Test Equipment Calibration
Calibration and Certification.
We are Specialists in Test Equipment Calibration and Certification. We are ISO9001:2015 Regestered for calibration services.
We Calibrate and certify:
Electrical Test Equipment, Gas Detectors, Flue Gas Analysers, Temperature, Humidity, Pressure Equipment, Anamometers, Lux Meters, Sound Level Meters, R.F Test Equipment, Hand Dynamometers, and much more.
What do you as a customer need and expect from a test equipment calibration laboratory? You might be an electrician with 17th/18th Edition test equipment who suddenly realises the NICEIC inspector is due next week and your test equipment is not calibrated. In your company perhaps you have an infrared thermometer, a Marconi radio test set, a fibre-optic power meter, or even a microwave leak detector. Where do you go to get your test equipment calibrated with a certificate of calibration to show that your test equipment is fully functional to manufacturers' specifications, with traceability to National Standards / UKAS Calibrated Test Instruments and at a reasonable price? Well, the old yellow pages are restricted to your local telephone area and may not have a suitable calibration laboratory, listed that can calibrate your test equipment. The modern method these days is to use the internet and searching for "calibration prices" on a search engine such as "Google" is perhaps a good start to finding what you need. Prices and quality of service vary and can sometimes be misleading in what you get for your money. Ideally you should choose a calibration laboratory that uses high quality calibrators, is an ISO9001:2015 registered company with set quality procedures, offers a good service at a reasonable price, and will look after you when you are in trouble. Of course you will have your favourite calibration laboratory you have always been with just because you didn't know where else to go and why should you. But as you would expect, this article aims to show you why this, calibration laboratory at Glanford Electronics has all the qualities to fulfil your test equipment calibration requirements.
Most equipment calibration laboratories try to achieve a high accuracy in calibrating customer's instruments. Much depends on the type of test equipment, as to what accuracy is actually achievable. A simple thermometer which has a manufacturer's stated accuracy of ±2% is in itself a standard item, whereas ±0.1% is much better. High accuracy calibrators and associated equipment make all the difference as to the quality and final statement of uncertainty on a certificate of calibration. The "statement of uncertainty" is the combination of the accuracy factors of all the items used in calibrating customers instruments. Although most calibrators are manufactured to high standards, good quality calibrators can take on board an external frequency standard to improve their accuracy and stability even further. The well-known off air standard broadcast from the 198 kHz BBC Radio 4 transmitters at Droitwich has been used for years to this end. Apart from calibrating test instruments at Glanford Electronics we need high accuracy in the mobile radio sphere, where radio calibrators need to be really accurate. To achieve this we have installed a multi-output Rubidium Frequency Standard with an accuracy of parts 10-13. This allows us to bring simultaneously a number of calibrators up to this higher standard with our GPS10RBN from Precision Test Systems. The GPS10RBN is a 10 MHz GPS disciplined rubidium frequency standard. It combines the short term stability of an atomic rubidium oscillator with the long term stability and traceability of the Global Positioning Service set of satellites. The GPS10RBN achieves short and long term frequency accuracy of parts in 10-13. Thus the GPS10RBN exceeds the requirements of a Stratum 1 level frequency standard. Whatever the company you use to carryout test equipment calibrations make sure the certificate provided shows the traceability to National Standards and the company doing the calibration can provide a valid UKAS certificate for the test equipment used to perform the calibration. Temperature & Humidity is also important and the calibration should be carried out in a reasonably controlled environment. At the very least the Temperature & Humidity should be recorded on the provided calibration certificate.
Wholesalers Calibration Days and On site Calibrations.
It is hard to see how this can all be achieved at wholesaler's calibration days! It may be cheaper, but ask yourself what you are getting. Does the calibration Certificate you get show traceability to National Standards?
Is the equipment used to calibrate your test equipment, 3 times, at least more accurate, than the item you are having calibrated, are any adjustments shown on the certificate or indeed are adjustments able to be carried out with the limited test equipment used at these calibration days? As the equipment been allowed to stabilise for temperature, has the temperature and humidity even been noted? Have the people doing the certification on your equipment got or even looked at the specifications of the item being calibrated? Are they fully trained? We have to maintain the specifications on file in accordance with ISO 9001 requirements. Can you obtain a copy certificate should you require it in the future?
