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Calibration & Service
Your glossmeter's job is to produce a number you can stand behind: in an audit, against a customer specification, or in a conversation about a batch someone wants to reject.
Annual calibration is what keeps that number authoritative. We restore your instrument to factory specification, verify it against references traceable to our ISO 17025 accredited laboratory and document the result, so the readings you record next year carry the same weight as the readings you recorded the day the instrument was new.
Precision instruments work hard, and calibration is simply how they stay precise. Booked once a year, it stays a routine maintenance item rather than something you have to investigate.
🇺🇸 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 at all. Your instrument does not cross the Atlantic, and 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.
Every gloss calibration rests 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 inherits the error.
Your calibration tile is certified under ISO 17025 by our accredited laboratory in the UK.
On current-design instruments the tile is exchanged as part of the service, so that certification is renewed rather than left to age alongside the instrument it checks. On older models, such as Novo-Gloss Lite, the tile is replaced only where needed, and always with one carrying a 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, and every transfer in it is documented.
Five links, each one certified or assigned by the level above it.
| 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 |
Levels 3 and 4 are what make domestic service possible. Certifying a master instrument in Troy, rather than certifying every tile individually in the UK, means your tiles and your instrument never have to make the trip.
Physical condition assessed, all functions checked against specification.
Repeatability, accuracy and linearity are measured before any adjustment is made, so we know what your instrument was doing when it arrived.
Optical elements checked for contamination, damage and alignment, and cleaned if required.
Adjusted where needed, then verified at every measurement angle throughout its measuring range rather than at a single point.
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.
Most instruments that arrive slightly out of tolerance need no more than adjustment. 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, and 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, and 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.
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.
To keep things moving, please request an RMA before you return your instrument. It takes a moment, and it means your instrument is expected when it arrives: logged, routed and on the bench, rather than waiting to be identified. 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, and your tile comes back carrying 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.
Annually is the standard interval, and it is what most quality systems and customer audits expect.
Shorten it if your instrument works in a harsh environment, gets moved between sites, is handled by many operators or supports a specification where a rejected batch is expensive. Instruments used for final release inspection generally warrant a tighter interval than those used for in-process guidance.
We send a reminder as your next calibration date approaches so the interval does not quietly lapse. You can opt out at any time.
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, contact us before shipping. Service routes differ by product family, so we will confirm the right one for yours and issue the correct RMA rather than have you send it to the wrong place.
Verified at every measurement angle throughout its measuring range, not adjusted at a single point and assumed correct everywhere else.
Your tile comes back certified under ISO 17025 by our accredited laboratory in the UK, so your reference is current rather than a year into its own drift.
The as-received report shows the state your instrument was in before adjustment, so you can judge whether your historical data is sound.
Requesting your RMA first keeps everything straightforward. Complete the form and we will issue your number, confirm turnaround and send shipping instructions. Not sure what your instrument needs, or working to a deadline? Call us.
