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SURVIVOR Truck Scales Designed for Durability
Expert Manufacturing
A truck scale’s strength and reliability are about more than just design. A high-quality truck scale must also be manufactured by specially trained welders and fabricators who use cutting-edge techniques. Each Rice Lake Weighing Systems SURVIVOR® truck scale is manufactured by highly skilled individuals who complete a comprehensive 480-hour, 12-week fabrication training program before they begin working on SURVIVOR truck scales. This training program is required for all SURVIVOR fabricators regardless of their previous experience. This ensures your SURVIVOR truck scale is manufactured by only the best fabricators, creating the highest quality truck scales at Rice Lake Weighing Systems’ manufacturing facilities.
Quality Starts with Design
Making the Toughest Truck Scales on Earth® begins with design. Rice Lake’s engineering team uses Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technology to identify key stress points on truck scales to design scales with superior structural integrity, which delivers greater durability for your investment.
Open Bottom Design
Weighbridge structural integrity is the most important factor in the purchase of any truck scale. SURVIVOR truck scales have additional structural steel I-beams to eliminate the need for a bottom deck plate. This gives every SURVIVOR scale an open bottom design, preventing rust by allowing any condensation caused by natural changes in temperature to drip to the foundation and evaporate so moisture isn’t trapped in the weighbridge.
Using both top and bottom deck plates in place of additional I-beams is meant to provide scale durability at a lower cost. However, combining top and bottom deck plates traps condensation, leading to rust and corrosion, ultimately shortening the scale’s lifespan.
Secure Load Cell Housing
As vehicles enter and exit a truck scale, the force can cause stress fractures in the deck area surrounding the load cell pockets. The load cell pockets on SURVIVOR truck scales are integrated into the longitudinal beams, providing a stable framework for suspension components and reducing structural fatigue on the ends of the weighbridge.
Some truck scales have load cell pockets that are either bolted or welded to the ends of the modules. Over time, the repeated stress of vehicles entering and exiting the scale can cause these attached pockets to bend away from the module. This leads to irreparable damage to the load cell suspension systems and inaccurate vehicle weighments.
Heavy-duty Guiderails
Guiderails discourage accidental drive-offs and minimize damage to vehicle wheels, reducing expensive repairs. Rice Lake has designed single-pipe and double-pipe guiderails that are bolted to the scale sides, allowing them to break away from the module if a vehicle comes in contact with them.
While welded-on guiderails may reduce production costs, they can cause damage to the weighbridge. If a truck approaches the scale too quickly and strikes the guiderails, the scale frame will bend with the welded-on rails. Damage like this leads to costly repairs and downtime—if not total scale replacement.
Stronger Support
SURVIVOR truck scales are made with more longitudinal steel I-beams than competitive models to prevent serious structural fatigue. I-beams are spaced no farther than 11.5 inches from each center line or 7.5 inches from one flange edge to the next. This ensures vehicle wheels are supported by I-beams across the entire width of the weighbridge. The additional I-beams allow vehicle weight to be supported by a greater area, putting less stress on individual components.
Using smaller I-beams, C-channels, bent sheet metal or even placing beams farther apart can reduce the initial cost of the truck scale; however, these designs don’t offer as much support and can bow or dimple.
Rice Lake Weighing Systems’ line of SURVIVOR truck scales are built for performance you can rely on. From steel deck and concrete deck SURVIVOR models to portable and extreme duty, Rice Lake has a truck scale for you. Contact a Rice Lake heavy capacity scale expert to learn more.
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