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The Big and Dandy Scale Thread (First wave - archived 10-31-07)

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ebay has deals on antique scales all the time.. ive seen analogue-digital scales that are accurate to .1mg going for cheaper than brand new 2mg scales. they're not as portable and you'll have to know how to work it, but im sure it would be worth it
 
I've just spent the last hour or so browsing around the net for various places that sell scales. Ebay was my first stop but couldn't seem to find any 0.001mg ones. Must just be me searching badly.

Best I seem to have found is either 1mg for £180 or 2mg for about £140. Being in the UK means I've not got as many places selling such precision equipment in my country :(

Still, I'd rather pay £180 and be safe in the knowledge I was dosing properly than eyeballing it and being WAY off as you undoubtedly would be most of the time.
 
many people say that if you can afford RC you can afford a scale. I have a bag of 5-meo-dmt and awaiting more money so i can afford a scale to use it properly. MGS scared me off eyeballing that stuff.

I admit to eyeballing 2c-i however but i'm not proud of it.
 
I have an analytical balance. It is pre-digital age chemistry equipment. It is accurate to within 1/2 mg. At the moment, it weighs a 10 mg. calibration weight as 9.5 mg..

I mention this to point out there are other options out there, albeit I suppose these might be considered antiques by now, increasing their price... all I know is that I am very happy to have it (father was a chemist) and that the more I work with various chemicals, the more I understand why some folks cannot resist losing their objectivity on this topic and get very angry at eyeballers... some of these RCs are far more fluffy than others, my 2c-t-2 would literally appear twice as massive as 2c-i to plain sight of the particular chosen weight. It is so easy to be way off by 5 mg., it is not funny at all. I'll toss what I think is close to 12 mg. of 2c-d onto the balance, and lo and behold, it is 17 mg. ...

Given the spirit of harm reduction is to be objective, non-judgmental, and to divorce emotion from advice-giving to minimize harm when someone has decided they are going to do something whether or not it is very wise, I have tried to think up a novel form of advice for going forward without a good scale, and I am at a loss due to the fact that the compounds can have such different textures... I think the dissolved in solution method is probably the only way, but you had better do your dissolving and your conversion math properly.

All I can say in good spirit is that if you eyeball RCs, you are taking a very high risk adventure that may land you in a rubber room in restraints, a jail cell with some felony charges against you, a coffin, etc...

I know, but at first I was confused by the emotion this topic brings up in folks committed to harm reduction theory, now I see fit to add my opinion in support of such emphasis. The line between a recreational dose and an accidental overdose and poisoning can be a very fine line. Many adults lie all the time about relative risk and drugs, diluting the strength of trust between younger and older people. When we who are tolerant of moderate drugs consumption issue warnings, we should be trusted.
 
^^ Well said Plank.

I'm always surprised at the readout on my scale when I compare it to my eyeballed guess of how much material I just poured out. Eyeballing is just totally impossible.

Anyway, I'm a Gempro user. So far I have no complaints with it. Just curious, to those who have found it inaccurate: how did you determine this? What benchmark were you using?

I can't fathom why people always say things like "I really keep meaning to get a scale, but it's not in my financial picture right now". A fine scale costs about as much as a half gram to a gram of popular research materials. The marginal investment is just not that big. But whatever, some people have to learn things the hard way.
 
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I don't. But I'm definately going to purchase some soon. Eyeballing is our usual method. It's just too unsafe.
 
"... some people have to learn things the hard way."

Heh heh, lock 'em up in the Datura Vault for a day of good reading about what a train wreck/bad trip can be like...

Datura Main Index
http://www.erowid.org/plants/datura/datura.shtml

Datura Reports
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Datura.shtml

I am the type of person who is always curious and fascinated by altered states and enhanced perceptual realities, but I think I have begun to study one chemical that I have absolutely no interest in. I had seen many media reports on Jimson Weed over the years, and for the first time I think the media hype does not actually do this substance (atropine) justice.

Yes, young ones, this is what an overdose of a psychedelic can be like when you do not use a scale:

Train Wrecks & Trip Disasters
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Datura_Train_Wrecks_&_Trip_Disasters.shtml

This is my favorite one so far:

A Tale of Nudity, Arrest & Insanity.....
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=17700

I should not be laughing, it is not funny, but the thought of him approaching strangers and saying, "I am the TERMINATOR," while naked and giggling is really causing me to laugh hard at this moment... good grief...

I suppose some folks suffer from impulsive ego deficits and will always be challenged to learn, but it just blows me away to see some folks have a train wreck and still state they appreciate the experience.

All eyeballers will now proceed to the Datura Vault.

Excuse my detour from the main topic... I will go to my corner and finish my trip in peace.
 
Skrilla said:
Uh... Just thought I'd add that I totally disagree. :p
Click to expand...

