HELP - Calibrating the HighLine Meter II

**ironman1982** · 02-25-2011, 06:23 PM

Rasky and any others that own one,

Just got my Highline II meter in today and am trying to calibrate it using the two "standard shims" Can anyone outline the process for us thick skulled individuals? I understand that one shim is Ferrous (Steel I presume) and the other is Non-Ferrous (Aluminum I presume). Both shims are covered on both sides with a plastic film typical of sheet metal. Are you supposed to remove one side's plastic and leave the other on so that the bare side is the zero calibration level and the plastic covered side is the "coated" side which you are supposed to adjust via the mem button to the "expected value"? The only number I could find as a possible expected value from the instructions is "50um" (46um - 54 um) range including the error tolerances. If so, are both shims to be adjusted to read 50um when measuring the plastic covered side? The Fe shim's two coatings appear different from one another so I am curious that if you are supposed to take one side off for a zero side which side do you remove? Also from reading above it looks like you must reset to factory calibration for each material separately. How exactly do you reset to factory settings? Do you measure the shim just to turn the display on then press and hold the "-" symbol till "0" then "00" then "000" appears then just let the meter auto turn off or are you supposed to then at that time remeasure the shim?

Sorry for all the questions and I know to those who own this and know how to use it these questions probably seem idiotic but the instructions are IMHO horribly written and very vague.

Thanks so much in advance for any and all help you can provide and I hope that this can be an educational thread.

**mxfly** · 02-25-2011, 09:30 PM

I had to reread the manual several times before I got it. You need to take the plastic off to calibrate them. With the shims, use the smallest and second largest one. No need to use the 500 micron unless the paint you're working on is that thick. So I would use the 50 and 250 micron ones. I got this info from highline themselves via email and it worked nicely.

**ironman1982** · 02-25-2011, 10:03 PM

Originally Posted by mxfly

I had to reread the manual several times before I got it. You need to take the plastic off to calibrate them. With the shims, use the smallest and second largest one. No need to use the 500 micron unless the paint you're working on is that thick. So I would use the 50 and 250 micron ones. I got this info from highline themselves via email and it worked nicely.

So is there another coating on the metal besides the plastic which constitutes the "coating"? Also, I only had two shims in my kit, that was all, one is ferrous and the other reads non ferrous. They are both the same diameter and look to be the same thickness overall. By 50 and 250 do you mean that under the plastic is a coating that is clear and 50 um thick and the other disc has a coating that is 250 thick? or are you saying that both shims have both depths of coating just 50 on one side and 250 on the other side? If each type (ferrous and non ferrous) have differing coatings then how would you calibrate each material type equivalently? Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. At first it appears that I might be short a shim or two but I will wait for more replies before calling the OEM up.

Thanks!

**ironman1982** · 02-28-2011, 10:36 AM

Well I think I understand the process a little better after playing around with the shims. I took the plastic covering off both of them and am only using them to get a zero reading for bare steel and bare aluminum. I took a piece of paper (actually the instructions themselves), since paper is known to be fairly uniform (AND non-metallic) and measured its thickness in a vernier micrometer which is accurate to 0.0001 in or 0.1 mil which is 2.54 um, I believe. It measured to be 3.5 to 3.6 mil no mater where I took the measurement. Knowing this, I placed the paper over the metallic discs after zeroing on the bare surface and took a measurement. It was off by a little on the steel disc (~0.3 mil or so). I followed the instructions by pressing the mem button and using the +/- buttons to adjust the reading to the expected value of 3.5 mil. I then zeroed on the aluminum and took the paper and measured with it on top of the disc. The reading on this surface was quite a bit lower (~2.2 mil). So I hit the mem button and adjusted it to the expected value of 3.5 mil. Once both were calibrated, repeatability on both surfaces using the paper was spot on. Since I do not have a "known" thickness non-metallic reference, I ordered a set of precision plastic measurement shims from a large online retailer who's name you might find on a map of South America which start at 0.001" and work up from there.

Find them by searching for: "Precision Brand 13 Piece Plastic Thickness Gage Fan Blade Assortment 1/2" x 5" Blades"

**Setec Astronomy** · 02-28-2011, 10:43 AM

Usually (for eddy current testers) the calibration "foils" are little slips of plastic of varying thicknesses...it's hard to tell from your description if what was on the calibration substrates was the foils or simply the plastic protection which might come on polished sheet metal.

**ironman1982** · 02-28-2011, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Usually (for eddy current testers) the calibration "foils" are little slips of plastic of varying thicknesses...it's hard to tell from your description if what was on the calibration substrates was the foils or simply the plastic protection which might come on polished sheet metal.

The only thing on my two shims was a plastic "trash-bag" like stretchable covering that resembles what saw raw sheet metal comes covered in. I think they are just stamped out of a large sheet and the plastic is left on them as one edge of each shim is raised ever so slightly as all unfinished stamped parts are. There were no slips of plastic anywhere in the packaging. What I ordered is just like a machinists set of feeler gauges only in plastic.

**Setec Astronomy** · 02-28-2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by ironman1982

The only thing on my two shims was a plastic "trash-bag" like stretchable covering that resembles what saw raw sheet metal comes covered in. I think they are just stamped out of a large sheet and the plastic is left on them as one edge of each shim is raised ever so slightly as all unfinished stamped parts are. There were no slips of plastic anywhere in the packaging. What I ordered is just like a machinists set of feeler gauges only in plastic.

yeah, that's what it sounded like. The only problem with what you're doing is it starts at .001 which is kind of thick if you're trying to measure what you're polishing off...I have an Artus shim set which has .0005 and .00075 as well as .001 on up. But I guess since you will be measuring in the .004-.006 range usually you should be fine with what you bought.

**ironman1982** · 02-28-2011, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

yeah, that's what it sounded like. The only problem with what you're doing is it starts at .001 which is kind of thick if you're trying to measure what you're polishing off...I have an Artus shim set which has .0005 and .00075 as well as .001 on up. But I guess since you will be measuring in the .004-.006 range usually you should be fine with what you bought.

Hmm....might have to see if I can get some additional shims that go below the 0.001 thickness. If all this meter can do with calibration is two points though, I wonder if it would be more advantageous to calibrate with a shim closer to its max range or one that is a small as you can buy. I would think that calibrating at its max range would be better if all it does is use a simple y=mx+b interpolation equation based on two endpoints of data. Any thoughts on that point?

Thanks for the info!

**Setec Astronomy** · 02-28-2011, 11:05 AM

I don't know what the algorithm is, I'm sure you'll be fine if you calibrate with a .005 since that's probably nominal, and bracket it with a .010 and .001 or .002 to see how far off it is.

The other thing I'd be wary of is if perhaps there's anything in that shim stock that might skew the readings...since it might be recycled or not high purity. I'm sure you can buy a set of calibration foils somewhere...I'm sure they are way overpriced, too. It really seems like Highline should have given you some, especially since they gave you the substrate pieces...perhaps they just got left out.

**ironman1982** · 02-28-2011, 11:06 AM

Well after conversing with Chad (Rasky) via PM on this it appears that I am missing the plastic shims entirely out of my shipment. He said there were 5 in the one he has. Mine had zero! No wonder I was so confused as I thought the instructions were referring to the metallic discs as the calibration shims and just chalked that up translation errors from Chinese to English lol. I am going to contact Highline about my missing shims this afternoon. Thanks all!