Calibrated tool craziness

[sgtmac]

I am in the aviation maintenance business and we calibrate just about everything: torque wrenches, multimeters, oxygen and nitrogen gauges, tire gauges, thermometers, scales......you get the idea.

We are required since the tools can be used to "return an aircraft to service".

My questions is this: are other industries this calibration crazy?

 

[larry_g]

I worked in the hi-tech manufacturing and we had a lot of tools on a calibration schedule. Other marked not calibrated and could be used in other areas. All of the machine shop measuring tools were calibrated.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Art From De Leon]

We were required to have our digital calipers calibrated every six months.

All they were used for was measuring the OD of our frac plugs. (3.66" and 4.37"), but despite all the ******* 'processes' and 'best practice' guidelines, no one ever came up with a +/- tolerance on them.

For the downhole tools that I would run, I preferred using my set of outside calipers and my measuring tape.

 

[bob15]

Basically everything we have will get calibrated: measuring equipment (mics, calipers, drop gages, test indicators, torque wrenches, etc), test stands, pressure gauges, temp gauges, weight scales, surface plates (stone & metal), shadow-graphs, ovens, pressure transducers, proximity probes, current probes, etc, etc, etc.

you name it, it probably has an instrument number on it.........

 

[JJThrasher]

I used to do QQ in the automotive manufacturing industry. Everything was calibrated 4x a day or more. Important stuff can be calibrated every hour.

 

[jdepiero]

We are a AS9100 certified manufacturer, and we calibrate everything. Even tape measures!

 

[sgtmac]

Wow ...thanks for the replies. Our typical equipment is calibrated annually. Compared to the replies it doesn't seem all that excessive.

 

[adamgayton81]

We are a AS9100 certified manufacturer, and we calibrate everything. Even tape measures!

And you better record it on your documentation to meet the requirements of section 8.2.4 lol....sorry I'm a certified lead auditor and couldn't help myself.


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[adamgayton81]

But yes there are many industries that have to maintain calibrated equipment. I have completed audits on anything from mom and pop home ops to surgical centers. It's not just a&p mechanics or military aviation that have this.


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[cajunfirehawk]

Yes, Our company has its own cal lab to keep track, we send out most tools to larger calibration shops. Meters, gauges, wrenches, calipers, etc. We build large steel and aluminum vehicles for your uncle ;-)

 

[PCustoms]

Worked a a place that needed protractors to use a a reference when doing position verification on products. Basic test, so they printed a protractor and laminated it.

We used to calibrate them to a master on a 6 month schedule.

 

[jeeper46]

I worked in Layout Inspection for an Auto Manufacturer at one time not too long ago. When QS9000 was adopted, all our measuring instruments and tools had to be calibrated-by an outside company-not us. EVERY tool in our cabinets had to be calibrated,(and each would be charged for,too) so all the beautiful old NOS sets of Lufkin and B & S micrometers, 0-12" in fitted wood boxes were dumped in a scrap tub and scrapped out! (We seldom used them, as we used CMMs by then). It was cheaper to get rid of them than have them calibrated unnecessarily, and we would have been penalized if they had been found later, uncalibrated. More than a few of those mikes found their way to toolboxes at workers homes.

 

[bczygan]

If you could just calibrate coworkers and management.....

 

[motofool33]

any shop that must conform to ISO:9000 or other ISO standards will have lots of calibrations. i used to manage the calibration lab at an FAA facility small shop with 45 employees had 3300 instruments, guages, ovens, micrometers, bore guages, everything.

 

[davethorik]

We are a AS9100 certified manufacturer, and we calibrate everything. Even tape measures!

I was a machinist in a past life, and I have 2 Stanley tapes that have calibration stickers still on them. Doing contracting now, I've gotten more than a few raised eyebrows when ppl see them. The place I worked for was ISO9001, and we got dinged during an audit bc one of my coworkers didn't have a sticker on his HF tape measure, and it was sitting right on top of his box.

I was 1 of 2 "inspectors", among other duties we had to re-calibrate all personal and shop owned measuring tools every year. Including inspecting shop gage blocks to the master set, which was only used for calibration, one of my most hated tasks. Using a B&S BesTest .00005 indicator on a height gage. You pretty much look at a dial indicator when you're angry and it will jump .00005, let alone touch the blocks for too long. So glad i don't do that any more.

 

[greasyfingers01]

I work in a machine shop that is also ISO9001. Everything is calibrated and certified and no outside tools of any sort. It's kind of a pain in the *** sometimes. Quality takes a tool to be checked but doesn't leave a replacement. Just last week quality took my brand new 12" dial calipers to check them even though they were checked a month ago when they issued them to me. So I've been eyeballing +.010/-0.0" lol

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[guy48065]

I am an accredited cal lab and log about 1200 calibrations per year on a wide range of tools, electronics and equipment.
Standards, certifications and accreditations have become a self-sustaining industry. Job security is very good since no company wants to reduce or eliminate their only proof (calibrations) that their product is built to Standards that are the SAME everywhere in the world.

 

[Speleo]

As a metrologist in a previous life, I worked in a lab where we calibrated instruments for many big name companies. Our ISO9000 certification brought in a lot of business to our lab. Big money and you get to mess with a lot of cool equipment. Sure some of the calibrations seemed silly; tape measures and such, but rules are rules.

