We are finally moving from paper calibration logs to computer with recall abilities. I am looking to spend very little on it. I'd like not to "preview" a 100 of them before narrowing it down to buy. What do you folks reccommend for software, features to get, features to not bother getting, required flexability, etc? Will I be able to continue calibrating using the methods of our past or will it have an inflexable canned approach to calibrating, for example, 1" Micrometers?

If you don't have a 'lot' of gauges, then I would suggest an Excel spreadsheet...it's simple, effective, and you can modify it as necessary to suit your own particular needs.

Failing that, there is a huge array of software packages out there; most are overkill for small companies, and incorporate a lot of the 'mandatory' items from the MSA. Although under ideal conditions you would (of course) perform stability, linearity and bias studies on all families of gauges, the real world precludes such an investment of time unless absolutely necessary.

We've been using Excel spreadsheets for ~5 years. Before that Lotus for ~5. Today with over 200 variable hand gages it is cumbersome to say the least. Any further ideas??

Have I posted this thread in the correct area??

Have I posted this thread in the correct area??


Hi JBar - I moved your thread to the Calibration board.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find links to similar threads.

Thanks, now I see the answers in Ron Rompen's thread.

There is a VERY inexpensive calibration package that I use. It's Advanced Gage Control from Software Technology. It's $495 for stand-alone and I think it's another $200 for the multi-user version. It's a very bare-bones system but it does everything I need it to do and is very simple to operate.

I recently switched from excel to Filemaker Pro. Even though you will have to design you database from scratch, it is VERY intuitive and I have found it to be a powerful tool. You can even configure it to email you if a tool goes out of cal. I think it runs about $100 per connection. If nothing else I believe it's worth looking into.:agree1: