What kind of Annual Calibration Do I need

[[Ya...]]

Hi, I am in a plant that runs all year around, I am going to order the annual calibration this year.

There are 3 type of calibration service, basic, enhanced, and complete calibration.
Is that true we only need the basic calibration every year and do the enhanced calibration and complete calibration every 3 to 5 years?

How do your company is calibrating your CMM?

Thank you very much!

Calibration.JPG

[[Ri...]]

A lot of it depends on usage, and how the machine is treated over the year.

At my previous employer, we had over 20+ Zeiss CMMs, and we went ahead and had the complete calibration performed every year. Most of the time it was unneeded, but it gave us a piece of mind because the machines. In addition, you get the drive-bearing warranty with the complete calibration which is also an additional peach of mind.

[[Ro...]]

I would say you NEED basic just to be in compliance to all NIST standards and CMM best practices whatnot. A Zeiss certification is going to be much better document to hand an auditor than trying to explain other methods you may use such as Class X ring gages & pins or balls.
I would say the higher levels are more situational, ask your CMM operators or even trusted production personnel if they think the CMM needs more than the basic service.

[[Ch...]]

Like Richard said, keep in mind that the complete comes with the drive warranty.

[[Am...]]

We do the Complete service but our machines are on the machine shop floor and id recommend it if your CMMs aren't in a controlled lab environment. Also like everyone said heaving the drive-bearing warranty is nice for peace of mind. How many machines do you have and how heavy is the use of the machine?

[[Ow...]]

On an air bearing operated CMM outside of an controlled environment (out in the shop), I'd always recommend the complete calibration to get the thorough cleaning and adjustments needed to keep if going like new.

It also depends on what type of CMM you're looking to have calibrated. I used to do just the basic on some older air-bearing Accura's 1 CMM's kept in a controlled room because we kept them very clean and not a lot of people operated them. However, now with the newer Accura's 2's that move almost as twice as fast as the older ones, I do the complete for the bearing and additional drive warranty.

The shop-floor CMM's (Gage-max, Duramax,ect.) with the covered/protected axis's and mechanical linear guide-ways, are made to perform in the shop environments and a basic might be all you need.

[[Gr...]]

Being we do aerospace, our CMM's must have a complete A2LA certification.
This consists of an "As Found" Certificate of Calibration and an "As Left" Certificate of Calibration. These certs provide information as to the equipment Zeiss uses for the process as well as machine data and graphs as it relates to the machine.
Note, be sure that Zeiss provides you with calibration certifications for all tooling they use for the calibration process.
I say this because 2 years ago we took a big ding on our audit due to Zeiss not being able to prove their equipment was checked and certified with numbers and labs used for the process. Took 3 months to straighten this out.

Greg

[[mi...]]

We run 3 Zeiss Contura's 24 hours a day and have to have the same as Greggory
CMM's must have a complete A2LA certification.
This consists of an "As Found" Certificate of Calibration and an "As Left" Certificate of Calibration.