Parts Counting Scales Provide Superior Accuracy

By Author: Mel Joelle
Total Articles: 4328
Comment this article

Counting parts by weight is an efficient means of determining inventory levels. Any item that is consistent in weight may be counted by a parts counting scale. These items can include standard industrial hardware, such as fasteners, washers and clips. Electronic devices are another perfect item to count by weight.

A good parts counting scale must have two primary features. It must have enough capacity to accept the full containers of parts. And it must be sensitive enough to accurately determine the weight of just a few sample parts. These two characteristics are often mutually exclusive. As a rule, the higher the capacity of the scale, the lower the sensitivity.

The accuracy of the weight of the sample parts is the largest factor in determining the accuracy of the parts counting results. As the samples may only represent one percent of the capacity of the scale, or even less, the scale sensitivity should be one hundred times greater than that. Very few industrial scales can meet this requirement. But the precision scales offered by Arlyn Scales in their SAW family provide sensitivity of greater than one part in ...
... one hundred thousand. For example, a SAW counting scale with a capacity of 100 lb has a display sensitivity of 0.01 lb with even greater internal sensitivity. This is twenty times higher than the readability of standard strain gage industrial scales. For counting small pieces, this will result in an accuracy level that is twenty times greater.

Often, high sensitivity and accuracy indicates that the precision scale may be delicate, and prone to damage during use. The SAW ultra precision scales provide overload capacity of more than four times the rated capacity of the scale. Most other industrial scales only offer an overload specification of one and a half times rated capacity. Therefore, the precision scale does not need any kind of special handling to produce very accurate results.
Click here to read the rest of Counting Scales with Superior Accuracy. If you enjoyed this article, you also might like our other stories about Counting Scales.