I always like to watch these DIY videos on how to build your own scale for weighing sheep and goats. We’ve featured them over the years and I think you’re going to enjoy this one. The host of the video purchased this scale kit online and after a few hours of his time he now has a livestock weighing scale which only cost him a couple of hundred dollars.
WEIGHT SCALE RECOMMENDATIONS
As I’ve mentioned in past critiques, there are a few pointers that I would suggest. Number one, I would suggest you invest a little more money and buy a kit with a better weight display. Yes, this one works and is ok but we have others which are better and include either a painted steel or stainless steel enclosure. The plastic display included in this video is not very heavy duty and the weight display is pretty tiny compared to other weight indicators we offer.
When I watched him build this scale platform I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but I thought the final product was solid. One issue that we sometimes see with these build your own scale kits is the platform is flimsy or flexes a lot in the middle. I thought he did a good job of building an overall solid platform with very little flex.
As he mentions in the video, you need to mount the load cells with a spacer. If the shear beam load cell is installed flat against the wood, it’s not going to slightly bend and therefore it will not accurately display changes in weight. He installed it correctly with the spacer.
PRO TIP FOR BUILDING A SCALE FOR WEIGHING GOATS
Here is a pro tip. Most folks when they build these scale kits, they install the junction box last on the underside of the platform, facing downward. It works but…. ideally, you need to install the junction box face up so you can reach it with the scale platform flipped over in proper weighing position. Remember, this is not just a junction box. It’s a junction box with summing card. You need to mount it so you can see it when the scale is in a weighing position. You do this so you can adjust or trim the corner weights if necessary and/or troubleshoot in the future if needed. One way to do this is to build a small cavity for the junction box to set in and have some type of door on the top of the scale platform that would allow you to reach the junction box easily.
You saw in the video one of the major issues that comes up with these build your own livestock scale kits and that is — what do you do with all the cables? Each load cell typically has a 15 foot long cable. The long cable that goes from the junction box to the scale display is about 15 foot long as well. That’s a lot of cable to deal with! And, in case you aren’t aware, rodents sometimes like to chew load cell cables. It might not be a bad idea to build in some type of channel or raceway under your scale platform to protect load cell cables. Is it 100% necessary? No. But the more you can protect the cables, the better.
Overall, I really enjoyed this video on how to build your own scale for weighing sheep and goats. I thought the host was entertaining and informative. Hopefully this demonstration will help someone else out there who needs an example of how to build a scale for weighing things like sheep, goats, etc… You can purchase these scale kits on our website. Click below for details.
https://www.1800scales.com/Build-your-own-weigh.html
https://www.1800scales.com/lp7910-2-scale-kit.html