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gerf(at)gerf.com
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 Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:29 pm Post subject: Ruggles Scales - worth owning ?? |
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Its W&B time.
There's various scales of unknown pedigree available locally
for loan/rent .... but I know I'm going to need to re-do my
weight and balance several times as I add paint, wheel pants,
entertainment center (kidding) etc., etc., ...
Ruggles tail dragger scales are $275 at Spruce (jeese what's
another $275 - a drop in the bucket at this point)
. are they accurate (enough) ? functional (enough) ?
Any experience out there with these puppies ?
__g__
==========================================================
Gerry Filby gerf(at)gerf.com
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jim jewell
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 82
Location: Kelowna B.C. Canada
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:50 am Post subject: Ruggles Scales - worth owning ?? |
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Hi Gerry,
When the time came to weigh the aircraft (RV6-A with a O-360 and a CS prop)
I borrowed a set of three scales that originally came from ACS. these scales
looked much like bathroom scales with steel brackets that allowed the scales
to be positioned so as to be set up for two different weight ranges of
aircraft.
After adjusting the scales and setting up the aircraft, levelling etc as per
instructions I found the empty weight to be 1156 lb.
1156 lb. was heavier than anticipated and I decided to pay a small fee to
have very accurate professional digital aircraft scales brought into the
hangar. Using the digital scales the empty weight came in at 1135 lb.
This was a bit heavier (about 10 lb.) more than I had anticipated. The error
provided with the ACS scales was pretty close and erred heavy which is in
favour of safety as opposed weighing in light.
The error percentage overall was not too bad but!... I have established an
accurate empty weight for far less that the cost of the ACS scales. At their
price I could re-weigh the aircraft four more times and still have enough to
by a case of beer to celebrate the weigh in with.{[
If arranging for digital scales is out of the question:
If you take great care with the calibrating ACS scales you might get closer
results than I did. Also if you have a group of builders and several people
chipped in, the ACS scales might be the "wiegh" to go. 
Jim in Kelowna -It'll fly soon
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pitts_pilot(at)bellsouth.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: Ruggles Scales - worth owning ?? |
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Save your money. It's not that the scales aren't any good ....... I
don't know. However, you can borrow 6 regular bathroom scales, lay a
piece of 1/2" plywood across pairs of them to hold the wheels, zero the
scales and add the airplane.
Our EAA chapter bought a set of scales ...... and the plane sits on a
fulcrum that actually presses on the scales ...... and you can do the
same thing on the bathroom scales if you don't have 5 friends ...... and
you do the math like a W&B calculation. Way too much chance of errors,
in my book. But that's just my opinion.
Linn
do not archive
Gerry Filby wrote:
| Quote: |
Its W&B time.
There's various scales of unknown pedigree available locally
for loan/rent .... but I know I'm going to need to re-do my
weight and balance several times as I add paint, wheel pants,
entertainment center (kidding) etc., etc., ...
Ruggles tail dragger scales are $275 at Spruce (jeese what's
another $275 - a drop in the bucket at this point)
.. are they accurate (enough) ? functional (enough) ?
Any experience out there with these puppies ?
__g__
==========================================================
Gerry Filby gerf(at)gerf.com
----------------------------------------------------------
|
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http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?RV-List |
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bobbyhester(at)charter.ne
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:09 pm Post subject: Ruggles Scales - worth owning ?? |
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I saw this message of the RANSflyers list and order one of the scales off of Amazon.com, I plan on using it for my W&B in a few weeks. It has a max weight of 440 lbs.
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Today I performed the weight and balance on my S-6 using the Tanita HD-351 electronic scale. It was simplicity itself and took all of about 30 minutes. Here's my procedure: first make sure you have 3 planks of 2 x 6 about 2 feet long, plus some sheets of 1/8" and 1/4" plywood cut to the same size as the 2x6 to use as shims to level the airplane. I weighed the nose gear first. This was simple. After determining what I needed under the mains to make it level I rolled the airplane onto the 2x6's, pushed down on the tail and slid the scale under the nose wheel. Simple. For the mains I used a different procedure. I placed the scale in front of the 2x6 of the wheel I was weighing and simply rolled the airplane off the 2x6 and onto the scale (which is the same height - remember?). Just make sure you have sufficient length of 2x6 for the other main to roll on so it stays level - hence the two foot length. It was really a no brainer and a whole lot simpler than I thought it woul! d be. T he highest weight I recorded was 240.8 lbs which is approximately half the scales capacity.
[img]cid:part1.02090604.01050200(at)charter.net[/img]
Gerry Filby wrote: | Quote: | | Quote: | --> RV-List message posted by: Gerry Filby <gerf(at)gerf.com> (gerf(at)gerf.com)
Its W&B time.
There's various scales of unknown pedigree available locally
for loan/rent .... but I know I'm going to need to re-do my
weight and balance several times as I add paint, wheel pants,
entertainment center (kidding) etc., etc., ...
Ruggles tail dragger scales are $275 at Spruce (jeese what's
another $275 - a drop in the bucket at this point)
. are they accurate (enough) ? functional (enough) ?
Any experience out there with these puppies ?
__g__
==========================================================
Gerry Filby gerf(at)gerf.com (gerf(at)gerf.com)
----------------------------------------------------------
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| | - The Matronics RV-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?RV-List |
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