Note to Hamlet, 4.5.157-158: "thy madness shall be paid by weight, / Till our scale turn the beam"

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Hamlet,
Act 4, Scene 5, lines 157-158

The picture below, showing the most common kind of scales of Shakespeare's time, can help us understand Laertes' metaphor.

Scales are called "scales" because each instrument has two scales; a weight is put in one scale (which is a small pan), and the material to be weighed in the other. Both scales hang from the beam, the horizontal crossbar. When one side outweighs the other, beam turns and slants down to the heavier side.

Scales