Gage Block Calibration Requirements question

[thekellyg]

Hello all,
We have a set of gauge blocks that are used to verify tools and tooling in our machine shop. They have been sent for 'calibration' in the past and my question is this: Since there is virtually no way for them to be out of calibration, do we need to spend the money for a yearly third party calibration? Thanks in advance for your guidance!

 

[Stijloor]

Re: Calibration question

Hello all,
We have a set of gauge blocks that are used to verify tools and tooling in our machine shop. They have been sent for 'calibration' in the past and my question is this: Since there is virtually no way for them to be out of calibration, do we need to spend the money for a yearly third party calibration? Thanks in advance for your guidance!

The calibration/verification interval is determined by your organization.
If there has been no wear on the blocks, you could expand the interval to 2 years.

 

[AndyN]

Re: Calibration question

Hello all,
We have a set of gauge blocks that are used to verify tools and tooling in our machine shop. They have been sent for 'calibration' in the past and my question is this: Since there is virtually no way for them to be out of calibration, do we need to spend the money for a yearly third party calibration? Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Why do you think they can't be "out"? Gauge blocks do wear outside of limits - not that you'd notice, but they do change "grade"...

 

[Golfman25]

Re: Calibration question

They can wear out, but it depends on the use. For lightly used blocks, extended calibration schedules are fine. We go up to 5 years on some sets. Good luck.

 

[thekellyg]

Re: Calibration question

Thanks everyone! They are actually used very little so I'm pushing it to two years for now.

 

[somashekar]

Re: Calibration question

Thanks everyone! They are actually used very little so I'm pushing it to two years for now.

You could base your decision on the past years calibration report data analysis .....

 

[PaulJSmith]

Re: Calibration question

Yup. We have a couple of sets that only go out every 5 years. As Somashekar noted, should it be questioned, you could use previous years' data to support the change.

 

[Illek]

Re: Calibration question

Something to consider when figuring out the calibration cycle is how much paperwork and data would you have to dig through to investigate if the blocks ever came back out of calibration. Example: Do you want to 2 years of records or 5? Could be part of your risk analysis for changing the cycle. We had a high cycle item get contaminated and corrode. It was not fun to investigate especially when there was a computer system change in the middle of the data trail.

 

[crager34]

On a similar note, depending on how the OD Mics are used, they can be pushed out to every 2 years also. Just make sure the length standards are calibrated. more frequently.

 

[Rustedamy]

Greetings! Bolstering your procedure and training program with using cotton gloves to handle and storage-when-not-in-use details would help also.