TP Floor Scale

Low deck and ramps on both sides: how the TP works

The whole TP design is built around a single movement: the operator pushes the loaded pallet truck up the ramp, stops on the platform, reads the value and carries on down the ramp on the far side. The pallet is not taken off the truck, nobody waits for a forklift and nobody lifts the load. This flow brings a clear time saving, especially at dispatch doors where dozens of pallets are weighed in a single day.

Keeping the platform height to about 10 cm is the detail that makes this movement possible. As height increases, the ramp either gets longer or steeper; pushing a heavy pallet up a steep ramp is hard work, and on the way down the load has to be held back. As a simple calculation, climbing 10 cm over a 1-metre ramp means a gradient of roughly 10 per cent. Ramp size is assessed together with the approach space on site and the weight of the loads being moved.

Because the deck is made from one piece of steel, the surface the wheels roll over has no joints, steps or gaps. Narrow pallet truck wheels move across without catching, and there are no awkward corners that are hard to clean. The frame is resistant to overloading and finished with electrostatic oven-baked paint.

When to choose the TP, and when to consider another model

Within the heavy-duty group, the TP is the model dedicated to wheeled traffic. Since the CP is built in the same capacities and platform sizes, it helps to be clear where the two part ways:

• Loads are wheeled on by pallet truck and the floor cannot be dug: TP. It stands out in rented warehouses, in areas with services running under the floor and wherever cutting concrete is unwelcome.
• Loads are set down from above by forklift, with heavy impact: CP. Its double-chassis frame is designed for exactly this use.
• The pallet should stay on the truck, but without climbing a ramp: U-type pallet scale. The forks go inside the U and the pallet is lowered onto the arms.
• The load length changes every time: MB modular scale.

Pallets can also be set down on the TP by forklift, but if the forklift is the main workhorse on site, the double-chassis CP is the more suitable starting point. Where the TP really shines is in hand-pushed traffic that flows without a break from ramp to ramp.

Tare when weighing on a pallet truck

When the reading is taken with the pallet truck on the platform, the value shown is the pallet, the goods and the truck together. For a correct net weight, the truck’s weight is deducted as tare. There are two ways to do this: run the empty truck onto the platform and take a tare, or key the truck’s known weight into the indicator by hand. The second method removes the need to weigh the empty truck each time in areas where the same truck is used all day.

For example, if the indicator reads 1,142 kg, the truck weighs 78 kg and the empty pallet 24 kg, the net weight of the goods is 1,040 kg. In warehouses where two trucks of different weights share one scale, operators must be clear which truck goes with which tare value; otherwise a systematic error of a few kilograms can creep into the records.

Capacity, platform size and layout

The TP is built in dual-range capacities from 300/600 kg to 6000/10000 kg. The two-figure notation means the lower part of the range reads in a finer step and the upper part in a coarser one; the 600/1500 kg model, for instance, reads in 0.2 kg steps up to 600 kg and in 0.5 kg steps above. Most pallets moved by pallet truck fall within the range of this model or the 1500/3000 kg model.

Platform sizes run from 100 × 100 cm to 200 × 300 cm. With pallet trucks, choosing the size means the full length of the truck has to fit on the platform, not just the pallet: at the moment of weighing, the front rollers and the steering wheel of the truck must all be on the deck, none left on a ramp. For wheeled traffic, therefore, platform length is worked out from the truck’s wheelbase rather than the long side of the pallet. If the listed sizes do not meet the need, a TP with custom dimensions and capacity can be ordered.

The layout should leave a straight, level approach area in front of each ramp where the truck can line up. If the operator enters the ramp at an angle, a wheel loads the edge of the platform and the reading takes longer to settle. Placing the indicator at a height and angle the operator can see without letting go of the truck also speeds up the flow.