Hey, I've tested one with my accuracy weights, and the thing was not accurate until you got up to weighing stuff 50mg or above. Why do you disagree? Did you test one with a 2mg reference weight? And a 10mg one? I am only calling them garbage because I've tested them out and they are. I guess it's better than nothing, but remember...the scale is cheap and you get what you pay for.
 
I am only calling them garbage because I've tested them out and they are
Click to expand...

Ok - you obviously haven't tested them ALL out have you? What I'm saying is that yes, maybe there's some bad ones - but my friend and I both got good ones, we've tested them out all sorts of different ways and find them to be very accurate and reliable. I know that some people have had problems with THEIRS, but that doesn't mean they're ALL bad - I think with that model, there's just some good ones, and some bad ones, that's why I said if you got a bad one you could just exchange it for a new one of the same model and you'd probably get a good one. They're far from garbage...
 
How did you test them? Unless you have accurate reference weights, including a 2mg one, then I don't know what kind of test you could have done worth talking about.
 
I have both a Gempro50 and a Tanita 1210-50.
The Tanita is so much better in every single way that it's almost inexplainable. That $35 extra bucks you pay for the Tanita model is the best extra-dollar you'll ever spend.
Gempro 50 DOES work... it does.... but it's still ass. Bottom of the barrel quality when it comes to milligram scales. A milligram scale of any sort is obviously going to have to be built with some decent quality, but Gempro is really pushing it...
 
seriously. the gempro has no stability whatsoever.
after calibrating it, every 10 seconds just sitting there
it mysteriously adds 2 mg to the readout.

the tanita won't even let you use it without calibrating
it every *single* time. plus it's prettier. jet black and oh so smooth
 
What I've personally heard AND experienced, is that the Tanita 1210-50 is (how my chemical-using lab partner articulately put) "dumbass proof", which makes it a great scale for many of the people using easily order and extremely potent psychedelics :p. I use (and really love) my DiaGem II (CT-50) balance. If (and that's a big if) you take the same care as you should take weighing ANYTHING in a lab setting, you shouldn't run into any problems with the DiaGem (though I'm sure without being careful and following procedure you could run into many-a-problem). I've never run into a GemPro-50 scale yet (and I'm starting to feel like I'm lucky to be able to say that :)).
 
i dont own a scale. you cant like 'own' a scale, man. the scale belongs to EVERYBODY.

nah, honestly i dont. lab has accurate enough equip for me (more accurate than anything any of yous sport, ya know, the kind with the glass walls so wind doesnt disturb your sample), after a few measurements its not hard to know what x mg of y chem looks like over a certain area, say, the tip of a knife. i am the scale. i calibrate myself more regularly than i would like. and i can always weigh shit out and take it out weighed out.
and if i had no access? id start with an extremely low dose (~1mg), and redose - with possibly larger amounts - until satisfied, just like i would if i was trying something with no info on it.
 
thinctwo said:
the kind with the glass walls so wind doesnt disturb your sample
Click to expand...

Is your lab on the street? Or where does these winds come from? Unless you are groaning or have an asthma attack as you weigh out your chemicals those glass walls seems quite unnessesary :p
 
AlphaNumeric said:
I've just spent the last hour or so browsing around the net for various places that sell scales. Ebay was my first stop but couldn't seem to find any 0.001mg ones. Must just be me searching badly.

Best I seem to have found is either 1mg for £180 or 2mg for about £140. Being in the UK means I've not got as many places selling such precision equipment in my country :(

Still, I'd rather pay £180 and be safe in the knowledge I was dosing properly than eyeballing it and being WAY off as you undoubtedly would be most of the time.
Click to expand...


www.kern-sohn.com
 
Sledge said:
Is your lab on the street? Or where does these winds come from? Unless you are groaning or have an asthma attack as you weigh out your chemicals those glass walls seems quite unnessesary :p
Click to expand...

What he is describing is the top end scales, like .01mg accurate I would guess. These have a large palate which makes air currents a real issue.

I personally use a hyprid analytical scale attached to a digital scale. I find this is extremely accurate to 1mg(yes, its calibrated) I use a .01mg resolution MyWeigh with a 1/10 lever arm. Thus each mg placed at the end of the scale pulls up 10mg=0.01g. Thus I just look at the negative tare, works just fine. I don't recommend rigging this setup unless you have extensive education in instrement makeing.
 
I dissolved my first 100mgs of 2C-I in water without any scale. After realizing that it was pretty irresponsible for me to do that, I ordered a scale. I would never again use RC's without one. I ordered 500mgs of 2C-I and got 556mgs. I have received significantly extra of the chemical every time I ordered after the first time. RC's are just something you should mess around with without an appropriate scale.
 
Well, I just ordered a Gempro 50 a few days before this thread was created, too bad !
I hope Gempro is not so bad... :(
 
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