Ask the above questions, all is well until something goes wrong! It may be cheaper and it is really up to you, but, use us for peace of mind. We are audited at least once a year on our systems, just one reason British Steel and Smith and Nephew, use us.
As you can imagine, covering the wide range of test equipment, we have a comprehensive range of calibrators including:
Fluke 5700A with Fluke 5725A amplifier recognised to be the most accurate calibrator available which is capable of calibrations on 8 1/2 digit Multimeters.
Fluke 5500A calibrator covering frequency and temperature in addition to Amps, Ohms and Volts
Fluke 5320A calibrator for accurate measurements on 18th edition electrical equipment, such as Insulation continuity testers, loop impedance testers & RCD testers
Fluke 5080A with oscilloscope addition. Used for better compliance on some equipment and oscilloscope calibrations
Ametek Black Body Heat Source for the calibration of infrared type Thermometers.
Ametek DTI-1000A precision measuring systems, with platinum probe at 0.001 resolution for temperature
Environmental Test Chamber for Temperature & Humidity. Weiss WKL34 covers -70 to 180°C plus humidity
Ametek Temperature calibrators able to cover -90 to 650°C
RF calibration & measurement using Marconi communication test sets, Hewlett Packard spectrum analysers, signal generators & frequency counters
We can generate and read up to 20GHz ideal for Spectrum analysers and various RF equipment
EHT high voltage measure and generate using Brandenburg test instruments
Sound & light meters and calibrators using Castle and Minolta test instruments
Pressure & Vacuum using Dead Weight primary standards, Edwards vacuum pumps & Druck calibrators
Force and Torque calibrations using Norbar Torque calibrators & Mecmessin force calibration system
Gas Detectors using certified calibration gases
Combustion Analysers
Mechanical Items Rulers, Tape Measures, Micrometers, Calipers etc
Precision Test Systems GPS10RBN GPS locked rubidium frequency standard, used to provide lock and accuracy to timebases of test equipment used in calibration measurements
All calibrations include certification traceable to National Standards/a UKAS calibrated test instrument in accordance with our ISO9001:2015 Registration and to the general requirements of BS EN ISO 17025:2005. We can offer full Calibration of equipment with Certification, as clients Quality Assurance systems require. So what is ISO9001? Put simply ISO 9001 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9001 is maintained by the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies.
Some of the requirements in ISO 9001 include:
- A set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business.
- Monitoring processes to ensure they are effective.
- Keeping of adequate records.
- Checking output for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary.
- Regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness.
- Facilitating continual improvement.
As our company is an ISO9001:2015 registered firm, we are proud of our Quality assurance systems and employ a director responsible for Quality. Our Quality Manual is available for inspection and we welcome visits by Quality Assurance staff to our workshops. This ensures that your test equipment is identified and checked at each stage, from booking in to final inspection, leaving with a fully traceable certificate of calibration.
We have a competitive test equipment calibration price structure to include a wide range of instruments, some of which we have listed. Check out our calibration prices listed on our calibration price list.
A large range of spare parts are held on stock and our turnaround time is 3 days unless a specialist spare part is required. Equipment is collected and delivered via our own transport within our catchment area. Our workshop and calibrators are open for any inspection. Staff operating in these areas of the Company have many years of experience in instrumentation.
British Steel, Liberty Steel, North Lincolnshire Council, Anglian Water, Smith & Nephew Medical and Yorkshire Television are just a few of the companies who rely on Glanford Electronics for test equipment repair and calibration facilities.
Don't forget to check our calibration prices on our Calibration Prices page. Why don't you give us a try? You will be pleased you did!
All calibrations include certification traceable to National Standards/a UKAS calibrated test instrument, in accordance with our ISO9001:2015 Registration and to the general requirements, of BS EN ISO 17025:2005.
We can offer full Calibration of equipment with Certification, as clients Quality Assurance systems require.