Surface Plates Resurfaced and Calibrated yearly - Is this necessary?

O

Oriondad

#1
Howdy All,

We have in the past had our plates resurfaced and calibrated yearly. I am now questioning whether that is practical. Some plates get very little usage, while others may be used daily. I contend that we can set our calibrations based on usage. Therefore, some plates we may only need to resurface and calibrate every other year, while the high usage plates need calibration yearly. I haven't found anything is any standard to contradict this position. We do this for our gage blocks, so hence, why not for our plates?

Any input is appreciated.
 
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Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#2
Re: Surface Plates

Oriondad said:
Howdy All,

We have in the past had our plates resurfaced and calibrated yearly. I am now questioning whether that is practical. Some plates get very little usage, while others may be used daily. I contend that we can set our calibrations based on usage. Therefore, some plates we may only need to resurface and calibrate every other year, while the high usage plates need calibration yearly. I haven't found anything is any standard to contradict this position. We do this for our gage blocks, so hence, why not for our plates?

Any input is appreciated.
There's no reason that you shouldn't base your calibration schedules on practical experience. You can use "as found" results as your justification. In other words, if you have records that demonstrate that no resurfacing or other adjustment was necessary after calibration, you can base your schedule(s) on those findings.
 

Cari Spears

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
#3
Oriondad said:
Howdy All,

Therefore, some plates we may only need to resurface and calibrate every other year, while the high usage plates need calibration yearly.
Howdy to you too!:bigwave:

We get all of ours done yearly here - but I used to work at a company with dozens of surface plates scattered between the three buildings they occupied. They did exactly as you're proposing - each plate had it's own schedule based on usage and justified by past "as found" results. It saved them a lot of money.
 
G

Grizz1345

#4
Our calibration procedure states that if no adjustments are made in the last three calibration cycles that we can extend the cycle time. This has passed both QS9000 and ISO 9001-2000 registration audits with no trouble.:)
 

Hershal

Metrologist-Auditor
Staff member
Super Moderator
#5
It depends on your use.

First thing to do is determine for each plate what grade you require for that usage, whether AA, A, or B.....then you have a solid point to determine - based on what your cal lab finds - whether to extend the cycle and by how much. I would not go beyond three years, even for an AA, kept in a tightly controlled environment.

Also, ask the cal lab for recommendations on extending the cycle.....a reputable lab will try to give a realistic answer that is workable for you.

Hope this helps.

Hershal
 
O

Oriondad

#6
Thanks for your input.

I am rather ignorant regarding calibrations and such. Mainly manage the ISO program and am somewhat familiar with calibration requirements. We have a trainee handling our gages and they are doing, from what I can tell, a good job of managing it.

Just so you all know, I check our reports from our supplier (Inspec) and for the most part all the plates, last year, checked out of tolerance. So I guess we are destined to have all 30 plates redone yet again!!!!

Thanks :applause:
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#8
Oriondad said:
Thanks for your input.

I am rather ignorant regarding calibrations and such. Mainly manage the ISO program and am somewhat familiar with calibration requirements. We have a trainee handling our gages and they are doing, from what I can tell, a good job of managing it.

Just so you all know, I check our reports from our supplier (Inspec) and for the most part all the plates, last year, checked out of tolerance. So I guess we are destined to have all 30 plates redone yet again!!!!

Thanks :applause:
If the calibration last year showed them to be out of tolerance, why weren't they repaired (resurfaced) at that time. If they were placed back into service without repair, all the calibrations they were used for in the last year are suspect.
 
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