How to Calibrate Tension Links and Load Shackles: It is all About the Pin When it Comes to Tension Link Calibration A tension link is calibrated on its pins, not on its label. Two links stamped with nominally the same capacity can behave completely differently under load because they were built around different pins, and […]
How to Calibrate Button Load Cells in Compression: A Guide for Button Load Cell Calibration A button load cell looks like the easiest thing in the world to calibrate. It is small, it takes load through a domed top, and you set it under a press and push. What could go wrong 😊? Almost everything, […]
How to Calibrate an Analog Dynamometer: Set it up the Way it is Used Pictured above is a 10 000 lbf Analog Dynamometer in a Morehouse 10 000 lbf BCM. An analog dynamometer has no electronics to trust and no digital display to read for you. It has a spring element, a mechanical linkage, and […]
Common Tension Force Calibration Setups: Let the Load Find its Own Axis Pull a load cell in tension, and you introduce a problem compression may not have. The load string can twist. A thread can cock a few thousandths off center. A clevis pin can sit against one side of its hole instead of being […]
Common Compression Force Calibration Setups: Keeping the Load Line Pure Common Compression Force Calibration Setups: Keeping the Load Line Pure Intro A load cell that reads to 0.005 % of full scale on the bench can degrade to 0.5 % of full scale, or worse, once it is mounted with the wrong hardware. Same […]
What a Recovering Drug Addict Taught me about Saying No: When Metrology Companies Should Say No I went to a Vistage seminar for the inspiration on learning a better way to say “no”. By Henry Zumbrun, CEO, Morehouse Instrument Company Michael Brody-Waite stood in front of a room full of CEOs at my Vistage […]
Torque Transducer Bending Error on Single-ended Arms: CW CCW Torque Test Torque transducer bending error can be one of the most underestimated contributors in single-ended-arm torque calibration. If you calibrate torque transducers on a single-ended arm and you have not characterized the bending error, your uncertainty budget may be significantly off. In our worked example […]
Bad Load Cell Setup: Specific Load Cell Examples, Common Errors, and What to Watch for by Load Cell Type A Bad Load Cell Setup almost never starts with the readout. It starts with the mechanical load path, meaning alignment, adapters, thread engagement, and contact surfaces. When those are not controlled, you introduce off-axis forces such […]
How to Choose Between a Proving Ring and a Load Cell for Force Calibration If you have spent any time in a force calibration lab, you have probably faced this question at least once: Should I use a proving ring or a load cell as my reference standard? It is a topic that frequently comes up when we do […]
