I have a customer who has found it cheaper to buy a new NIST traceable stopwatch rather than have the previous one calibrated at a lab. However by not having the previous stopwatch calibrated at a lab, he does not know if the stopwatch was previously out of cal at anytime since the original calibration.
Any comments on solving his dilemma?
Looks like it is better to review the NIST calibration procedure posted in this thread and calibrate it yourself. This is still probably more expensive though than just buying an inexpensive (aka cheap) new one.
Good morning!
I don't understand how they can justify buying new ones, when all you need is a telephone to verify the existing timers. I can do five or six timers (not at the same time; I stagger them by 1 minute) in an afternoon.
Now, there is the caveat of the process and how accurate they need the timers to be. I usually check to a process requiring +/-3 seconds or more. If it is a tight tolerance, there may need to be a different procedure.
The cost of buying new ones, purchase orders, shipping charges, getting new ID numbers, etc. and then disposing, seems to not be a total cost not to be taken lightly at every interval.
Also, how good is the calibration they get with the new one? Does it give them true confidence?
Too, timers generally seem pretty reliable. You may can extend the interval a bit.