Calibrating Tool Makers Personal Tools

[Lab Geezer]

My company has never calibrated the personal tools of the toolmakers in our tool room but I am now told that we must get them in the system. My question is to what extent do I go? Must we calibrate things such as hand held thresd gages, feeler gages, paralells and other such items and if so how would one calibrate thread gages?

Thankss in advance for your help

 

[Helmut Jilling]

Re: Calibrating Tool Makers Tools

My company has never calibrated the personal tools of the toolmakers in our tool room but I am now told that we must get them in the system. My question is to what extent do I go? Must we calibrate things such as hand held thresd gages, feeler gages, paralells and other such items and if so how would one calibrate thread gages?

Thankss in advance for your help

The standard says that gages that need to have reliable results shall be calibrated. In my view, I would not exclude any gages. Which gages do not need to have reliable results? I would think the gages in the Toolroom should provide reliable results.

I would look at simplifying the methods of calibrating/verifying, rather than seek to exclude gages.

 

[qusys]

Re: Calibrating Tool Makers Tools

My company has never calibrated the personal tools of the toolmakers in our tool room but I am now told that we must get them in the system. My question is to what extent do I go? Must we calibrate things such as hand held thresd gages, feeler gages, paralells and other such items and if so how would one calibrate thread gages?

Thankss in advance for your help

In addition to what Helmut wrote and I agree to, I would like also to suggest to perform a sort of inventory of the tools owned by your personnel.
First identify, then understand which of them are critical to the operations and then calibrate them or have them for reference only.

 

[AndyN]

My company has never calibrated the personal tools of the toolmakers in our tool room but I am now told that we must get them in the system. My question is to what extent do I go? Must we calibrate things such as hand held thread gauges, feeler gauges, parallels and other such items and if so how would one calibrate thread gauges?

Thanks in advance for your help

As Helmut says, rather than exclude them, take a good look at what they're used for and decide. Personal items are a matter of great concern, often without actually approaching the owners! For example, if you approach the folks and tell them you will repair/replace their equipment if it's found to be uncalibrateable - they can take theirs home to use in the garage - you won't have too many problems. It may costs a little bit more, but you won't have the problems of having to make replacement parts for rejects which occur!

 

[bobdoering]

Might want to do a forum search, as this topic has been hashed out ad infinitum.

 

[Golfman25]

I don't think every gage in a tool maker's box needs to be in your system. Only those which will affect part quality -- I those which they use to check finishe parts, not the tools which make the parts.

In addition, we found a hands off approach worked best. Yes, they are in the calibration system, but it is the toolmaker's responsibility to calibrate them and report the results to QA. Tool room does the work, QA keeps the records. Has worked prett smoothly for us.

 

[Inunez]

I don't think every gage in a tool maker's box needs to be in your system. Only those which will affect part quality -- I those which they use to check finishe parts, not the tools which make the parts.

In addition, we found a hands off approach worked best. Yes, they are in the calibration system, but it is the toolmaker's responsibility to calibrate them and report the results to QA. Tool room does the work, QA keeps the records. Has worked prett smoothly for us.

i agree that tools used to check finished parts should be the ones that are verified/calibrated.
i disagree, respectfully of course, with the method of leaving the calibrating up to the toolmaker. I believe that alot of folks are proud people who take pride in their work, but you also have those that just punch in and out, that wouldnt care if something was off by .0001". In the interest of covering all bases, i believe a company should have an unbiased person calibrating their equipment. a person who doesnt think about the toolmaker's quota, who'se sole focus is the proper operation of the tools used in the shop/lab. Also, who calibrates your primary standards? I will admit, I am new to this field, so if you have something to teach me I am more than willing to learn, as I have not come across this kind of a system before.

 

[trainerbob]

We have been through this many times. How do you know what is going to your customer is correct if you don't know if the measuring instrument you are using is accurate. Your customer might be the next person down the line or the person in your company who is accepting the tool from the tool room assuming that it is correct.
"For reference only" - Where does that fit in a properly run organization. Either the dimension meets specification or it does not. If this truly the case we need to ask ourselves if the measurement, and therefore, the measuring device is really necessary. Are we measuring just to kill time? If a measurement is critical, I don't want anyone, whether it is a toolmaker, a lab technician, a production worker, or a quality engineer using a "for reference only" gauge to check anything that is coming to me. That tells me that the final product is "for reference only". Which tells me that I have no idea what I am getting.

 

[step30044]

I would highly suggest you remove the tools from the lab and establish a company owned tool box in the necessary areas.

The greatest concern would be if a employees tools was found to be missing, broken or out of tolerance were would you begin your investigation? The tool in question is owned by the employee and can be transported to any location to be used in any manner!

 

[Inunez]

I would highly suggest you remove the tools from the lab and establish a company owned tool box in the necessary areas.

The greatest concern would be if a employees tools was found to be missing, broken or out of tolerance were would you begin your investigation? The tool in question is owned by the employee and can be transported to any location to be used in any manner!

very true