Don't confuse corporate greed with central banking destruction of the purchasing power of money through inflation (increasing the supply of money). Remember companies that manufacture and sell balance beam scales have lots and lots of competition: The central bank that supplies you with your "money" has no competition. The central banks have monopolies, name a manufacturer of balance beam scales that has a monopoly. When central bankers debase and devalue the purchasing power of your money manufacturers have two choice, raise the price or cut quality, size, features and etc...
Thank you TJ. I quite agree, I'm afraid the time when you could repair anything is coming to a close, the "fit new" throw it away mentality has taken over. Very few of the youngsters now seem to be able to actually make or fix anything.
THANKS for this video. I just got my new Redding #2 and frankly... it didn't really make the grade. Mine had a few issues. One was the "slot" in the casting was literally "bent". It was concave on one side, convex on the other. The slot has no effect on the damping, its just a place for the copper arm to ride between the magnets in the casting. First, the copper arm was "bent", probably by the factory trying to get it out the door. I squared that very carefully using a 2 inch machinist square. Then I draw filed the casting slot so the arm would clear the slot (it was sticking in the "up" and "down" positions). The beam had a big nasty burr at the end too, which would literally stick into the casting. That one was a bit harder to find, but once it was just barely stoned smooth, it fixed it. The bearing rods are not hardened at all. I removed mine, because they were off center like yours. In so doing, I cleaned up the ends of the bearing rods with a file and put little bevels on them to make insertion easy. Filed with no effort. The rods are soft steel. However I was able to center them, get the V's level and use a bit of paint to seal them in place. I "reversed" the rods so they would have the V notch more centered and not stick out too far from the casting. If they need removing again, I'll drill two cross holes and tap them for 2-56 set screws. Also, my small poise was off a bit. It was too heavy and would not read the same as the large poise in 5 grain increments. The NIST traceable weights were just about spot on for the big poise, out to 420 grains, about 1/2 of a .1 grain off. Very good I'd say. But the small poise was .25 "off", moving the center indicator high. I had to clip a bit of metal off the poise to get its weight ok at 5 grains. Going backward, it measured fine right ro .2 grains which is the smallest weight I've got. Like you, I filled my base, but I used a handful of 45acp cast boolits and electrical potting resin. Weighs real nice now and if it wasn't for the cheap-ass pan holder, which lets the pan slide off at a whim, it would be a real deluxe scale. Thanks again for the video... really got my eyes open to what can be done with a crud balance. Hope all this helps somebody. Redding could do better on this scale, but its made as cheap as they can. Sad.
Excellent work - It's just a pity you needed to do it in the first place. There's been a steady decline in the quality of nearly all these scales from most manufactures over the last 10-15 years, however I have been getting good results with the RCBS M500 lately.
How did you attache the extended pinter? After you recommended this scale I bought it and now will try to tune it myself as far as I manage to do so. When it came it did not work at all since the Beam was rubbing against the display on the left. Had to bend it out to make it even work. I will fill it with plaster, fit the extended pointer and put the dampening foam in (the easy stuff). I ordered the camera you use already. Hope it works with Apple, too. Would love to have the ball bearing knob, get the knifes of beam and hanger polished, get the camera brecket and maybe get extra weights in the bottom once you have time on your hands.
The pointer on the Redding is not so easy - I remove the scale plate by pushing out the two rivets that hold it in place, then file a small notch to take the thin pointer and glue it in place then re-fit the scale plate. Make sure the damping magnets are working correctly before you fill it with plaster - you can't change them once it's done. I don't think any webcams work with an Ipad. you could use this other idea of mine. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-slqE3kodO8Y.html
Very smart and functional! Unfortunately the modern trend is towards cheapening an existing good product to get more profit out of it, I think that these products, being made for predominately American market, are squeezing the profit margin to the limit, as no one in America seems to be willing to pay much for anything, their target market should be Europe, where buyers appreciate quality and it's cost. I really like the lead ballast in the base ! I am off to the workshop to make some for my balance.
I would be willing to be $10 that the profit margin at Redding Corporation is no higher than it was in 1965. I would also bet that the profit margin at Redding Corporation is lower than it was in 1965. When your central bank through inflation destroys the purchasing power of the money we use to buy things manufactures have three choices: raise the price, reduce the quality, or go broke. Redding has lots and lots of competition; all their competitors face the same dilemma. Your central bank has no competition, it can debase, devalue and destroy the money at will; central bankers have a monopoly on the most important element involved in commerce, the money. The bankers are making a lot higher profit now than they did in 1965, your ire is misplaced.
It's infuriating as to what these scales cost and the low quality that is received by the customer, and instead of the scale manufacturers selling a quality product, the responsibility to fix the problem is passed onto the customer.
HI ALAN,HANDLOADERS DIGEST 5TH EDITION 1970 AND 6TH EDTION 1977 HAS THE RCBS POWDER AND BULLET SCALE ON THE FRONT COVER OF THE BOOKS.I DO NOT HAVE THESE BOOKS,SO IDO NOT KNOW IF THERE IS ANY INFO IN THE BOOK ON THE SCALE.YOU CAN FIND THESE BOOKS ON EBAY AND AMAZON.
+bldavis11 The cameras are very cheap. They're plug and play USB, 5 megpix. The only thing to watch out for is that they must have a lens that can be manually focused down to just a couple of inches. These little cameras can now plug directly into an android tablet and run with a free app called "camerafi"
Alan, thank you for the info on both the USB camera as well as CameraFi, I have it all working with my #2 scale and Nexus7 tablet, love it! Best regards, Chris.
