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Cutting a Sphereosyn Scale

scale

You may be able to cut the tube, BUT the tubes are tensioned to get the correct compression on the balls and make the measurements correct. Thats what I was told so take it with a grain of salt.
 
Tom,

I am looking for a longish scale 80 inches would be perfect and I have shorter scales that I don't need. Is there an oppty for a trade here?
 
Some things to keep in mind- and from info from Newall with recently purchase.

Spherosyn actual overall scale length is stated to be 285 mm. longer than stated scale travel- but...

Reader head 131.0mm long
"Effective travel limit" is 20 MM less that scale end on fixed end, and 65.3 mm less on tensioner end. - This totals up to 216.3 mm - about 68 mm shorter than the first figure implies.

They say to allow 20mm for mounting on each side,- but the figures do not add up to the total 285 mm they say to allow for.

With Spherosyn Single end mounting the total length of scale must not exceed 24 inches.

Which means- you may be able to get by with a shorter scale than you think you need if you can mount it to use the maximum scale length.


For the Microsyn ( which would make more sense for that length).

Stated actual scale length is 187mm longer than stated scale travel.

Reader head is 75 mm long
Effective travel limit is 15 mm from fixed end and 23mm from tensioner end.
These total up to 113mm- or 74mm less than the cited figure.

Microsyn single end mounting -- maximun total length of scale is 18inches.

For both Spherosyn and Microsyn vertical mounting requires the tensioner end to be on top (I assume so the spring is not having to deal with the weight of the balls).

For a scale of 6 inches the single end mounting makes a lot of sense- and can be done with the end protected if you fabricate your own brackets.
 
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I just had a conversation with a Newall rep regarding a Microsyn scale that had been broken. He said you can actually order a new tube and use the balls and presumably the ends from the old one. This would be ok for me because I actually need a slightly shorter scale and also lost some of the balls. I would think if you had a scale set up on a machine and could find a way to mount the new one parallel to it, you could use the machine and its scale to calibrate the new one.

Rick
 








 
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