advertisement


What Stylus Force Gauge To Buy?

stevec67 said:
As Paskinn says I'd be getting the thing about right with a mechanical see-saw gauge and then making minor tweaks and listening if I saw fit. The scales are only really to get you close and avoid damage.
Click to expand...

I suppose if you have an arm which allows tiny incremental changes in VTF it's okay to 'tweak to taste'.

However, where the VTF is applied by moving the counterweight (PU7 & Ace Anna, for example), one has to use a balance/scales EVERY time one changes the playing weight. I had been using see-saw type scales for years, but the electronic one illustrated on this thread has proved a complete boon.

Not only does it seem accurate to a negligible margin, the platform is smooth, wide and dished so the cart. cannot easily fly off in the event of accidental knocking. In contrast, the mechanical scales seem positively perilous !
 
paskinn said:
If ordering the Ortofon protractor, why not simplify matters by buying the Ortofon mechanical scales at the same time? Cheap, entirely accurate enough, no issues with batteries, magnetism and all round unreliability.
Sometimes the old fashioned way has virtues. I have a decent digital scale but still trust my mechanical scale more.
Click to expand...

I use a trusty Shure SFG-2 mechanical balance. It's easy enough to use as long as you don't need more than 3g and seems accurate too. Just be wary of old second-hand ones without first checking they are non-ferrous, I guess in the early to mid '70s Shure never assumed folk would ever go back to using MC carts!

PS FWIW the way I set stylus pressure is to start off with it exactly to the manufacturer's recommendation / median of the range using the SFG-2, then listen and adjust by ear, and finally check again with the scales that I am still in-range (I usually end up where I started to be honest). This is obviously when using an arm with easy continuous weight adjustment e.g. a tracking force dial or gradated rider-weight (SME, Rega, Linn etc). I'd never go back to the type where one has to move the counterweight, check it on scales and lock it down with an allen-key after each tiny movement (e.g. Zeta etc). That's way too slow / too much hassle!
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Ive ordered the digital scale from Hong Kong and the Ortofon protractor from a UK supplier.

The digital scales look easy to use. Ive already balanced the arm then turned a dial so I dont want to repeat a similar balancing process.

Ive seen digital stylus scales for £120 which is crazy for me in budget turntable land. I started bidding on a Shure scale as above but Im not winning and dont want it now. I dont really want the see-saw Ortofon either.

With reference to the information here, I think Ive made a good choice.
 
Well I have had an experiment with the three digital scales I have - two are like this:



]



The one on the left in a cheap Chinese one bought from eBay (as linked to earlier in the thread) - this type are widely re-badged but are otherwise the same. The one on the right is a cheap jewellers scale that I have modified to have a platform that projects over the side and allow the measurement to be taken at record surface height (much as the first balance does). The third set of scales I used were also jewellers scales but a bit bigger.



I started by placing a cardboard loo-paper roll on the larger scales and atop that a business card(to move the magnet well away from the scales - I then set it to zero and weighed a small neodymium magnet - the result was 0.42g. I then weighed it on the other two scales that read 0.41 and 0.42. I flipped the magnet and the readings were the same, I also weighed it on its side, same again.



I did the whole thing again with a magnet twice the size and the readings were similarly accurate.



I did find that if you turned on the scales with a strong magnet directly over them you could throw out the auto calibration cycle they go through so my advice to turn them on away from the cartridge and then use them. In the test I carried out I found the cheap Chinese scales to work well and accurately - within a 100th of a gram.
 
Well the digital stylus gauge arrived from Hong Kong and its very good. I take the rubber mat off and place the gauge on the platter. Lowering the arm onto it is a cinch. It comes with a 5g weight to check calibration but its all ready to go once the batteries are installed. A very good value buy!

It has confirmed that the dial markings on the arm are accurate which is a lovely bonus
 
Minstrel SE said:
Well the digital stylus gauge arrived from Hong Kong and its very good. I take the rubber mat off and place the gauge on the platter. Lowering the arm onto it is a cinch. It comes with a 5g weight to check calibration but its all ready to go once the batteries are installed. A very good value buy!

It has confirmed that the dial markings on the arm are accurate which is a lovely bonus
Click to expand...

I've got the same one and it is great (I calibrated using a 5p piece and it was balls-on accurate), but you need a bit of care in use when using it with MC carts. The weighing platform may be non-magnetic, but something else inside the scales definitely isn't. Moving the cart about above the body of the scales caused some fluctuation in the reading.

My approach was to let the scales settle and calibrate in a straight line directly away from the cart as it sits on the weighing point so that the stylus (and hence body of the cart) was as far away as possible from the body of the scales; i.e. perpendicular to the stylus as opposed to say at right angles. I managed to get an accurate reading this way.
 
YNWOAN said:
most of the small digital scales on eBay are accurate enough but a magnet is attracted to the the platform (the actual platform is non-magnetic but the mechanism by which they work is not). If you use them as standard you will get a very inaccurate reading and so you need to make a little platform to move the weighing position to the side a bit. There are some designs where this is done for you -I'll have a look for one if someone doesn't post first.

Oh, here you go - £6.49!

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=261480957671

$_35.JPG


nothing to do with me but I have used one exactly like this before and they work fine.
Click to expand...

Cheers my man, just ordered one:)
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Tony L said:
I use a trusty Shure SFG-2 mechanical balance. It's easy enough to use as long as you don't need more than 3g and seems accurate too. Just be wary of old second-hand ones without first checking they are non-ferrous, I guess in the early to mid '70s Shure never assumed folk would ever go back to using MC carts!

PS FWIW the way I set stylus pressure is to start off with it exactly to the manufacturer's recommendation / median of the range using the SFG-2, then listen and adjust by ear, and finally check again with the scales that I am still in-range (I usually end up where I started to be honest). This is obviously when using an arm with easy continuous weight adjustment e.g. a tracking force dial or gradated rider-weight (SME, Rega, Linn etc). I'd never go back to the type where one has to move the counterweight, check it on scales and lock it down with an allen-key after each tiny movement (e.g. Zeta etc). That's way too slow / too much hassle!
Click to expand...

Much the same here.

Mull
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
The Deal Extreme stylus gauge works reliably well.

I've used and given away quite of few of these for many years now. They come with a calibrated weight, and free shipping. Much easier to use than the Shure SFG-2.

The only downside is if you don't use a mat, then the thickness of the gauge may slightly alter your VTF. THe cart maybe sitting higher than when actually playing a record.
I need to remove my mat to get the cart at record height when being weighed.
 
Its well worth £6 to find that the 1 gramme setting on the arm corresponds with a 1g tracking force on the digital scale. (If you can wait up to four weeks :D)

The scale is more than accurate enough for my needs. I run MM cartridges which track between .75 and 2g. Im not sure anyone needs atomic levels of TF precision even when running a high end MC.
 
Since I can lower the arm beside the platter I just jack one of those scales up on cd cases to get it level with the recort top so no need to remove mat. I have checked that results are the same.

Steve
 
Vital said:
Accurate to 0.1g? For €145??
Click to expand...
Yup, and it can measure up to 200g too.

I have one and I think the static balance scale is more accurate. I'll take €75 for mine if someone would make me an offer. What a bargain.
 
The Ortofon is a set of third party digital jewellers scales (identical performing units can be widely purchased on eBay for a few quid). It has been adapted by the addition of an extended aluminium platform to move the measurement point to the level of the record surface and away from the magnetically sensitive load cell. I did exactly the same thing myself, but used an acrylic extension arm. The £7 eBay one linked to also does the same thing - there's no advantage in spending more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top