Heavy Duty Scales

What is a floor scale?

A floor scale is a heavy-duty scale with a steel platform, set into or onto the floor, that weighs heavy loads such as pallets, crates, coils and long material using load cells beneath it. It is also known as a platform scale or pallet scale. The platform usually rests on four load cells, one at each corner; the load is shared between them and the weighing indicator combines their signals into a single result. On long or large platforms the number of cells can rise to six or eight.

Weighing a load piece by piece, or shipping it on an estimated weight, wastes time and leaves unexplained gaps in stock and invoices. A heavy-duty scale weighs what the forklift or pallet truck brings in one go; the result is read on the indicator and, if needed, sent to a printer or computer. Meram heavy-duty scales use OIML R60 load cells; on the CP, TP, U-type and MB they are C4 class, and the cells on the CP and TP models are also IP68-protected.

Which heavy-duty scale should I choose?

In this group, how the load arrives and what shape it is matter more than capacity. A load set down by a forklift, a pallet wheeled on by pallet truck and a block lowered by crane each need a different platform. In short:

• Pallets, crates and general heavy loads placed by forklift: CP
• Loads wheeled up a ramp on a pallet truck or trolley: TP
• Weighing pallets without unloading the pallet truck, frequent moves: U-type pallet scale
• Large loads of varying length, a portable option: MB modular scale
• Steel bar, sections and sheet bundles: steel bar and sheet scale
• Marble blocks and slabs: marble scale

Models at a glance

CP and TP: general-purpose platform floor scales

With its double-chassis steel platform, the CP is a floor scale that takes loads all day in warehouses, production areas and dispatch bays. Loading is mostly by forklift; the platform can be set into a pit or fitted with a ramp. The TP has a single-piece steel platform with a ramp on each side. Because the platform sits about 10 cm off the floor, pallet trucks and trolleys roll up one ramp and down the other to be weighed, with no pit required. Both models use four IP68-protected OIML R60 C4 load cells.

U-type pallet scale and MB modular scale

Thanks to its open U shape, the U-type pallet scale takes the forks of a pallet truck inside it: the pallet is lowered onto the weighing arms, the truck is pulled back and the weight is taken. With wheels and a handle it can be moved from one area to another, making it a practical pallet scale for warehouses that weigh in different places from day to day. The MB modular scale consists of two separate U-shaped weighing modules. You decide the distance between them, so a short crate and a long machine frame can be weighed on the same scale. Carrying handles let you lift it away when the job is done.

Steel bar and sheet scale

Reinforcing bar, sections and sheet bundles are too long for a standard platform, and ends that overhang and touch the floor spoil the reading. The steel bar and sheet scale is therefore built with a long platform, sized to the load. Depending on platform length, it has 4 or 8 OIML R60 load cells underneath. It is used in rolling mills, steel stockyards and sheet metal outlets.

Marble scale: blocks and slabs

Quarry blocks are very heavy and are often set down hard by crane or loader. The marble scale is built for these conditions with a steel platform and 30-tonne WTL compression load cells to OIML R60. Platform size and capacity are set at order stage to suit the blocks being weighed. As well as weighing before dispatch at the quarry, it can be used at block and slab intake in the factory.

Loading by forklift and pallet truck: what the platform must withstand

On a heavy-duty scale it is often not the load itself that strains the platform but the way it arrives. When a forklift drops a pallet from a few centimetres up, the cells briefly see a force well above the weight of the load. Fork tips scraping the deck, braking and sharp turns add horizontal forces. On a forklift site, then, it is not just the capacity that matters but the stiffness of the frame and the overload margin of the cells.

If the forklift itself will drive over the platform, the sums change. The scale must then carry not only the load but the forklift’s axle load too. For example, a forklift weighing 3,500 kg crossing the platform with a 2,000 kg pallet puts 5,500 kg on it in total, most of it concentrated on the front axle. That the pallet weighs only 2,000 kg does not mean the platform can be chosen for 2,000 kg in this kind of use.

With pallet trucks there is less impact, but the wheel load is concentrated on a small area. Narrow wheels can mark the deck plate, and the ramp gradient should be gentle enough for the operator to push a loaded truck comfortably. The TP’s height of about 10 cm and its ramps on both sides are designed for this; on the U-type pallet scale the truck never goes onto the platform at all, as the forks stay inside the U.

Corner load test: all four corners should agree

On a four-cell platform the load is not always placed dead centre. A pallet set down near one corner should give the same reading. The way to confirm this is a corner load test:

• A known test weight is first placed in the centre of the platform and the value noted
• The same weight is moved to each of the four corners in turn and each reading taken
• Differences between corners are trimmed out at the junction box
• On long platforms the test is repeated over the intermediate cells as well

This test, carried out after installation, should be repeated after a hard impact or a cell replacement. A difference between corners that keeps growing usually points to something trapped under the platform, a foot that is not seated or a damaged cell.

Tare when weighing pallets

When pallets are weighed, what people usually want to know is the weight of the goods, not the pallet. Tare can be taken on the indicator in two ways: the empty pallet is placed on the platform and the tare key pressed, or the pallet’s known weight is keyed into the indicator in advance. The second method saves time on lines where the same type of pallet is used again and again all day.

A simple example: the platform reads 1,180 kg and the pallet itself weighs 25 kg, so the net product is 1,155 kg. Wooden pallets, however, change weight with moisture and age; a pallet that has been rained on can come in several kilograms heavier than a dry one. Where precise results matter, weighing each pallet separately is safer than relying on a fixed tare.