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Parts Counting Scales are useful in a wide variety of different industrial applications. These industrial scales are used when a large quantity of identical parts has to be accurately counted. Some of these situations are suitable for lower capacity scales, but others require scales with considerably higher capacity. This could be the case for the hardware industry where nuts, bolts, washers, rivets and other items are counted. Castings, stampings and molded items would be an additional area. Fittings, connectors, switches and assemblies are yet another. There are only a few, stand alone parts counting scales with capacities of 150 lb or higher. Scale Compare has reviewed a number of them here.

Standard operation requires a small number of parts to be placed on the scale platform. The quantity of the sample parts are entered by the user, so the scale can determine the weight of a single piece. Now, when a large quantity of parts is placed on the platform, the scale can calculate that quantity.

One of the most important specifications for a counting scale is the resolution, or readability. If small parts are being counted, a large percentage error can occur if the scale does not have enough resolution. In this case, either a larger number of sample parts should be used, or a scale with higher resolution should be chosen.

Most of the lower cost counting scales use standard strain gage technology. This includes Scale Compare’s selections of the Arlyn 820F, and the Pennsylvania Scale 7600-200. The readability of each of these is 0.02 lb. These scales will accurately count parts that are not too light. Generally, the load sensors of strain gage scales are fabricated from aluminum. An exception is the Arlyn 820F, which uses stainless steel. This will protect the scale from accidental damage from shock loads caused by dropping items onto the scale platform.

For much better accuracy, the A&D GP-100KS uses force motor technology, and increases the readability by a factor of up to 10 times. There is a rather large trade off in a much higher price. The Arlyn SAW-H and SAW-JL use their patented Surface Acoustic Wave technology to also increase the readability by a factor of 10, resulting in exceeding accurate results. These SAW scales have an overload factor of 500%, far exceeding the other technologies. This provides excellent protection from shock load and overload. The price is also much lower than the GP-100KS. The SAW-JL has an exceedingly large platform for such an accurate scale, providing an excellent solution for many difficult parts counting problems.