We are looking for a new cal lab in the San Francisco area, someone who will ideally pick up test equipment once in a while, do traceable cals with data and certificates. Any suggestions?
Thanks
fwiw if a place says their specialty is "untracable cals" I'd probably avoid that place
Thank you for that helpful observation.
Test Equipment retailers sometimes double as cal houses. There must be something in SF.
Cheers
Gosh, tough crowd
I mean, you might want that if all you needed was functional, more an alignment and setup, rather than a proper accurate calibration as such.
But if you're going to the trouble of sending it out (or having a guy in), it doesn't seem very economical to insist on anything shy of normal full service.
Tim
As do equipment rental places.
Cheers
But if you're ISO certified/mil spec etc, you have to have traceable cal certs....
I don't think there is anything in SF. This is mostly a software town. People are shocked that we design and build electronics here.
I was asking if anyone here had an actual cal house that they have actually used.
Did you find a cal lab yet? I just started working at a place in Santa Clara. They've been sending everything to the same cal lab for years: Trescal (formerly SE Labs). They do daily dropoff/pickup at our site.
It is getting VERY wet, with all of that dripping sarcasm.
You must be joking, many retailers know only sales.
I can easily find cal labs. I was wondering if anyone had personal experience, one that they like.
The one that we use now is mediocre.
Do you need NIST accuracy? Why not do self-cal. Get a HP3458 off ebay to check your dvms DC voltage and current, and AC voltage and current. Get a resistance standard off ebay. Make a GPSDO for your frequency reference. Get lab standard weights to calibrate scales. Make a ice/boiling water standard for temperature.
When you have your own lab standards, you can check a piece of equipment on regular intervals without losing it during a trip to an external lab. This saves wear and tear, and possible handling damage due to accidents.
Our customers sometimes audit us, and would never accept ebay home-brew calibrations.
And we have better things to do with our time.
I don't know how we'd cal a Fluke DVM or a big oscilloscope. Cal labs have the hardware and software to do that.
Very helpful reply. Thanks
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