Calibration of Custom Molds

P

ProDad

#1
I'm responding to an AS9100c Stage 2 audit finding regarding calibration of fiberglass tools used in the production of thermoformed plastic parts. Many of our tools were made from customer supplied sample parts or customer tooling many years ago and hundreds of parts have been produced (successfully) since then. These original samples or customer tooling are no longer available to me, but I now need to perform calibration on the tools we made from them. (We inspect parts on the same production tools.)

I'm wondering if anyone has conquered a similar issue to satisfy the AS9100 calibration requirement. Here are the roadblocks.

  • I have no basis to calibrate against.
  • I have no ea$y way to inspect these tools. ($ intended)
We are a small shop with no CMM, and getting a tool scanned can cost $1k each. I can't justify that for a tool that might be used once a year to make 10 parts. We have dozens of tools. Is a quick inspection of the tool when used to make sure it's not damaged good enough to say we "verified" it?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
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A

andygr

#3
The key is if your customer would provide documentation of the acceptability of the parts that they receive from the molds.
If you can get that then you just need a way to verify that the molds are unchanged going forward.
Visual might be acceptable if you can objectivly show how you might know that just by looking the mold would produce a part that would not be acceptable.
One option might be to hold back 1 "master" part that could be used to verify the tool with something like Plastigauge or such in key areas.
Plus you would need to have a clear documented method of how you store , protect and use these tools to suport minimal inspection.
:2cents:
 
P

ProDad

#4
The finding is based on 7.6a,c. He found a tool we use to check final shape with no calibration tag.

We thought about the "documentation from the customer" approach, but unfortunately many of the tools in this quandary are to make spare parts for Uncle Sam. They get shipped to some warehouse and may sit in a box for 5 years before use. Getting a fit check by request is nearly impossible.

We've come to the conclusion that the best we can do is verify that the tools remain stable going forward. We draw a line in the sand and say that the past successful delivery of parts without rejection is the basis of calling that tool good, then we make a check gage or gages to verify some key dimensions. We can cut flat shapes on a CNC laser. So we'd cut a big template and compare it to the tool. If it sits around for ten years then we can cut a new template. The tool material will be more stable then any template we could economically make from plastic. So the digital cut data for the template becomes the basis of measurement.

I know its weak, but its all I got. I welcome any suggestions anyone has. If you've been down this road I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!
 
B

BadgerMan

#5
I am probably missing something but how do you verify all of the drawing characteristics, say as part of an FAI, if you don't have the capability to verify the gage?

It sounds like you will just have to propose your solution to the auditor that the parts produced are fit for use as verified by your customer and that the gaging further validates that. Then you can put the gaging under recall control and periodically inspect them for damage and stability by visually inspecting them and verifying key dimensions.
 
B

BadgerMan

#6
I think we can increase the exposure by moving this thread over to the Calibration forum and hopefully get some expert opinions.
 

Stijloor

Staff member
Super Moderator
#7
Sorry to interrupt, but you calibrate monitoring and measuring equipment per 7.6.
To me, a mold is a piece of production equipment that you verify.

Am I missing something?
 
A

andygr

#8
I belive that they are treating the parts produced as "tool controled" but have no way of showing what the tool being used to form the parts is controling to.
 
P

ProDad

#9
That's correct. We are checking parts to a build tool. It's dual purpose.

Is moving the thread something I do? Not sure how that works...
 
B

BadgerMan

#10
Sorry to interrupt, but you calibrate monitoring and measuring equipment per 7.6.
To me, a mold is a piece of production equipment that you verify.

Am I missing something?
Yes, I was unclear on calibrate vs. verify/validate. That's why I asked which clause the finding was written against. It sounds like the equipment is a piece of M&ME as opposed to a piece of production tooling.
 
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