Weighing an Airplane

Most of you seem to know the weght of an airplane, and can state that weight with some authority. A quick check on the Internet left me a little disappointed in what is available.

Ideally, I would like a beam scale weighing device (no digital scales and no springs) accurate to, say, a quarter of an ounce. The platform should be large enough to set a normal size stunt plane on it.

It would be nice if the beam scale was in ounces, but grams are OK.

What I am looking for is a scaled up version of my Ohaus beam scales (scale has a lot of meanings in the English language and in models) which has 6" pans and is good up to about 400 g. Accuracy is nearest .05 g (not .5 g!) if you squint.

Any advice?

Larry Fulwider
"Nitrobenzene is less harmful than cigars"

By glueing a needle on the indicator you can increase the accuracy of reading . I find it works fine.

I think nitrobenzene is a lot more harmful ! I think it is a good thing that it's use has been banned.
If I got my facts right, the nitrobenzene vapour is heavier than air.
The vapour creeps along the floor and will catch you in the ankles above your socks. Once it is in the body there is a one to one correlation with leukemia or bone marrow cancer.

That comment (cigars and nitrobenzene) was a joke! It seems many of the things that smell real, real good are harmful to our health. Garlic is a wonderful exception!

A friend of mine once told me, "You white folks are so uptight, you need a good dose of talcum powder up your butts just to keep from squeaking when you walk."

It was just a poor joke. Don't get uptight. Nitrobenzene is a proven carcinogen.

Larry Fulwider
"Anyone with more than one child knows that parenting methods matter little"

Scott (Roger.Over) Riese

Scales....I'll send you a web site and post it here also. When I find it again...

My wife and I were seriously annoyed by two men smoking huge cigars in an outdoor resturant just three days ago.

I haven't smelled nitrobenzine since the '60s. I vote that cigars are worse.

Jim Oliver

Phil

Phil Coopy AMA609

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."

Sounds good! I'll run a search on food scales.

Larry Fulwider
"Their pied-a-terre was all they had"

Larry Fulwider
"Mothers cry and laugh more than Fathers"

Now that's funny.

I use a Digital setup from www.myweigh.com (the i2600) which measures ounces, grams and grains (for you handloaders); strain gage - no springs.

Max capacity 2600 grams= about 6 pounds. Accurate to .1 gram; .01 oz.; 1 grain. Uses 6-AA cells or an A/C adapter for power. AA cells seem to last about 2 years/set.

Ralph --

It is not so much that I object to digital scales, but that they seem to make a simple thing less simple. From a quick look around, digital is probably the way to go.

My chemistry professor from many years ago taught me to use beam balance scales. I love my Ohaus. So, part of it is foolish pride. The way to use a beam balance is to never wait for it to stop. The trick is to find the balance setting where the small arc of the needle is equal in both directions, around one or two marks from center. If it stops, friction plays a factor.

Larry Fulwider
"The world is flat, except for some mountains here and there"

Sometimes the answer is so easy we can't see it. All I need to do to use my faithful Ohaus is to buy right hand pan weights in 200 g increments (total up to a little less than 2 kg), then build a simple coat hanger cradle to hold the model in the left pan. It will not exceed the capacity of the scale.

From my point of view, that ends this thread.

Larry Fulwider

"Rap Music is the delusion that the same song played over and over with different words is a genre"

SCALES

The platform is too small, but I solved that by making a pedstal of rolled cardboard to support the airplane. Put the pedestal on the scale and hit "TARE" to re-zero.

There is also "DELAY" button to be used when the load is so big it covers the digital readout. In this mode, you can pick up the model and the readout stays in place.

Resolution is "only" 0.1 ounce, close enough for govmint work.