Calibrating our own equipment, can we? Micrometers to calibrate vernier calipers

[Stefanos Papadakis]

The due date for calibrating our measuring tools is next month and my boss insists on postponing it, the reason for that is that we have a lot of work and we can't work without them. I am new to ISO 9001 and I would like to know if we can calibrate two or three micrometers through an external provider (ranging from 0-150) and then using the calibrated micrometers, calibrate our vernier calipers.
Thank you in advance!

 

[Ron Rompen]

How would you use the micrometers to calibrate your vernier calipers?
And it is not necessary to use a 3rd party to calibrate the micrometers. Purchase a calibration set of gauge blocks, use those blocks to calibrate both your calipers and micrometers, and send the blocks out on a regular schedule (I use 3 yrs) for 3rd party calibration. Makes things much easier, and more cost-effective.

 

[JoshuaFroud]

It depends on what you are using them for, what level of calibration is required and your industry requirements.

A calibration lab/facility would normally be certified to ISO 17025 which is the ISO standard for calibration. If you are not, then you could run into issues showing that your calibration procedure is valid.

The real question is, what are you using them for and why do you get them calibrated in the first place? Depending on this answer depends on what you can do going forward.

With regards to having all the tools sent away at one time, I've worked in places where we have either staggered the send-off of key equipment and always had a replacement available while one was away or we have brought someone on site to calibrate so tools were only away for hours rather than days.

 

[Stefanos Papadakis]

It depends on what you are using them for, what level of calibration is required and your industry requirements.

A calibration lab/facility would normally be certified to ISO 17025 which is the ISO standard for calibration. If you are not, then you could run into issues showing that your calibration procedure is valid.

The real question is, what are you using them for and why do you get them calibrated in the first place? Depending on this answer depends on what you can do going forward.

With regards to having all the tools sent away at one time, I've worked in places where we have either staggered the send-off of key equipment and always had a replacement available while one was away or we have brought someone on site to calibrate so tools were only away for hours rather than days.

Well we are a manufacturing company, some of the parts have very tight tolerances so good calibration is of high importance! I guess that in order to lose as less time as possible we must call someone on site. Thank you very much.

 

[Jane_S]

Well we are a manufacturing company, some of the parts have very tight tolerances so good calibration is of high importance! I guess that in order to lose as less time as possible we must call someone on site. Thank you very much.

We are a manufacturer of medical devices and some of the parts, especially from our precise mechanics shop, have very tight tolerances (think 1-100 microns). None of the standards applicable to our products explicitly require to use measuring devices calibrated by a lab with ISO 17025 certification. We use the approach described by JoshuaFroud. Never had any issue with external auditors and we are both ISO 9001 and 13 485 certified so I would advise to implement this approach as it is more cost/time efficient than sending the devices to external lab or inviting someone over.

 

[Stefanos Papadakis]

We are a manufacturer of medical devices and some of the parts, especially from our precise mechanics shop, have very tight tolerances (think 1-100 microns). None of the standards applicable to our products explicitly require to use measuring devices calibrated by a lab with ISO 17025 certification. We use the approach described by JoshuaFroud. Never had any issue with external auditors and we are both ISO 9001 and 13 485 certified so I would advise to implement this approach as it is more cost/time efficient than sending the devices to external lab or inviting someone over.

So we can calibrate our own devices using gauge blocks as stated from Ron Rompen ?

 

[QChas]

So we can calibrate our own devices using gauge blocks as stated from Ron Rompen ?

Yes - we do the same thing at our facility

 

[dwperron]

So we can calibrate our own devices using gauge blocks as stated from Ron Rompen ?

Yes. But you will need to have a calibration program that will pass audits, the same way as outside calibration houses have to. It is more than just checking the tools against a gauge block every once in a while.

 

[Stefanos Papadakis]

Yes - we do the same thing at our facility

Thank you very much!

 

[Stefanos Papadakis]

Yes. But you will need to have a calibration program that will pass audits, the same way as outside calibration houses have to. It is more than just checking the tools against a gauge block every once in a while.

I guessed that part, thank you for the heads up!