doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com My Dillon digital scale died. Help!

OK, I will pull out my beam balance if I can find it. Thanks on that.

Jimmy, try cutting a strip of dryer sheet softener and stick it in the hole in the top of the powder bottle making sure some of it is in the powder. Leave some sticking out and replace the red stopper. That will reduce static. It does for me.

I have the metal baffle from MEC but stopped using it. I have been getting very good drops without. I don't know why it changed over the years. Once I get going with the 9000 things go smoothly with few problems and pretty accurate drops but I check around every 25 rounds. I do spend a lot of time weighing loads when I first start as the drops increase as the powder compresses from the vibration of pulling the lever.

My ears are open and I am digesting your advice. I must admit that I am disappointed in the machines that are out there and I am surprised by the reviews, mostly on Amazon where a few of the the scales seem to be as good as ones costing 5 times as much.

I can use a beam balance to make my hunting loads but larger quantities for sporting requires a digital unit I can depend on.

I ground my reloading machines to the water pipe overhead in my reloading room. But I will try your dryer sheet idea, also. That sounds like a great idea. Thanks for the advice!

I've always ran target loads that are well below maximum pressure. I have high confidence that the fixed volume of the bushings I use, don't drop dangerously high charges. I just can't see myself, checking every box, but no arguement if others do. If a weight seems off, the machine might have been jostled around different than the routine, but that powder drop is probably okay.

I'll weigh heavy loads one at a time, but I don't think I ever changed a bushing to hold the same weight powder drop, once a machine is set up. I pick up odds and ends from many vendors, but Lyman has been outstanding with customer service, from my experience. I had a different cheapie electronic import act up, all they asked for was some simple documentation, to get another one on its way to me. Even if it's not perfect, a scale in this application might be for screening and not precision.

I cannot argue with your logic and it seems it has worked for you. I assume you have all your fingers. On the other hand, I need to feel that my loader is delivering what I asked of it. Once set up, I will measure a string of half a dozen loads and then maybe another string to feel secure that my drops are correct. Usually, they will be within 0.1gn and then I will test again after about 25. If something is wrong I can stop and fix it. So far, I have all my fingers.
Again, on the other hand, I purchased a bunch of one pound Winchester powder and as I go to the next bottle I have seen up to a whole grain variance between the one pound bottles. Add that to a machine error and a poor performing scale and that could be an unfortunate problem.

If you are using a MEC 9000, you should never get a variance in loads between shells that would cause a gun to blow up. Unless you are shooting a gun that is too dangerous to shoot to begin with. I don't think you have any reason to worry about that. I have never heard of anything ever happening like that.

From their website:

"Using an ultra-sensitive mechanical balance beam system comprised of primarily non-ferrous metals, the Prometheus Gen II is extremely resilient against the presence of lighting ballasts, cell phones, and other sources of electromagnetic interference. Electronic scales can hide behind a digital display and only show you what they want to.

With the Prometheus Gen II you can see the needle move yourself. If something is affecting your charge weight, it won't be shrouded in electronic programming and hidden from view, you'll see every moment of the weighing process clearly."

I rest my case, pardon the pun.

Overkill for shotshell reloading, of course.

I don't think I will give them a call.

LeFusil said:
"Correct room temp, most manufacturers insist that you let the scale “warm up” (usually turn it on and let it sit the 5 to 10 min before calibration and use), keeping it away from light sources that emit magnetic interference, when in use keeping it away from vents, fans and other drafty areas is also important."

Years ago, an old coin, jewelry and bullion dealer gave me a free piece of education on scales. He pointed out that, if the scale pan is exposed below an air vent, it is more than likely the pressure from the downdraft will add to the weight of whatever it is you're buying. In today's world of $2400 gold, that little breath could be pretty valuable. A gram extra and you're talking a hundred bucks.

Ever since my spidey-sense has tingled when I went into coin-jewelry-bullion sales places and saw the scale near an air vent. Often affected -negatively- my willingness to buy.

I have several powder scales, a digital RCBS Chargemaster Auto dispensing scale, an Ohaus 1010 I bought when I was in college, and my Dad's old oil dampened Redding. I seldom use the RCBS because I don't think it is much faster than just using my Ohaus Duo-Measure and the Ohaus 1010 scale. The Ohaus scale has worked flawlessly for decades, and the magnetic dampening settles the beam quickly. It never needs batteries, and I expect it will outlast me. Set up is quick, and once set up, it never loses zero. I keep it covered and stored in the original box when not in use, and make sure the knives and agate bearings are free of dust. I see powder scales at gun shows that show rough use and abuse, and shake my head, because an accurate scale is probably the most important tool in reloading.

Any powder scale whether digital or balance type may be sensitive to air movement. Balance scale pans typically hang from a single point on the end of the beam. With digitals, it is important to center the load or pan over the correct spot on the tray. As Dustin said, digital scales do require a warm up period, and may still drift from zero. Before replacing your Dillon digital, it might be worth cleaning the battery terminals and trying a fresh set of batteries. And if it has a 110 volt power supply, it would be worth trying to use that to see if is still flaky. But electronic components like capacitors do break down over time, and load cells fail too. I've done a number of calibrations and replaced bad load cells in large industrial electronic scales, and always started by checking and cleaning connections with electrical contact cleaner, because unseen corrosion can cause large errors. Load cells are so sensitive to minute changes in resistance that you should never shorten the factory length of the shielded wires. But in a cheap digital powder scale, load cells and other components aren't worth servicing if out of warranty. I have also read that people solved drifting due to static electricity by wiping down the scale with an anti-static dryer sheet, but I've never had cause to try it.

I have a set of calibration weights to periodically check my scales, but only because the weights were in a box of reloading supplies I bought at a gun show. For many years, I simply did the same as my Dad, and kept a few jacketed rifle bullets of different weights to check my scales over a range of weights. I even took that a step further, and verified the exact weight of my scale calibrating bullets by taking them to my college organic chemistry lab, and weighing them on an incredibly precise and sensitive Mettler H-15 Analytical Balance. That scale was so sensitive that you could clean and weigh an object like a bullet, and then weigh it again after touching it with your fingers. It would then show a very tiny increase in weight due to any trace of skin oils deposited from your fingers.