Good (economical) source for digital scales?

Guys, I thought I'd scored big time. A Starbucks near my old home was discarding a digital scale, and I managed to get it.

This thing had a huge platform - maybe 10 by 12 inches, and was accurate to 0.005 pound. I thought it would be perfect for rocket building and especially motor selection.

I got it home, and discovered why it was being tossed - it was completely fried.

So now I'm looking for a digital scale. I have a small metric one which is good for small components, but I'm looking for something larger, with a heavier capacity. Problem is, the kind of scale I had scored, had it worked, would cost probably close to $1000 or more.

You guys always surprise me with new vendors I'd never heard of. I've been looking on Amazon, but I'm wondering if anybody out there knows of a better source for digital scales.

<$20 at Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/American-Weigh-Digital-Postal-Kitchen-Scale-Silver/24955381

Harbor Freight scales are a good deal.

I have the second one pictured (on sale for $19.99). You can find 20% off coupons online, and I get several magazines that have HF coupons in them. Sometimes HF takes coupons on sale items, but I have had them only give me the sale price.

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=digital+scale

K'Tesh said:

<$20 at Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/American-Weigh-Digital-Postal-Kitchen-Scale-Silver/24955381

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Does "readability" mean it's accurate down to 1 gram?

+1 for the Harbor Freight scales.

I have the second and third one. Larger one can go up to 11 lbs in .05 oz increments, the smaller one I use for tiny things. I forget how precise it is. I almost bought the first one listed simply because it measures grains for measuring BP charges. But that can be done with grams as well.

Mike

lcorinth said:

Does "readability" mean it's accurate down to 1 gram?

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I believe so...

BTW, I found another Walmart scale for less than $12.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/34896080?reviews_limit=7&

Accurate down to .01g but limited to 100g.

I've bought a couple off of Amazon.

Bought this one for reloading.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012TDNAM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This one is for brewing.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012LOQUQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have had a number of digital scales over the years and for the money I also recommend the Harbor Freight 500g scale. which reads down to .1g.
If you catch them on sale they can be as cheap as 9.99 each.
I have 4 now. one one each floor of the house and in my range box, they all are just as reliable and accurate as the 60 -90dollar digital scale purchased in the past.
If you need more then 500g, they also have a larger scale for about 20 bucks.

Something to add to your list is a couple 100g certified test weights. most every scale needs to be calibrated at least once a year. these weights make the job a snap. I get mine from McMaster-Carr.

+1 on the small HF units. Very inexpensive and have held up well for me. I've also got a $25 or so kitchen scale (got it at Bed Bath & Beyond) that goes up to ~5Kg with 1g resolution that has a big platform so I can weigh entire rockets up through medium HPR. It doesn't work below about 10-15gm though, but that hasn't been a problem. Digital scales are all solid state so the advantages of expensive ones for our purposes are minimal. I prefer good-enough-but-destroyable.

I have this one, which is great for weighing rockets since it has a detached display.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYA0RC2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That's a nice HPR scale (40+ kg) for $25 Terry!! Very tempting, I've now built a couple of rockets that go beyond my kitchen scale's capacity.

I have two digital scales. For small tasks, I bought one of these kitchen scales that I've been very happy with.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SVQHWY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Make sure to get either the 500 g or 1000 g model and the calibration weights are included. This costs extra on the 3000 g model.

Here is a related thread where I discussed my reasons for buying it:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?120751-Scale&p=1392023#post1392023

I also bought this postal scale for heavier tasks, but I haven't used it enough to really assess its strengths and weaknesses yet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W7IOV4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I got this one ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EPO9M2Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01 ) for using Proline 4500 epoxy. Not sure if I did ok or what, but it works and I'm satisfied... :confused2:
The scale table is roughly 2" square, but I'm not doing huge batches...

Adrian

You get what you pay for.

I recommend the My Weigh KD-7000. Costs a bit more, but it is accurate, durable, temperature compensated, and .... did I say durable?

Kevin

jd2cylman said:

I got this one ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EPO9M2Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01 ) for using Proline 4500 epoxy. Not sure if I did ok or what, but it works and I'm satisfied... :confused2:
The scale table is roughly 2" square, but I'm not doing huge batches...

Adrian

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I've got that one - or one that looks just like it. It's been helpful for weighing small components.

terryg said:

I have this one, which is great for weighing rockets since it has a detached display.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYA0RC2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

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Looks nice, and the price is definitely not bad.

Nessalco said:

You get what you pay for.

I recommend the My Weigh KD-7000. Costs a bit more, but it is accurate, durable, temperature compensated, and .... did I say durable?

Kevin

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Oh, that's not that bad! I thought it would be a few hundred bucks, but it looks quite affordable. Thanks for the recommendation.