I posted this in a reply to another thread, but it seems like these tips should receive some more exposure.

The price of mg scales has been going down fast over the years, and they can now be bought off ebay for for $10 + shipping. These are decidedly lacking in comparison to lab scales and have many problems, but these can be largely overcome with the tips I'll outline here.

I've found that the best you can expect to get out of a cheap scale is about 3mg, here is how to get that:

You have probably noticed that when you add a small amount to the weigh pan, the scale will not register it. The way around this is to first tare your scale with a piece of foil on it. Now remove the foil and record what you have. Then replace the foil and add what you want to measure onto the foil, it should remain at zero. When you remove the foil you will have a lower negative number then that which you first recorded. The difference between these numbers is the weight of whatever you added.

Here is an example:
Say you take the foil off and get -0.047g. Now you add a small amount of powder and it still shows zero. Take the foil and powder off and it now shows -0.049g. Subtract 47 from 49 and that is the weight of the powder you just added, 2mg. Another interesting thing you will notice is that when you have the scale zeroed that it will not float at all, but when you take the foil off or have a weight on it the scale's reading will float. You want to prevent from floating as much as you can, some of the following steps will help with that.


The scale should be feathered before using: Just carefully touch it with your finger, moving it along the edge of the weigh pan. With the foil off try to feather it within the range of the foil after you do more vigorous feathering around the general range of the scale. The really soft feathering will require a small artist's paint brush or, yes, a feather.

Keep it where you use it, temperature changes will make it float. It can take a full day for the measuring element in the scale to acclimatise. RF interference supposedly can be a factor, but I have not observed this directly.

All measuring instruments are most accurate at the middle of their scale. Notice how it came with a weight that is 1/2 as much as its maximum capacity? You are supposed to tare it with that on it when measuring smaller amounts. Feathering it with the weight both on then off is best.

Throw out the batteries that came with it. Put in some brand name alkaline batteries. Change them frequently if you have no way of testing them. Don't use lithium batteries and don't even think about using rechargeable batteries.

Don't ever let anyone else use it, they will do something dumb like press on the pan with their fingers to clean it.

So if you were measuring out 20mg it would be best to tare it w/ the weight?

Are they seriously that cheap now??

though that is the closest way to get the best linearity out of your cheap mg scale, they still suck balls to hell. i used one for a little bit after i got my RC and exotic chem business going. it was horrible, you cant trust the read outs on those scales. they are probably only accurate to about 7 -/+mg. i through the tiny piece of shit away and bought an Acculab VICON-303. though they are expensive, real equipment should be used when doing serious work.

if i may suggest the cheap mg scales are perfect for weed. if anybody wants a scale for weed, go ahead and by the cheap mg scales cuz they are at least a lot more accurate then the 0.1 and the 0.01 scales.

Sure as hell are. I ordered one last week. :)

Cheap chinese scales off ebay work but brand name scales from labs are more accurate.

So wait, if I pay a little more $$$ I will get a much better scale? No Wai!!1

Also, if the desired substance is water/ EtOH soluble, you can measure out 100mg, and dissolve it in X ccs of water and get it to Xmg/cc.

may i add the ones that go three right of the decimal place are a little easier to use, but suffer similar problems....



kudos on the foil trick, junkie science 101.

It's always best to, but for larger amounts it's not necessary. like it is with smaller ones. the cutoff is right around the 20mg mark.

You have probably noticed that when you add a small amount to the weigh pan, the scale will not register it. The way around this is to first tare your scale with a piece of foil on it. Now remove the foil and record what you have. Then replace the foil and add what you want to measure onto the foil, it should remain at zero. When you remove the foil you will have a lower negative number then that which you first recorded. The difference between these numbers is the weight of whatever you added.

Here is an example:
Say you take the foil off and get -0.047g. Now you add a small amount of powder and it still shows zero. Take the foil and powder off and it now shows -0.049g. Subtract 47 from 49 and that is the weight of the powder you just added, 2mg. Another interesting thing you will notice is that when you have the scale zeroed that it will not float at all, but when you take the foil off or have a weight on it the scale's reading will float. You want to prevent from floating as much as you can, some of the following steps will help with that.


Yo, Chronic, so this is exact weight? Should this be combined w/ the big weights they send you, also? I have a 20g capasity, and a 5 and 10g weights. Should I put both on for 15g? When I put my 5g weight on it says 5.003-5.012 or something. How can I fix this?

Why does this work, do you kno?

The scale should be feathered before using: Just carefully touch it with your finger, moving it along the edge of the weigh pan. With the foil off try to feather it within the range of the foil after you do more vigorous feathering around the general range of the scale. The really soft feathering will require a small artist's paint brush or, yes, a feather.


What is the point of this and what does it do? Do you just want us to tell stories of touching things lightly for your sexual benefit? jk.