6 Common Errors When Using a High-Precision Analytical Balance and How to Avoid Them

Have you noticed that your high-precision analytical balance isn’t as precise and accurate as when it was brand new? Though analytical balances are designed to provide 0.1mg results, it takes effort to keep them working at their best over time. Let’s get into the top six most common errors that could cause a decline in your balance’s operation, and how to avoid them!

1.     Neglecting the Calibration of Your High-Precision Analytical Balance

Have you noticed that your results have been drifting, jumping or taking an exceptionally long time to stabilise? It could be because you haven’t calibrated lately.

Calibrating your analytical balance is a way to help ensure you get correct results with each weigh. Some balances offer internal calibration that’s as easy as pressing a button and waiting. Others require external calibration using test weights, available here on Inscale. You can typically learn which weight is right for your balance by checking out the manual or the settings in calibration mode.

Calibration should be a regularly scheduled practice that happens before your results become questionable, not after! Though we recommend calibrating your analytical balance at least once a month, you can never do so too often. If you’re about to perform a particularly sensitive and important task, perform calibration first for extra peace of mind.

Consider calibrating:

• At least once a month
• Before especially sensitive weighing tasks
• After your analytical balance has been repaired
• After it’s undergone a moving process from one place to another
• When there’s been an event that could have jostled internal mechanisms

2.     Draughts and Vibrations

Most high-precision analytical balances come equipped with tall draught shields. This is to help protect your results from being impacted by air currents. A fan in the lab, swift movements or even your breathing can be enough to make your results drift on such sensitive balances. Ensure you've closed the draught shields tightly as soon as you've placed the sample to prevent this.

 Has there been construction down the street? Has the heating kicked on? Is there a tap-dancing class happening upstairs? These vibrations can also prevent results from settling. An accessory like Adam’s AVT Anti-Vibration Table can provide enough counter-stabilisation to overcome the environment!

3.     Ignoring Tare Function

If you weighed a sample of powder in a weigh boat but didn’t tare out the weigh boat, how do you know what the powder really weighs? You can weigh the empty plastic boat first and then added the powder and weighed it again, but then you must do the maths to subtract the weight of the weigh boat. It’s too much work, and too prone to human error. Please let your high-precision analytical balance put in the effort for you and tare out all containers! The tare function sets the results back to zero, so when you add your sample to the container, you’re only seeing the results you need.

Tare is an especially important function on combination semi-micro and analytical balances like Adam’s Equinox. The Equinox offers models with dual-range capacity, which means it’s able to offer a better readability lower down in its overall capacity range. When an item weighs less than the first capacity, you’ll get results to the fifth decimal. When it weighs above and up to the true, second capacity, you’ll receive four-decimal results. The dual-range models of the Equinox also offer floating range. Floating range lets you use containers that are heavier than the threshold for higher readabilities by taring them off. Then, you’ll still receive five-place results. A crucial function you would never know if you don’t take advantage of the tare button!

4.     Overloading Your High-Precision Analytical Balance

You’re not going to know if a sample weighs more than the balance’s capacity until you weigh it. With that being said, as soon as you notice the blank screen or dashes indicating overload, remove the sample immediately. Frequently overloading your balance to a significant degree can start to harm the force restoration mechanism inside.

Likewise, leaving an item on the pan for a long time when you're not actively using the balance, even if the item is below the capacity, can tire out the internal mechanisms. Ensure that the pan is completely clear after you’re done weighing, and never use the pan as a place to store samples.

5.     Not Allowing Your Balance to Warm Up

You can't set up and use sensitive laboratory equipment like high-precision analytical balances immediately. They need to adjust to the temperature, gravity and pressures of their new environment. Most analytical balances require at least 12 hours of sitting quietly with the power on and nothing on the pan before it’s ready to weigh. You should prepare to set aside enough time for the balance to warm up whenever you move it to a different location, whether it’s across the country or simply to the lab downstairs.

6.     Inadequate Cleaning and Maintenance

You make the mess, you clean it up! Not many high-precision analytical balances offer an IP rating, so they don’t provide much protection against liquids or particulates. It’s important that you clean up messes effectively. Remove the pan first, then use a soft bristled brush to sweep away particulate matter around the weighing platform, and a microfibre cloth with ethanol or alcohol to wipe away liquids or leftover residue. You can typically wash and dry the pan itself as normal before placing it back on the balance.

Cleaning is part of regular maintenance, but so is:

• Calibration
• Levelling the balance
• Allowing time to warm up
• Checking for mechanical damage
• Keeping up to date with firmware and software
• Ensuring the balance is free from direct sunlight, vibrations, and air draughts

High-precision analytical balances are expensive, so you want to treat them like the long-term investment they are. Avoid these six common errors and you’ll have a highly-precise laboratory balance for years to come.

Need a recommendation for an analytical balance from the Inscale team? You can contact us here, we’d be happy to help.