Great video. Am I better buying an older version of this scale as opposed to a new one?. It seems that the older ones are better made. I have my eye on one but don't know how old it is?
Nothing special Reg, the colour of these scales varies depending on when they were made. I took the scale down to my local auto spares store and found the best match spray can. This particular one is Ford signal green.
Unfortunately not Derrick - they are custom made as required. The good part is that they are hardly ever needed on the Redding No 2, they are certainly one of the better scales.
I have a vintage Redding No1 scale with the hydraulic dampening system. It sticks if I gently set the pan on, and if I tap the bench or gently blow on the beam, it will begin to balance, but is not always repeatable. How can I improve the performance of this old scale?
Hi Casey - The old Redding No 1 is a very good scale, introduced in 1953 - it's only the inconvenience of the oil damping that is it's downside. Solid base, well cut and engraved beam and only 0-350gn which I consider a plus point. You have three possible problems - First move is to really clean the knife edges and bearings, also the pan hanger stirrup points with a toothbrush and spirit of some kind. Check the knife edges under a strong glass to see if there are any dull spots of burrs, just touch with a flat stone will dress them. The bearings rarely give any problems as long as they are spotless. Another possible point of friction is the knife edge tips, these should come to a point and the point level with the knife edge, then if the tips are in contact with the bearing end plates they pivot on a single point, not scribe an arc when the beam moves. The only other point of concern is the pan hanger stirrup. The point where the stirrup hangs are also a small set of knife edges, check they are clean and facing vertically and the stirrup is free to swing in the centre of the groove... I hope that helps, let me know how you get on.
Hi Thomas - Thanks for the interest in my scale videos. Unfortunately I'm so backed up with other projects I just can't take on any scale work at present.
The bearings on the Redding are fixed, unlike the RCBS floating bearing system. If the fixed bearing are out of line the knife edge won't sit evenly in the bottom of the "V" and will give false readings. In this scale, they were in alignment, just in the wrong place.
Sorry Joe - Missed this comment.. It's a bracket to attach a mini webcab too. Using a camera magnifies the image about 100 times and eliminates all parallax error.
thetargetmaster thanks, my Redding scale checks good at 5 gr with a check weight on the large side, but when I check it on the small side at 5 gr it shows 5.4 gr
@@scottharrison574 That's a bummer Scott, and almost impossible to correct. I think t yours must be one of the more recent ones with the applied tape scale - the older etched beam never seemed to have this problem. If you know the error and allow for it or use check weights at about the weight you require it's not really a problem, your scale should still repeat consistently and reliably.
Hi Anthony - Thanks for the interest but unfortunately I can't take on any scale work at the moment - I have backlog of work that will keep me busy well into next year.
I HAVE A RCBS POWDER AND BULLET SCALE FROM 1964 THAT HAS A MAGNETIC DAMPING SYSTEM.THE BEAM,DIAL,THUMB SCREW,PAN HANGER AND PAN ARE IDENTICAL TO THE REDDING NO2 POWDER AND;BULLET SCALE.THE MAGNETS ARE EXPOSED ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE SCALE TOWER NOT INSIDE THE TOWER LIKE THE REDDING NO2 AND THE THUMB SCREW IS TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE BODY FOR EASY ADJUSTING.I SAW A RCBS PRODUCT CATALOG FROM 1964 THAT SAID THEY WERE TO INTRODUCE THE RCBS POWDER AND BULLET SCALE IN SEP.1 1964.I HAVE BOUGHT THREE OF THIS RCBS POWDER AND BULLET&;SCALES OFF EBAY.THERE IS NO QUESTION IN MY MIND WHO EVER MAKES THE REDDING SCALE ALSO MADE THE 1964 RCBS POWDER AND BULLET SCALE.
That's interesting Henry - have you any photos of your scales or a ling to a google image. I have a around 30 beam scales, many of them no longer made. Some of the old oil damped scales are of excellent quality.
TYPE IN RCBS POWDER BULLET SCALE IMAGES. SCROLL UNTIL YOU SEE IMAGES(PHOTOS).CLICK ON IMAGES.IT WILL SHOW DIFFERENT RCBS SCALES.I SAW ONE PHOTO OF THE SCALE I AM TALKING ABOUT.THE PHOTO SHOWS THE BOX,INSTRUCTIONS AND SCALE.LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND IT.IF YOU CAN NOT FIND IT,IF YOU CAN GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.I WILL GET MY DAUGHTER TO TAKE A PHOTO AND SEND IT TO YOU.
Not easily - Since around 2010 all 505's were made in either China or Mexico. No matter what it says cast into the base of the scale, the only way to tell where it was actually made is to look on the cardboard box. RCBS stopped making the 502, 505 and 10/10 around three years ago.
I FOUND ANOTHER PHOTO TYPE GOOGLE IMAGES THEN TYPE RCBS POWDER AND BULLET SCALE 9TH ROW OF PHOTOS LAST PHOTO ON 9TH ROW.THE SCALE IS SITTING ON WHITE WOOD BOARDS WITH WHITE BRICKS BEHIND IT.THAT IS MY SCALE I BOUGHT OF EBAY.
I've found it Henry. C $75. I've not seen one like that before. You are right, the beam, hanger, pan, pivot bearings and end plates are exact same as the Redding No2. The base has the same leveling screw as the Hornady/Pacific "M" type That model must have been a short lived, stop-gap with external magnets before the 502, 505 was introduced. There seems to be very little information about this old reloading gear, I'll investigate this further.
I really don't think it's that much of a disadvantage - Both Redding and Hornady use steel bearings. Heat treated/hardened carbon steel and Agate are just about the same hardness at about 6-7 Mohs, with Diamond being 10.
