Calibrating your digital pocket scale is the best way to ensure that all your measurements are as accurate as possible.
When your scale falls out of calibration, its benchmark becomes inaccurate, which causes all of your future measurements to be inaccurate. You won’t run into this problem when you keep your scale calibrated.
Below, we are going to take a look at how you can ensure that your digital pocket scale is always calibrated. So without further ado, let’s dive right into the answer to calibrating a digital pocket scale.
How to Setup the Scale
Before you start the actual calibration process, you’ll need to do a bit of prep. High humidity, uneven surfaces, random air current, and vibrations can throw the calibration off. So, you’ll want to find a flat, level surface in a room with a comfortable temperature and no drafts. To mitigate vibrations, rest your scale on a mousepad.
Your next step is to prepare the weights needed to add up to the total capacity of the scale. As an additional precaution, consider wiping the weighing platform down with a microfiber cloth to make sure there is no dust and debris on the scale.
How to Calibrate the Scale
Now that you’ve set everything up properly, you’ll be ready to start calibrating. Lucky for you, the process is extremely simple, should only take a few minutes, and will leave you with a highly accurate scale.
Here are the calibration steps:
- Turn the scale on by pressing the ON/OFF button, then wait for it to stabilize. It should read 0.0g.
- Press the MODE key down and hold it until the display reads CAL.
- Make sure that the platform is completely empty. Then, press MODE again to confirm the zero point.
- The display should now show the required calibration weight. Take your calibration weight and place it on the platform.
- The display should then read PASS, after which it will return to normal weighing mode.
- From here, you can turn your scale off or continue weighing.
Your scale should now be calibrated! Now, wasn’t that much simpler than you thought?!
Calibrating your digital pocket scale is the best way to prolong its lifespan and overall quality. It only takes a couple of minutes, and when you do it correctly, you guarantee that your measurements are always accurate.
Mistakes to Avoid When Calibrating Your Scale
You may have heard of a fairly common rumor encouraging pocket scale owners to use a nickel to calibrate their scales. A US nickel weighs exactly 5.0 grams, and the idea is that you can combine a certain number of nickels to reach the scale’s capacity.
For example, if you owned a 100-gram scale, you would need 20 nickels to reach its capacity. The truth is that the weight of a nickel fluctuates after it enters circulation. Debris buildup and damage to the coin impact its weight and can eventually add up to full gram discrepancies in the nickel’s total weight.
Adjusting the calibration of your pocket scale is a permanent procedure, which is why it is so important always to calibrate your scale using the proper tools. Many specialty stores sell weight kits and calibration weights that are of professional quality, guaranteeing accurate calibration.
Internal vs External Scale Calibration
As we’ve already established, calibration is essential to all balances and weighing scales, and your digital pocket scale is no different. Incorrect weight results due to an uncalibrated device can cause some nasty problems – if you’re a commercial jeweler, it could lead to profit losses that become more significant over time.
There are two main modes of calibration: internal and external. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Internal calibration uses an integrated internal mechanism that ensures all your weighing results are accurate. You can generally set it to a timer so that your scale calibrates itself automatically at certain times in the day. Alternatively, you can activate it just by pressing a button.
It’s a newer technology and thus adds a few more dollars to the cost of the scale itself.
On the other hand, digital pocket scales with external calibration require approved calibration weights. You have to place these weights manually onto the weighing platform and you’ll have to add and remove weights until you match the calibration weight.
Scales with this calibration form are generally more affordable, though you do have to purchase a set of calibration weights, which is an additional cost.
Conclusion
And there you have it – a complete guide on how to calibrate digital pocket scale devices if they happen to go out of whack when carrying them or moving them around. With the information above, you should have no problems getting your digital pocket scale working accurately and correctly. Good luck with all of your weighing endeavors.
