A Load Cell Is a Spring You Learn to Trust: A Guide to Strain Gauge Load Cells A load cell is a precision spring: a strain gauge load cell converts the elastic element's deformation under force into an electrical signal through bonded strain gauges and a Wheatstone bridge. Non-linearity, hysteresis, and creep all describe how […]
The Honest Answer that May Have Cost us a Million Dollars: Why Trustworthy Calibration Services Matter “You can’t handle the truth!” – Colonel Jessup, A Few Good Men Colonel Jessup was wrong about most things, but he was onto something: the truth is not always what people want to hear. Not long ago, a prospective […]
Force Measurement Traceability: Why Every Link in the Chain must Carry more Doubt than the One Above it "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link." Everyone knows the proverb. Force measurement traceability runs the proverb backward: every link in the chain must carry more doubt than the link above it, and a laboratory […]
Force Calibration Safety: The Day Three Threads Let Go A technician set up a tension calibration in a 200 000 lbf (890 kN) machine, threaded the connection together, and started applying force. Only three complete threads were engaged. The internal threads stripped, the connection separated, and everything above the failure point released at once. Three […]
Two Degrees Off: What Mount Erebus Teaches Us About Measurement Bias I recently read 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and one story in it made me think about calibration, specifically a paper I wrote three years ago on bias. Before we get to that, here’s more about what […]
Why Your Calibration Lab's Uncertainty Number Is Costing You Money (And Risk You Don't Know About And How to Reduce Calibration Uncertainty) How measurement uncertainty drives false accept and false reject decisions, and why it matters for your quality system. If you've ever had a perfectly good instrument fail calibration, or worse, had a bad one pass, you've experienced the real-world consequences of measurement uncertainty. Most […]
What Causes Force Measurement Errors- What Not to Do: Examples of Unsafe or Bad Measurement Practice Expanded explanations and technical basis from Force Calibration for Technicians and Quality Managers (Zumbrun, 2026) This is a selection of examples in our new E-book which explains in much greater detail why each pictured setup represents poor force measurement […]
Dual-Range vs. Dedicated Load Cell Scope. This article summarizes what our calibration certificates show over many years when the same load cell is calibrated in a low range (LO) and a high range (HI). All findings below are derived from the calibration data provided (ASTM LLF history, standard deviation, stability between calibration, and deviations […]
TUR and Picking the Right Load Cell Distributor (UPC vs. PC vs. Calibration Cells) The Question That Keeps Coming Up A customer recently asked: “The quote earlier was for Ultra-Precision load cells. Do we need to go for that grade to calibrate devices known to within 0.1 %, or is there an alternate model that […]
Deadweight vs. Hydraulic Force Calibration: Understanding the Difference Selecting between Deadweight vs Hydraulic Force Calibration is one of the most critical decisions in any force calibration laboratory. The choice directly impacts measurement uncertainty, productivity, and compliance with international standards such as ISO 376 and ASTM E74. This document explains how each method realizes force, the […]
Understanding the Normal Distribution The normal distribution, sometimes called the bell curve or Gaussian distribution, is one of the most important concepts in statistics. It describes how values of a variable are spread, and it often appears in nature, science, and everyday life. What is the Normal Distribution? At its core, the normal distribution […]
The Role of the En Ratio in Force Calibration Confidence In the world of calibration, proving that your measurements are both accurate and defensible goes beyond simply watching control charts. While control charts are powerful for spotting drift or unusual trends, they don’t answer a critical question: are our stated measurement capabilities truly valid? To […]
