Glass scales

as far as the tilt, that's not an issue, the wipers are pushing to one side.
Get setup as quickly as possible to test the scale so you can make sure it is working.
Find someone locally who has a head to plug into if you don't have one yet. You need to see if it reads and moves immediately for warranty support. Not months from now.
 
Agree with @woodchucker Got to test it out with something that reads the scale.

For test, even a simple scale and pointer arrangement is ok. Lay a scale on the housing. Put a pointer on the head so that it points to the scale. Slide the head 3 inches and read what your display says. Slide the unit back to 0 on the scale. The display should read very near 0. This is a gross test, but my X scale failed it, because it didn't return to 0. For an accuracy test, you will need to set up indicators and stuff. Also, while moving the read head, (in a straight line) check that the display numbers continue to increment or decrement uniformly. You are looking for any dead spots where there are no counts. This could indicate shipping damage.
 
Nesse1 said:
After posting this thread it occurred to me that the plastic spacer is likely an alignment aid. I can piece it together for that purpose, I think. Regarding damage, I messaged the seller to see what they have to say. Regarding testing, I'm not sure how to do that just yet. I'm on the bottom of the learning curve at the moment...
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I also ordered scales and they arrived yesterday in similar condition to yours, with the plastic spacer cracked. I am guessing/hoping that the scales are fine. I don't have the TouchDro and tablet yet to test my scales, and I am curious about what DROPROS says about the condition of yours before I ask about mine... Any chance you can report back DROPROS' response?
 
Nesse1 said:
After posting this thread it occurred to me that the plastic spacer is likely an alignment aid. I can piece it together for that purpose, I think. Regarding damage, I messaged the seller to see what they have to say. Regarding testing, I'm not sure how to do that just yet. I'm on the bottom of the learning curve at the moment...
Click to expand...
Unless you only have one scale, you should have replicates with the other scales. I sent one of mine off to another HM member and kept one for myself in the event I would ever have to remove a scale.
 
Nesse1 said:
Got my scale today. A couple of questions...

The blue plastic piece on one end of the assembly is shattered. I took it off. It seems to be a cheap device to hold the head steady during transportation. Is this assumption correct?

Second, the read head tilts fairly significantly to the side, relative to the scale itself. There seems to be some degree of spring force resisting straightening it out. I think I can force it into a parallel arrangement with the scale during mounting, but I'm wondering if this is how it's supposed to be?

View attachment 434543View attachment 434544
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Even if the display appears to read correctly, I would, at the very minimum, document the damage and send that information to the vendor to establish your case in the event of failure in the future. Personally, I would be pushing for a replacement scale.
 
72Corv3tt3 said:
I also ordered scales and they arrived yesterday in similar condition to yours, with the plastic spacer cracked. I am guessing/hoping that the scales are fine. I don't have the TouchDro and tablet yet to test my scales, and I am curious about what DROPROS says about the condition of yours before I ask about mine... Any chance you can report back DROPROS' response?
Click to expand...

Here is the response. I don't have a way to test right away, so I'm hoping the scale isn't damaged...

Yes, the blue plastic piece is primarily for transportation, but is also used to gauge the correct 'gap' between the readhead and the scale when mounting. Once done, it's thrown away. As for the misalignment, yes this is normal due to how the scale is manufactured (all glass scales do this). What to do is this - you can twist the readhead into parallel with the scale - but - do not laterally displace it. In other words, uncock it so that everything is parallel, but don't push it to one side or the other to make mounting easier. It knows where it wants to be for internal clearance if that makes sense.
 
Nesse1 said:
Here is the response. I don't have a way to test right away, so I'm hoping the scale isn't damaged...

Yes, the blue plastic piece is primarily for transportation, but is also used to gauge the correct 'gap' between the readhead and the scale when mounting. Once done, it's thrown away. As for the misalignment, yes this is normal due to how the scale is manufactured (all glass scales do this). What to do is this - you can twist the readhead into parallel with the scale - but - do not laterally displace it. In other words, uncock it so that everything is parallel, but don't push it to one side or the other to make mounting easier. It knows where it wants to be for internal clearance if that makes sense.
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Yep, that's what I was thinking.
 
Nesse1 said:
Here is the response. I don't have a way to test right away, so I'm hoping the scale isn't damaged...

Yes, the blue plastic piece is primarily for transportation, but is also used to gauge the correct 'gap' between the readhead and the scale when mounting. Once done, it's thrown away. As for the misalignment, yes this is normal due to how the scale is manufactured (all glass scales do this). What to do is this - you can twist the readhead into parallel with the scale - but - do not laterally displace it. In other words, uncock it so that everything is parallel, but don't push it to one side or the other to make mounting easier. It knows where it wants to be for internal clearance if that makes sense.
Click to expand...
A fellow member received a glass scale recently with a damaged "blue" piece. He was able to test his scale and found it was not reading correctly. He's currently trying to get a replacement from his supplier. I'd recommend you find someone that could help you test it, because you might have a damaged scale.
 
It's RALLY hard to damage these glass scales. The reading head casting is decoupled from the carriage that rides the encoder strip, and there is a good amount of space between the two. If you scroll down to the second photo on this page: Glass DRO Scales you'll see how the reading head looks.

If something got damaged, it would be one of the following two things:
1. The tabs that keep the casting [sort of] aligned can snap of (I did that to one of my scales by over traveling it; the scale still works fine)
2. The glass strip could be cracked.

You can inspect for both by taking the end caps off and looking inside. You can even remove the reading head completely, but make sure to re-insert it in the same orientation.

Glass scales don't fail in a "sort of not working" manner, generally. They either work or don't work.

As far as correct gap or misalignment, glass scales are very forgiving. As long as nothing rubs on the extremes of the travel, they will work just fine. With some cheap Chines glass scales giving them a bit of "preload" might even help with the hysteresis/backlash.

Regards
Yuriy
 
Dirt and grime don't help them either. Mine got contaminated in use. Cleaning helped a little but the scales still skipped or misread counts more in one direction than the opposite direction.

A new read head fixed the problem. Make sure you put the read head in the correct way! I put an arrow marker on the scale housing and head to make sure it was correctly oriented which helped.
 
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