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Calibration & Service
Your glossmeter's readings get quoted in audits, written into customer specifications and used to accept or reject a batch.
Annual calibration is how they stay comparable from one year to the next. We restore the instrument to factory specification, verify it against references traceable to our ISO 17025 accredited laboratory and document the result.
Optical elements pick up contamination and can move out of alignment with use. We measure where the instrument has shifted, then correct it.
🇺🇸 Calibrated in Troy, Michigan
Rhopoint Americas is the Rhopoint group's own service operation for the Americas. Your instrument is calibrated in Troy, Michigan to Rhopoint Instruments' own procedures, using reference tiles whose values come from a master instrument certified by our ISO 17025 accredited gloss calibration laboratory in the UK.
That certified master is the reason the work can be done here. Your instrument does not cross the Atlantic. For customers in the United States it does not cross a border at all, so there is no export documentation and no customs hold between you and a working instrument.
This service covers Rhopoint gloss measurement instruments, both hand-held and benchtop.
If you own a Rhopoint haze, transparency, liquid coating or packaging test instrument, request an RMA in the same way. Service routes differ by product family, so we will confirm what applies to yours when we issue your number.
Every gloss calibration depends on one component: the reference tile. If the tile is right, the instrument can be set right. If the tile has drifted, everything measured against it is wrong by the same amount.
Your calibration tile is certified under ISO 17025 by our accredited laboratory in the UK.
On current-design instruments the tile is exchanged during service, so you get back a freshly certified reference rather than the one you sent in. On older models, such as Novo-Gloss Lite, the tile is replaced only if it needs replacing. The replacement comes with its own traceable calibration certificate.
Every tile used during the calibration itself has been assigned values using the same procedures as that accredited laboratory. The chain from your bench back to a national metrology institute is unbroken. Every transfer in it is documented.
| Reference | Certified or assigned by | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Primary certified reference gloss tilesCertified reference material, held by Rhopoint Instruments Ltd | A national metrology institute (NMI) |
| 2 | UK master instrument, master tiles and the calibration tiles supplied with serviceHigh-gloss and mirror masters | Rhopoint Instruments LtdISO 17025 ACCREDITED |
| 3 | Troy master instrument and working master tilesHigh-gloss and mirror masters, held at Rhopoint Americas | Certified by the UK accredited laboratory at level 2 |
| 4 | Troy working reference tilesThe tiles used day to day on the bench | Values assigned by the Troy master instrument, using the same procedures as the accredited laboratory |
| 5 | Your instrument and your tile | Instrument calibrated and verified at Troy. Your tile is certified under ISO 17025 at level 2 |
Certifying a master instrument in Troy, rather than certifying every tile individually in the UK, is why your tiles and your instrument stay in the Americas.
Physical condition assessed, all functions checked against specification.
Repeatability, accuracy and linearity are measured before any adjustment is made, so the condition it arrived in is on record before anything changes.
Optical elements checked for contamination, damage and alignment, then cleaned if required.
Adjusted where needed, then verified at every measurement angle throughout its measuring range.
You receive a certificate for the instrument, a certificate for the tile and an as-received report, so any change made during calibration can be tracked. The calibration date and reference are updated on the instrument itself.
Where the correction required falls within manufacturer's limits, we simply adjust the instrument so that it passes calibration, as part of the standard service. No quote to approve, no delay while you decide.
Repair work beyond that is quoted before we start. If your instrument needs work outside those limits, we stop, tell you what it needs and issue a quote. Nothing chargeable happens without your purchase order. The timescale is confirmed with the quotation, because it depends on what the instrument needs.
Either way, the as-received report records the state your instrument arrived in. If it was reading outside specification, you will be able to see how far out, which is what tells you whether any recent measurement data needs reviewing.
We work to an annual interval.
Shorten it if your instrument works in a harsh environment, gets moved between sites, is handled by many operators or is used where a rejected batch is expensive. Instruments used for final release inspection need a tighter interval than those used for in-process guidance.
We send a reminder as your next calibration date approaches so the due date does not pass unnoticed. You can opt out at any time.
Add shipping in each direction when you plan total downtime. Your expected return date is confirmed when your RMA is issued, so you can schedule around a date rather than an estimate.
If your instrument is critical to a production release, tell us when you submit the RMA form. We will confirm what is achievable before you ship.
Please request an RMA before you return your instrument. The RMA number identifies your instrument on arrival and tells us what work it needs. We will issue your number, confirm the address and tell you what to include.
Send your calibration tile with the instrument. The two are certified together, so your tile comes back with a current certificate. If the instrument arrives on its own we can only certify it against our own reference tiles, which leaves you setting a newly calibrated instrument against a tile whose value nobody has checked. Readings taken that way cannot be relied on.
Complete the form and we will issue your RMA number, confirm turnaround and send shipping instructions. Not sure what your instrument needs, or working to a deadline? Call us.
