Stylus Pressure Gauge AND Damage to Stylus?

No, don't worry about it. Just be as careful as you can, and if it slides around a little, then that's the way it goes. I have done alot of cartridge alignments, and VTF adjustments with scales, and never had any cartridge damage.
The major concern is "hooking" the stylus from the side, and ripping it off, or bending the cantilever. This is bad. Just a little sliding around on top of the VTF scale is not going to hurt anything.

When I place my stylus on the lever I get one reading then if i were to press or blow the lever down a little bit with the stylus still sitting in the same spot, the gauge balances differently then if I were to just place the stylus there without touching it. I have the Shure SFG-2 model. Any opinions?

-Marcus

Marcus,
Is your cartridge a mm or mc?

Twl,
I have been wondering if using a metal stylus force gauge is something of a no-no. Isn't the metal a ferrous one? I don't use one, but just curious.

I use the sfg-2 and I have not found any accuracy problems like you describe, except to say that when mine was behaving this way, it showed me that the spring was binding on my rb-300. I would say that if it isn't floating in the same spot every time, that there is friction (or resistance) somewhere. Evan with my immedia arm which has a lot of damping, mine always ends up in the same spot, it just does it ssloowwww. And since I have this arm, naturally I have to use it often. I always give it a soft careful tap just to be sure.
As far as extra wear on the stylas, I am not qualified to say, but I prefer to use it with the sound on, so I can 'hear' the friction. What I think I hear is that there is a big difference between a stylas running across a dirty groove with some speed and sitting on metal with hardly any velocity.
Here is one more thing to consider; TWL makes the point to be careful not to hook the stylas. I think that it is important to use the gauge perpendicular to the arm so as the stylas flexes as pressure is applied, it can slide in the groove rather than push against it.

TWL, my cartridge is a MM. Did I do something wrong?