At Arlyn Scales, we believe it is our job to provide you with the best designed and manufactured scales on the market. That attitude has made us a leader in our field for the past 30 years. Our scales are constructed in our factory in Long Island, New York. This arrangement lets you buy from us factory direct, which also allows us to roll some of those savings into creating a higher quality scale than the competition could ever hope to deliver at a reasonable price. This means you save big on higher quality products.
Name a type of scale and we make it. We build bench scales, floor scales, drum scales, crane scales, platform scales and many more. We offer a wide variety of scale sizes, accuracy options, platform dimensions, and construction materials. If we do not necessarily have a model that meets your needs, we can sit down with you and offer a more customized scale to help your business.
Before you select and purchase a scale from us, it is important that you understand what you need the scale to do and how to get the most accuracy out of the scale. Three things that can help you with obtaining precise weight measurement are capacity, environment, and scale technology. These characteristics allow you to refine your search for the most appropriate scale.
Capacity
When selecting a scale, make sure you have a good idea of the load weights you want to measure. Are you weighing a small beaker of chemicals or are you weighing a 55 gallon drum? Knowing the average weight requirement allows you to narrow the capacity range down. You want to do that because too much capacity means that accuracy can be compromised. If you are measuring a couple of pounds compounded material, you would want to select one of our bench scales because they have capacities starting at 5 lbs. The scales are also space efficient. You could put a bench scale on your countertop without a problem.
What you do not want to do is purchase one of our floor scales to weigh your lab sample. Our floor scales have a capacity of 5000 lbs. Weighing something significantly less than that will mean that the scale will not be able to provide as much accuracy as the bench scale. Plus, our floor scale would take up a lot more space than a bench scale. If you are weighing samples in your lab, you might not even have the space.
Environment
Make sure that the scale you pick can do the best job possible by considering the environment it will be operating in on a daily basis. One thing to consider is the amount of vibration. Vibration in the environment can create serious disruption in obtaining accurate readings for your scale. Now, should you have occasional vibration in the area, one way of working around that is using one of our crane scales, but only if your capacity requirements be appropriate. Since there is no platform on the floor and the load is suspended, vibration becomes less of a concern.
However, air currents and high velocity air circulation can cause a problem with a suspended load. Therefore, the weighing environment should not be in these types of areas. Not only would a crane scale have problems, but any scale with a platform could have its accuracy compromised by the air pushing the load or the platform as well.
Additionally, should you work in a corrosive or hazardous environment such as a petrochemical refinery or waste management industry; you will want to factor that into your scale selection. We offer our scales with a full stainless steel construction to minimize corrosion. We also use a choice of three part epoxy coatings to help minimize wear and tear on the platform of the scale. For particularly hazardous environments, we also manufacture explosion proof scales that meet OSHA and NEC standards.
Accuracy
Obviously, everyone is concerned about accuracy when purchasing a scale. However, you could be weighing livestock or creating a new drug. The former does not require as fine of a resolution as the latter. You do not want to waste your money purchasing an ultra precision scale when it’s not required. That being said, all of our scales are incredibly accurate.
The load cell is the foundation of a scale’s resolution and accuracy. It’s made out of a piece of metal, which resembles a diving board. The load cell is attached to the bottom of the scale’s platform and the floor of the scale. The load cell bends when the load is placed on the platform. The stress on the load cell is translated into weight.
Now, the industry standard for the load cell is called a strain gauge load cell. These are generally made out of aluminum. Unfortunately, they are susceptible to damage since the metal has flexure sections which are thin. Shock loading (dropping a load onto the platform from a height) or overloading (putting an over-capacity load on the scale) can damage the scale, compromising the accuracy, or breaking the scale entirely.
Because we manufacture our scales and their subassemblies in house, we’re able to machine our load cells out of stainless steel, which means greater accuracy and durability. Additionally, for platform and floor scales, we use four load cells to minimize risk and ensure high accuracy. Because we manufacture our load cells and match the outputs prior to attaching them to the scale, we have eliminated the need for a summation board. This is a great benefit because summation boards are one of the greatest points of failure in a scale.
Should you require an extremely fine resolution, we offer our Ultra Precision line of scales, which utilize Surface Acoustic Wave, or SAW, technology. This is our internationally patented design. Instead of measuring stress, our SAW load cells measure displacement, which requires only one tenth of load cell movement. This means a resolution of .0001 in some models, with capacities up to 500 pounds. You no longer have to choose between resolution and capacity, now you can have both!
All Scales for All Types
Our scales will meet the above criteria no matter how you use them thanks to our skillful engineering and manufacturing process. You also have the option to upgrade your scale with a variety of connectivity options, for example setpoint controllers; USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet connectivity; rechargeable batteries, and more.
One thing that always comes standard is our knowledgeable customer support staff. They are the best in the business and can work with your to select one of our scales or help customize one just for you. Reach us online using the form on our Contact Us page or call us at (800) 645-4301.
