Want to build a 4-scale board. What brand scales do you guys recommend? And where do you purchase these things? I've looked at Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, etc. and c an't find what I'm looking for...

Also, are there any plans or templates anywhere on the 'Net that I can download and print out?

Want to build a 4-scale board. What brand scales do you guys recommend? And where do you purchase these things? I've looked at Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, etc. and c an't find what I'm looking for...

Also, are there any plans or templates anywhere on the 'Net that I can download and print out?

Jimmy,

I've made a number of scale boards and can help you out a bit. Here's some tips.

You can get scales at www.savethegreen.org. I use the 500g scales with the slide out display. They're descent scales for what I make but you may find other models on the site that you like better.

For the scale board itself I make mine out of acrylic because it's light, straight and cool looking. It can be cut to size using a table saw and a blade designed to cut plastic. You can drill and tap the corners for adjusting screws and you can use this special glue for them and build just about anything with it.

You can also used MDF or for a 4 scale board you might want to look at the integy setup board. I believe it already has adjusting screws and a bubble level in it.

The biggest thing that you want to do is make sure that you come up with a way to fix the locations of the scales and make sure that they are all level. This will make the board consistent and will help you come back the same settings each time you use it. When I make my scaleboards out if acrylic I cut and position strips around each scale that looks their position each time I use it.

As far as size and plans it just needs to fit your wheel base so that the tires are as close to the center of each scale as possible. Realize that some of these scales are so sensitive that they will give different readings if the car is not back in the same position as the first reading. I mark my boards and scales when i get my car set where I want so that I can get it close to the same position each time.

Hope this helps. BTW, Lowes sells a new hard case made by Kobalt that is absolutely awesome. My scale board fits in side of it with a little room on each side and it should work fine with a 4 scale board as well.

If you want to see what the board I make looks like just go to my pics and check it out.

Bill

Jimmy buy them local see Tom Pedano at the snowbirds. he has just what you need

Want to build a 4-scale board. What brand scales do you guys recommend? And where do you purchase these things? I've looked at Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, etc. and c an't find what I'm looking for...

Also, are there any plans or templates anywhere on the 'Net that I can download and print out?


Don't waste time an money on that...Buy Lefthanders scale set....Best I've seen, ever...... http://www.lefthander-rc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=264

Mr. Flack, have heard much from you lately, how ya doing?

Don't waste time an money on that...Buy Lefthanders scale set....http://www.lefthander-rc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=264

Kind of have to agree with this...
I did build my own, because I had most of the stuff,
just needed the two scales..
But my the time you are done farting around gathering
all your stuff up, and then cutting etc.
the one from Hays, is a pretty good deal!
It's all done, and the postman will bring it to your
house for you!

Lefthander does have a good price on a 4 scale board and are a top notch company to deal with.

I've never seen their scale board so I don't know this and mybe someone who has one can verify this but my concern is this, the scales appear to be loose on the board which makes it hard for consistency in weighing the car. Now maybe you can attach them to the board or maybe they are, not sure, but at $95.00 for the board and the scales you just can't beat it.

Myself, I like the added cool factor of the acrylic.:thumbsup:

Bill

but my concern is this, the scales appear to be loose on the board which makes it hard for consistency in weighing the car.
Bill

Not if you mark the location of the scales with a Sharpie...
It's really not much of factor.. ;)

Not if you mark the location of the scales with a Sharpie...
It's really not much of factor.. ;)

Dan,

That depends on the sensitivity of the scales. With some of the micro scales that were made for Jewelers show differences in the numbers if the car is just 1/16th off of your marks.

Hey but what do I know?

Bill

lefthander rc has them already done and they come with scales. www.lefthander-rc.com

I see a two-scale board at Lefthander, but not a 4-scale...

I see a two-scale board at Lefthander, but not a 4-scale...

Jimmy,

You can find it here. (http://www.lefthander-rc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=48&products_id=763)

Bill

Ditto on the sharpie on the lefthander scale board. I have the dirt oval version to check my sprinter and I just move the scales inward for the pan car. I made marks with a sharpie for each. I also marked the center of the scale with a sharpie and each scale assigned to each corner LF, RF, LR, RR. Gets you back to "square one" if you over tweek the car or make changes.

I'm still waiting for Roco's "set it and forget it" tweek board. LOL

Dan,

That depends on the sensitivity of the scales. With some of the micro scales that were made for Jewelers show differences in the numbers if the car is just 1/16th off of your marks.

Hey but what do I know?

