Floor Scale Options To Consider
Floor scales are often referred to as pallet scales, platform scales, or shipping scales. Often times these terms are all used interchangeable. Generally, standard floor scales are 4 ft by 4 ft and have a capacity of up to 5,000 lbs. That being said floor scales are available in many other sizes and capacities. You may also be wondering how much floor scales cost; checkout our blog post to learn more.
1) Do you need a legal for trade or NTEP certified floor scale?
This is a key point to understand when buying any scale but particularly a floor scale. NTEP certified scales mean they are authorized to be used for the buying & selling of a product off the scale. With this comes much better accuracy and higher quality in the scale. We only sell legal for trade scales because quality is so important in a scale. Don’t be fooled by the cheap internet floor scales.
2) What size and capacity floor scale?
Are you weighing just shipping pallets then a 4 ft by 4 ft scale should be perfect; however, if you are weighing items with varying sizes something larger may be required. In addition to the size make sure you consider capacity. What is the heaviest item you would be weighing? Don’ forget to include the weight of the pallet, tote, or other container in addition the actual product you are weighing. A higher capacity scale will come with larger capacity load cells reducing the risk of overloading and damaging the scale.
3) What add-on features may I need?
Make sure to consider any additional needs you may have for the scale. These can include the need to connect the scale to a computer, to print labels, or to connect to a remote display. These features are often not included with many cheap internet scales but standard on quality floor scales.
4) Features to look for on when considering a floor scale purchase
A) High Quality Top Access Junction Box; ensure the junction box doesn’t have direct soldered load cells connections, and is accessible from the top of the scale (not the side).
B) Indicator or Readout will last; ensure the indicator is housed in either ABS plastics or stainless steel. If you operate in an environment that may get wet consider upgrading to an IP rated indicator to ensure water will not get into the indicator and destroy it. Look for the ability to change between units, tare and zero, and send weight date via serial output.
C) Strong heavy I-beam deck; be on the lookout for cheap internet scales lacking I-beam supports resulting in the scale deck flexing under load and weighing inaccurately.
D) Quality scale feet; look for stainless steel or well made rubber feet. Too often cheap scales provide uneven and different length feet meaning your scale is never level and will weigh wrong.
E) Warranty; what length warranty is provided. Also make sure the scale manufacturer is one that has been around for years to service that warranty. Too often Chinese scale manufacturer come and go leaving scale buyers with poor quality scales and no warranty protection.
To see what floor scales American Scale offers checkout our floor scales page or our floor scale shop to buy directly.
Closing Words
At American Scale we strive to bring you informed and useful content on all things scale related. Be sure to check out our legal for trade truck scale system articles about truck scale foundation or how much do truck scales cost. We even have a guide to warranties. We also have articles on scale accessories, common problems to prolong your scales lifespan, weighing applications as well as what scale indicator works best with your junction box. To learn more about bench scales, it would be good to check out our other articles such as “Bench Scale Basics'' and “How Much Does A Bench Scale Cost?”. These articles will help with the basics of bench scale ownership.