod that won’t bend making sure that both handles were the exact size After assembling all the parts Carrier balanced the scale by drilling a small amount of wood from one side of the beam He made 5 and 10-lb weight ballast by putting sand in old pant leg material and sewing the ends shut Asked how he was sure the weight on the ‘sand legs’ was accurate he took a pail of fine sand into a post office after hours and weighed it on their postal scale He also uses 1/2 and l-lb wheel weights for counterbalance Carrier’s scale is an important part of his homemade biodiesel processing system He uses it to weigh dry chemicals that have to be added in very exact amounts He says his scale is a lot easier to use than a bathroom scale or other electronic scales which are hard to read and inaccurate Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Richard Carrier 15840 Wimauma Rd Wimauma Fla 33598 ph 813 545-9361; harveyking@hotmail com