Model working analytical scale

[Mario Lucchini]

In my continuum quest for avoiding monotony, I left the cars aside for a while, and dedicated these last weeks to finish a model balance scale I had started some years ago...

I wasn't satisfied with its precision, trying different fulcrums, till I used some very tiny rolling ballbearings taken from a discarded PC fan...

Now it has a rather disturbing sensitivity, with much improved precision...

It's all polished brass throughout, the case being glass & wood.

The weights were fine tuned using a high precision digital scale...


Pics 1, 2 & 3 shows the scale with the case on....

Pics 4 & 5 shows the left & right fine tuning screws...

Picture 6 shows the indicator at dead center....

Picture 7 shows the rear fulcrum roller bearing...

Pics 8 & 9 shows the weights in their special drawer...

Picture 10 shows the scale doing its thing, here, weighging its own weights!...

Mario

[Nortley]

Mario, to this once upon a time chem major, that balance is pure beauty. Just from curiosity, did you try agate for the knife edges (fulcra), as in many prototypes? Now you can balance those piston/rod assemblies before putting them in your Pocher engines, and your display case will be noticeably smoother.

[hot ford coupe]

Wow, that's absolutely gorgeous. I was a chem major also and used something similar in my first years of chemistry. It really brings back a lot of memories.