Bill

What you need to know, is that if you get a significant difference
in the reading on your scale,
by the load being shifted 1/16th of an inch...
It's probably not the location of the scale..
The load cell is responding to the weight that is on
it, not the location of it... providiing it is somewhat close
to the center, and you are not putting the platform in
a bind.. Obviously if you have the tire hanging off the edge
of a scale.... but I doubt anyone that is interested enough
in their car to USE a scale, would be that inept..

The biggest cause of slight variations in readings with our cars,
is that we have light weights, and small amounts of
friction/resistance at each corner.
Kingpin lube, shock oil... these things keep you from getting
perfectly repeatable numbers... with great accuracy,
because the suspension does not center itself exactly
every time. Close... but when you are dealing with such
small numbers, it only takes a little bit to give you
a different reading.
I can take a 200 gram weight, and move it a half inch
in any direction on my cheapass scale,
and it reads exactly the same. Every time.
There are no outside influences on it.
The load cell responds to the weight, regardless
of it's location.

And let's not kid ourselves..
These 2 dollar Chinese scales we use,
are hardly laboratory quality..
They may call them 'jewlers' scales,
but if you go to a jewelry shop,
I guarantee you they are not using one like mine to weigh your diamond.. :thumbsup:

Just curious if any of you have checked the accuracy/consistency of the scale height from one to another within a specific brand?

I've always thought that since they are selling them as individual scales and not matched sets that the cheaper ones would not have very good tolerances in this regard. It wouldn't take much at all to make them somewhat useless to us.

Just wondering. :confused: After all...big car scales go to a lot of trouble to ensure they are the same...and .040 would be alot less critical to them.

Just curious if any of you have checked the accuracy/consistency of the scale height from one to another within a specific brand?

It wouldn't take much at all to make them somewhat useless to us.


This is why I always use the same ones for the same
corner...
I'm only interested in relationships, not specific numbers...
Once you have a baseline, right or wrong, you always know
what changes did to the chassis..
More CW.... less CW... more LR... less....
that's more important to me, than actual weight.

I would agree since I normally run oval..It's all relative. :thumbsup:

I've recently started running VTA road course cars so now the cross weight accuracy is pretty important to me.

I would rather use my scales to check for tweak in the car than buy an expensive tweak station just to verify that my scales are of high enough quality to be accurate.

I'll figure it out. I just thought maybe some of you guys had been down this road. I would assume that since the Lefthanders are highly thought of that someone had some data???

Thanks,
Mark

Mark,
We've tested more types of scales than I can count, and yes some of the cheapest of the cheap the heights of the platforms actually vary quite a bit. That seems to be the biggest reason that some of the scales read different, especially if they get knocked/bent/dropped. All of the scales we've ever sold have been fairly consistant and within a tolerance from scale to scale but again they are not perfect. Our goal from the beginning has never been to make the best board $$$ can buy but a board that is compact and gives you repeatable results at a reasonable price.

Back to the scale height idea, we've got a new board that a few different guys have been testing the last few months. We've been using a 12" torpedo level placed across the tops of the scale plateforms to level the board. This seems to give you a little better repeatability and accuracy from day to day since all the heights of the platforms are closer to being on the same plane vs using a bubble level which is not quite as accurate. Like Ken said marking which scale goes where and the center of each scale does help out alot. Dan also hit the nail on the head, if things are bound up on your car and just the nature of the cars its almost impossible to get the car to return to the EXACT # everytime. I know I was helping a racer out a month or so ago and pushing down on his RF tire would change the wt 50grams, after we fixed his frontend and freed it up it wouldnt change much more than a few grams when you would push on it (normal).

If anyone is down at snowbirds check out Dusty K, Eli, and G-Honey. I know they've all been using the new style 4 scale boards.

Thank you.

That's what I was hoping to hear. I've used a set of your DO scales and they seemed to be much better than the cheapies I was using at the time. Since then I've been using a digital angle finder to "level" the ones I have as best I can. It's a pretty useful tool when level accuracy is important.

Will be able to get the new style 4 scale board with the heavier DO scales in the future?

Thanks,
Mark

Mark,
Did you use the scaleboard dustin had? We've actually had to change to a different style from those since we had problems with those calibrating and they took a really heavy/expensive calibration weight so we will not be selling this style anymore http://www.lefthander-rc.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1611 I havent had time to take pictures of the new ones, I should have something up this week. The new scales we have are a little smaller and will work for both dirtoval and pancars since they weigh up to 1000grams.

That would be cooool. 1000 grams would be the best of both worlds for me.

Yea, I used the ones DM had.