[Review] £15 digital Stylus balance

£15 digital Stylus balance

I have bought a 100g jewlers balance from ebay - It works brill as a stylus balance it is accurate +/- 0.01g. Below is a picture. It even comes with a calibration wieght.
When I checked my cartridge it was tracking at 2.9g now back at 2.2g - marvelous. Then I read the specs on the and dropped it down again to 1.6g even more marvelous.

Purchase details here = wwww.digital.com 1/100g accuracy pocket scale is its name. There are a shedload of them on ebay mine was £4.95 plus postage = £15. Size 18mm x 139mm x 8omm

It is not affected by the magnetic fields of cartridges

View attachment 980

 

Just a thought, but I tried a similar device last year and discovered that the sensing plate or the mech beneath contained ferrous material and attracted the magnets in MC cartridges.
If you have a small magnet (fridge magnet works) try placing it on the pad and if there is any attraction I'm affraid the unit will not be suitable for hi-fi use.

If all is well - excellent and I'll certainly be ordering one

 

Thanks for the comment - I will check this currently iti s being used by a mate

 

you could just put block of plastic on it, polystyrene with a sheet of something solid on top, 'tare' it, and put the cart on that.

anything 1" thick will do the job

 

Thanks for the idea - Without a lot of faffing I have a limit on height that precludes a one inch spacer but but 1/2" is probably workable.

I can use this spacer idea to check the idf there is a magnetic effect. by measuring a unfitted cartridge mass at tray level and also on 1" block if there no difference

If there is a magnetic attraction I would expect it would make the recorded mass higher than it actually was - if there is an effect its clearly quite small. Ive set my Cartridge up at 1.65 grams using the gauge - it has been tracking perfectly even across the worst band on HFS75 test disc.

So The magnetic effect, in this case, could be a red herring.

Unless it sticks like a limpet Im not sure if Robs "magnet" test is going to tell me too much. I have no idea if a MC would be more susceptable to errors? - If any one wants to send me a knackered old moving coil I can check this out also.

Thanks for all the comments they will help me verify the suitability of these scales for hifi use

I have noted that some cartridge scales have a list price of over £200

Andy

 

It looks identical to one I purchased about a year and a half ago and isn't magnetic. However I did make a platform out of a bent credit card which I then taped to the sensing plate to ensure that it was measuring at close to the playing surface rather than a centimeter or two higher. Some arms (though not a Rega as pictured) VTF varies considerably with height. I'm very pleased with it.

 

Just tested if MM magnets affected the mass reading by weighing a cartridge Shure SC39ED directly on tray and then lifted up by 20mm on a rubber spacer. - No difference.

Then did the same with a fridgemagnet - no difference.

Conclusion - This Unit is suitable for checking tracking weights of all cartridges up to 0.01 grams - 100 grams.

 

In that case one can use a cantilever like a lollipop stick or piece of chopped-up credit card held down with a dab of sticky putty.

 

The magnets probably won't affect the recorded weight, but may damage the cantilever. If a decently powerful magnet doesn't 'stick' to the weighing platform then probably you're should be fine. A spacer would make it certain.

Paul