Stylus Force Gauge

[reinderspeter]

You can spend hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds on a device to measure the stylus force. feel free to do so but if you are a cheapskate like me this is a gauge that works very well for very little money:

Link to the seller: Stylus force Gauge

[jon]

I have one - does it for me too!

[deam]

I have one - does it for me too!

Me too! One question though... I'm using it with a suspended 'table, and it does this thing that drives me crazy, all the time. If I so much as touch the floating plinth while the gauge is on the platter, it'll display -0.03 instead of 0.00 until I turn it off and back on. Other than that it works wonderfully. Has anyone else noticed what I describe?

[reinderspeter]

Me too! One question though... I'm using it with a suspended 'table, and it does this thing that drives me crazy, all the time. If I so much as touch the floating plinth while the gauge is on the platter, it'll display -0.03 instead of 0.00 until I turn it off and back on. Other than that it works wonderfully. Has anyone else noticed what I describe?

No problems here but no suspended tables here either

Can't you block the supension during the procedure?

[rfgumby]

Yeah, i think if you block it with little wedges or paper, you'll only have to set the tare once
and then you won't have the "UNSTB" (unstable) warning either.

[wesley]

that's a nice scale, and cheap too.  i wish i had known about it earlier.

anyhow, i improvised and made one that is devised to create the height that is the same thickness as an lp.  the aluminum pc. is cut from the lid of a tin of cat tuna   just stick it on with thick double stick tape.

[richard]

I wonder how well your clever method will adapt to other gauges.
For many years, I've been using an original AR gauge. This is a plastic balance scale. I think that it used to sell for $1.50 USD. Now, a knockoff is being sold as "Rek-O-Kut" for at least $20. I made additional .05g weights for it out of heavy paper. But the height has always demanded tricks.

[wesley]

I wonder how well your clever method will adapt to other gauges.
For many years, I've been using an original AR gauge. This is a plastic balance scale. I think that it used to sell for $1.50 USD. Now, a knockoff is being sold as "Rek-O-Kut" for at least $20. I made additional .05g weights for it out of heavy paper. But the height has always demanded tricks.

i think the cleverness came from brian (or someone else at LL), i just copied it.  it actually works very well.  i put a penny on top of the gauge and then try on the aluminum pc. and exact same weight.  well at least it shows it's accurate down to a hundreth of a gram.

i used to use a shure bal. scale as well.  it's pretty accurate, but once you've used a digital, there's no turning back.

by the way, i'm originally from oakland.

[richard]

Wesley wronte:

"by the way, i'm originally from oakland."

Is that a neighborhood in Hong Kong?

Cool!

[wesley]

Wesley wronte:

"by the way, i'm originally from oakland."

Is that a neighborhood in Hong Kong?

Cool!

you can easily tell the differences in our neighorhoods.  mine is smoggy, your's is clear.  the last time i was in the bay area, i felt like i had a new eyeglass prescription on...

[daiwok]

Same here when I was last in the Bay area which was when I met Richard 

Now now Wesley, Hong Kong has good days as well, or do you prefer the wet and cold, and a bit of snow ? I have to admit California is rather nice 

Now back to the topic ! I bought one as well, but before Peter found this cheap link  > but I did not pay Audiogon prices so I cannot complain too much !  :P

[richard]

Wesley,

I lived in Oakland for seven years. It's a very interesting city, and has a far better Chinatown than SF (but hush: don't tell the tourists). The only time I ever go to SF now is to meet David.

The reason why our air is so good here is because all our smog blows down to San Jose and into California's Central Valley.  :-[ They're fed up, too; now we have to have our cars smog-inspected on a dynamometer machine.

Back on-topic, with such a good price, is there any reason to use a regular gauge?  How stable is this one as the batteries age?

[rfgumby]

An additional tip about these scales:  Take the batteries out when your not using it, or they will
wear out in no time.  They usually come with extra batteries, you will quickly find out why.  I usually just
keep the batteries in the soft case with the scale.

[richard]

Thanks for the tip, Gumby. Isn't there a similar, larger gauge, that uses standard flashlight batteries for a few dollars more? I'd prefer that one because I'm fed up with all the costly specialty battery types that clutter my life.

[deam]

I haven't (re)read the whole thread, but I noticed something today that some of you may find useful (those of you with vintage/78 carts): this scale can be used to weigh more than 5 grams VTF.

All you have to do is set VTF initially to, say, 3 grams with the scale. Then WITH the stylus still on the plate, hit the rightmost button-- this zeroes the scale but 'with respect to' the 3 grams already on it. So if you need 6 grams VTF, all you have to do is add and measure 3 more grams to arrive at the final value.

I believe the rest of the world calls this 'tare', I've evidently just discovered it  .