My scale Vs the scrap yard scale?? - Page 2

Scrap yards are just like individuals, a few will take advantage of others, but most are honest.

Very seldom do I deal with postal, bathroom, pedestal, or digital scales. Most of my loads are several tons so it is hard to challenge a yard scale. When I believe a yard has gone rouge, I will weigh at the port of entry before and after delivering a load. This got very interesting one time, during an inspection by the state it was found ice had built up under the scale. They were not trying to cheat anyone, just lazy about cleaning the scale. One thing that I learned is that even a certified scale can vary at different weights. At 60 lbs. it could be a pound light and at 150 lbs it could be a pound heavy even with the digital scales.

To verify this I weighed: Myself at 160 lbs., a bucket of copper at fifteen lbs., and then held the bucket while weighing myself at 177 lbs. I have repeated this experiment many times and seldom does my weight + the weight of an object = the weight of myself holding the object. Another eye opening experience is experimenting with two different scales at the same time. I have found I might weigh more on one scale, but the other scale is heavier with the combined weight. This may not happen with smaller commodities as much as with larger packages. With the loads I haul it is assumed the weight could be more than a hundred lbs. off either way, but it is assumed they equal out over time.

I loved Hobo Finds response because the yard is only buying the commodity, not the container. If you want to be sure you are not being ripped off, try the experiment above with the container weight, commodity, container and commodity, and then your weight. Then compare these numbers to the combined weight of you holding the product. You might be surprised.

Originally Posted by hills

Balance might be the key with a platform scale. It's just guesswork, but i think the load cell would be placed dead center of the platform.

Try to imagine a 4 foot by 8 foot platform. Place an empty bucket dead center ... and you might get a good reading. Place it the very end of the long end of the scale ... and it might not weigh up at all.

It would be a similar thing when loading the platform. It needs to be loaded either dead center -or- have the weight distributed evenly across the whole surface.

Anyway ... i've noticed that my shop scale reads different from the ones at the yards. I'm weighing up my 12" x 12" boxes on a 12" x 12" postal scale. Everything is centered and balanced. They usually read a few pounds heavier at the yard. It might be because the scale guys don't think to center the load on their scale ? IDK ... it could be that my scale is off too. Been thinking about ordering up a warehouse scale.

While wrestling in college it was well known that a scale weighs heaviest in the center so it was common during weigh ins to stand towards the back of the platform and put your weight on your heels. It is assumed that if they are not centering the load, your scale might be light. Jamming scales with pennies was also common. Today on digital scales a wrestler can challenge a scale by reweighing on every scale available for the competition. In this example the scales can vary by several pounds even though they are all certified.

Since my last post I have been experimenting and found that depending on the surface the scale is on can affect the weight. Body weight was heaviest on concrete, followed by hard wood floor, linoleum, and lastly carpet. The difference was 4 lbs. from the heaviest to the lightest. Once again two different scales were used with a variety of outcomes.

Conclusion: If your yards weighs non ferrous on a scale sitting on a rubber shop mat, they are cheating the customer.

Originally Posted by alloy2

The Law of Physics don't work that way, A pound of feathers wither at rest or in free fall is still a pound of feathers.

You have a great point, but I am at a disadvantage since I cannot weigh a pd. of feathers in free fall. So instead of the law of physics, maybe we should look into Newton's law of universal gravitation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton...al_gravitation

Isaac Newton, what goes up must come down.

Scales don't work without gravity.

You can search for "cat scales" in your area. Usually they have them at bigger truck stops. Its like 15$ for the first weigh and then 3$ for a re-weigh. They are supposed to be really accurate and they give you a print out they guarentee. I scrap cars so I can test the accuracy of the local yards scales before I go bringing them a lot of cars.