Auto Charge Powder dispenser. Balance beam based.

[@nells1776]

Outstanding, and extremely impressive...great job!

[@BlackDotPatrick]

Great design. Thanks for sharing.

[@timothyward7381]

Maybe turn the light on next time 👌🏼

[@jonhunt9928]

hello is there any chance I can get that info from you on how you built this. it looks like it works great .

[@ottsm]

I've seen several other similar designs, I've been working on my own. Yours is the best I've seen, great setup! Did you use stepper motors, geared DC, or some other type of motor? I've been trying stepper motors for the low speed quick response but they tend to vibrate more which can effect the flow rate, I may go back to geared DC. I agree with you about digital scales, they are quicker but the just seem to drift off without you knowing it. Great idea with the double large & small tubes, also the change in discharge angle is something I hadn't thought of.

[@ttenrabyrral1]

Thank you for the positive comments..The motors are, as I recall, very small 12V 50 rpm gearmotors. It has been a few years since I put this together so don't hold me to that speed.. As a matter of fact I think the small tube motor may have a resistor in the circuit to slow it down a little.. The electrical circuit is very simple, with two transistors and a couple other things landed on the smallest bread board from Radio Shack to translate the infrared signal from the scale to the motors.. There was a lot of trial and error getting the exact spacing for the large and small tube shut off infrared transistors and emitters.. These reside in the far left side of the scale along side the magnetic dampener magnets.. The infrared emitters and transistors are mounted in a small, highly machined, black plastic block in such a way to project there beam through small holes for accuracy and the whole mount is slightly adjustable up and down.. Although I have never made any adjustments to this mount after the initial adjustment.. This scale has delivered thousands of accurate loads with zero time wasted on warm up or calibrating the scale.. From just a few grains for pistol loads on up.. No confusing keypad just slide the counterweights to your desired load and go at it.. Of course there is no way to program 100 of your favorite loads into the scale but you should be writing that down in your load books any way.. I promise you that when your digital scale goes in for factory repair your 100 favorite loads will not come back with it.. What is really irritating, about the digital scale, is discovering part way through a loading session that the scale is reading high or low after you just spent 15 minutes calibrating it.. Then what do you do..?? How many of the 3 or 4 hundred bullets that you just made up are holding a bad charge..?? OK, I will just take each charge off the digital dispenser and check it with a balance beam before dumping it into the brass.. Wait a minute why not just dispense the charge onto the balance beam..?? Then why do I even have this crappy digital dispenser..?? I am all about the long range game.. I am one of those nut jobs that weighs and sorts out everything sorting brass and bullets by exact weight, never mixing lots of powder or primers.. I am never happy with off the shelf chamber reamers.. I call in my own ridiculously tight neck specs to Dave Kiff at Pacific tool and he makes the reamer of my dreams.. I like to know my exact impact point beyond 500 yards.. This scale is a vital part of getting good results at that distance.. My biggest ah ha moment, for accuracy, was when I discovered that spending more time on the shooting bench than the reloading bench was the key.. This scale cuts my reloading time way down.. Of course now the big problem is the lack of reloading components available for sale.. I would like to turn this over to RCBS or Hornady but I imagine it would end up being outsourced to china for fabrication with poor end results..

[@ShootingMOA]

Great work.. congrats

[@ttenrabyrral1]

Thanks.. I love it.. Never fails to throw a perfect load.. No mater the room temp, lighting etc.. Warm up time zero!! A great mix of old world tech (balance beam) with modern automation (infrared beam and motor controls).. Of course it doesn't store 100 recipes, buy a notebook... Dispenses in half the time of any other on the market.. No keypad input, just slide the counter weights to the desired load..

[@Dave-vm2bl]

Hey Larry, I know this video was posted about a year ago but I think this is great. I've been wanting to do this for along time. I have several Lyman/Ohaus scales ( Lyman D-5 and M-5) that have been tuned and they work great and want to utilize in everyday loading like you did. I'm starting to try and build a dispenser like yours and would appreciate any help you could give, i.e. photo of the inner working of motor and tube setup, or Drawing/schematic of the electrical components you used. I know its asking a lot and I understand if you don't want to divulge that info, but from one long-range shooter to another Im at the same crossroads you were at with all these digital problem ridden units out there. I thought about using one of the Dandy Products Omega trickles for the low speed trickier and then make a high speed trickier to go with it but I figure if I'm able to figure out how to make a high speed trickier than Im not far from making a slow speed one as well. Anyway any help that you can give will be greatly appreciated and will only be used for my personal use. Ive always wanted to do this ever since i saw the AMT/ LYMAN autoscale back in the 80's, and you have taken that design and made it better than it ever was, in my opinion. If you want I can give you my email instead of posting on here. Thanks, Dave Heredia [e-mail]

[@ttenrabyrral1]

I do have some very ugly penciled schematics I would be willing to provide to your e-mail. [e-mail]

[@Dave-vm2bl]

That would be great Larry, any pictures of the internals and outside and any parts list would be great too, you can send to Dave at e-mail [e-mail]

[@duediligence9965]

Very Nice... thanks for sharing. I've been thinking of doing something similar. What is dual speed powder dispenser you used? Also, I'm assuming the optical sensor is scale mounted and that you did not modify the beam itself, correct? Thanks...

[@ttenrabyrral1]

The powder dispenser is home made and yes the sensors are in the scale frame.. No modification to the beam.. Change the charge by sliding the counterweight just as if you were using the scale for weighing..

[@thisoldjeepcj5]

I know this has been out there a long time but can you sketch the schematic or give us some pictures of the back or underside of your scale. Great video. We want to learn. That is what the internet is all about. Thanks.

[@ttenrabyrral1]

Yes it has been a while and the scale has dispensed many pounds of propellant without issue. I do have some very ugly penciled schematics I would be willing to provide to your e-mail. [e-mail]