Bruce

 

[DaveIRL]

what about weighing scales, do they need to be calibrated or are quarries allowed to send out a 10 load with only 9 tonnes in it, or a scrapyard allowed to pay for 400 pounds when receiving 500+ pounds

 

[nes999]

what about weighing scales, do they need to be calibrated or are quarries allowed to send out a 10 load with only 9 tonnes in it, or a scrapyard allowed to pay for 400 pounds when receiving 500+ pounds

I know for a fact one of my local scrap yards is always in the yards favor. I no longer go there after I had proof that I brought in alot more than they said. We aren't talking 5 or 10 pounds we are talking 500 ish pounds of alumium and copper.

 

[TonyCH]

I just received a second hand SO torque wrench that I bought few days ago. It has a sticker which says it was calibrated 13th of june 2016 and the next calibration is/was due 13th dec 2016. I don't know what industry this came from but it seems they calibrate their wrenches every 6 months. Well, I guess I have to take it to a calibration company for checkup and calibration just in case...

 

[freudianfloyd]

We are a AS9100 certified manufacturer, and we calibrate everything. Even tape measures!

Same with the company I work for.

 

[nes999]

How does one calibrate a tape measure?

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[TonyCH]

How does one calibrate a tape measure?

You go to Paris and compare your tape measure to the original 1 metre and adjust accordingly...

 

[Rickss96]

You go to Paris and compare your tape measure to the original 1 metre and adjust accordingly...

No need to travel to Paris and use that obsolete standard. You can do this at home, just measure the distance light travels in a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second, and you have 1 metre. Of course this should be done in a vacuum or you will introduce errors. What's the problem?

 

[Camping57]

We calibrate our counting scales every 2 months.

 

[larry_g]

How does one calibrate a tape measure?

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You have a standard that is set. How much tolerance can a tape have? +/- a 16 th, or 8 th? What ever you have for a procedure and tolerance and the instrument either passes or fails. Not everything has to be NIST traceable.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[sgtmac]

I forgot to mention I have a calibrated eye and calibrated wrist.

 

[Under_Pressure]

How does one calibrate a tape measure?

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We always used Lixer tools for calibration. Put the hook into the slot and test both directions- pushing and pulling. Lixer is marked for ±1/32". Typically when they failed, it was due to excess slop at the rivets where the hook is attached. That is really all you are looking at when calibrating a tape- whether you get an accurate reading using the hook. You don't check the dimensions on the tape itself. Sometimes you could bend the hook to get it back in tolerance, but usually we just threw them away and issued new ones.

http://lixertools.com/products/tape-measures-34/tape-measures.html

 

[WWheeler]

Every gauge used for measurement in our process control quality checks is calibrated at least once a month by our quality lab and gets a new sticker to reflect it. Some gauges the interval is every two weeks or even every week if it's used to measure a major characteristic indicated on the print by our customer, and any time a gauge gets dropped or bumped it's supposed to get recalibrated before it's put back into service.

 

[gte718p]

On the ship I had almost 20k sensors that were calibrations that ranged from every use to four years. Keeping track of it all was a full time job for one person.

 

[pstemari]

If you could just calibrate coworkers and management.....

Don't go there. You so much do not want to go there. Google, Microsoft, etc, are great proponents of that and stack ranking. It's one of the few downsides to working in tech.

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[zendriver]

When I was in the USAF, even though these were ground radar systems, measuring tools, torque wrenches, including o-scopes, freq analyzers, etc., were sent 250 miles to the main base "PME" shop for calibration constantly.

 

[bob15]

As a metrologist in a previous life, I worked in a lab where we calibrated instruments for many big name companies. Our ISO9000 certification brought in a lot of business to our lab. Big money and you get to mess with a lot of cool equipment. Sure some of the calibrations seemed silly; tape measures and such, but rules are rules.

Bruce

My favorite one is hand held stop watches. I have yet to figure out how they calibrate a generic stop watch that was purchased from MSC for ten bucks.....

 

[Speleo]

My favorite one is hand held stop watches. I have yet to figure out how they calibrate a generic stop watch that was purchased from MSC for ten bucks.....

You don't have to "calibrate" the stopwatch, just verify the error of the stopwatch. If you know the error rate of the instrument you are using, compared to a known standard, then in many cases all you need to do is document it.

Bruce

 

[sberry]

I need to replace a dig caliper that got damaged but so far been able to do most stuff with a tapre measure lately and cant even remember the last time I used a torque wrench,,, ha, we did manage to use a couple feeler gages last week.

 

[guy48065]

Most people think "calibrate" means to adjust something to zero error but that's not the case. Calibrate just means to compare to a standard to IDENTIFY deviation. "Adjustment" sometimes follows--if needed & if possible--but not always.

 

[Xicaque]

Health care/medical field. do not get me started. I do not like it when they take my toys away and do not leave me a loaner.

 

[Xicaque]

Don't go there. You so much do not want to go there. Google, Microsoft, etc, are great proponents of that and stack ranking. It's one of the few downsides to working in tech.

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I third this! Try health care/medical field and those in the GS system