RE: Scale for mesuring grams

[lva <lva@pamho.net>]

> brahma wrote:
>
> >Real lo-tech enthusiasts can also easily build their own scales with
> >a ruler, three needles and a couple of rice grains.
>
> I am a lo-tech enthusiast from way back.  How do you build your own
> scales this way?  I assume the rice grains weigh...a gram?





Hi Shannon,

It's quite simple. Take a plastic ruler, cut off the end of the ruler
that has the hole in it. The hole is useless for our prupose.


Then mark the ruler where the dots are.

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    | - - - - - - - - - - - - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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Then take three needles. Heat them and press them through the ruler
where the dots are marked.

I think, the higher the two lower needles are, the more precise your
scale will be, but that's a detail.

Then take some stiff plastic which you cut into two circles, each about
an inch in diameter.

Then hang these two circles to the outer needles with some thread. These
round pieces of plastic are your scale plates.

And with another thread you hang the whole contraption to your bookshelf
or wherever.

Balance the scale by cutting off little pieces off one of the circles.

And you've got a super precise scale.

Then take 100 rice grains, go to your drugstore, and have them weigh the
hundred grains. Divide that figure by 100, and you know the weight of
one rice grain.

The rice grains I have measured were 1/46th gram each. In other words,
46 rice grains were one gram.

Now you have a scale that weighs pretty reliably down to about 0.02
grams.

Not bad for a ruler, three needles, a bit of plastic and thread.



Greetings

Brahma