The value NTEP certified balances for Jewelry weighing (US)
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Mass measurement is a common task for Jewelers. Users commonly
weigh a variety of precious metals and stones for many different
applications including retail and inventory. Accuracy,
reproducibility and reliability in weighing products are paramount
for Jewelers when working with high value commodities. With
precious metals pricing at the highest levels in years, reliable
measurements are more important than ever. |
Today's electronic balances employ a variety of weighing
technologies to ensure rapid, repeatable and accurate measurements
- much faster and more accurately than mechanical balances of the
past. While electronic balances are superior to mechanical
balances with regards to speed and accuracy, there are some
inherent limitations to the performance of electronic
balances.
Factors that can affect weighing accuracy include variable
environmental conditions, product design, weighing cell quality,
and manufacturing tolerances of the instrument. All balances need
periodic calibration to ensure continued precision and accuracy,
but most users are not aware of how often they should perform a
calibration. Even with daily adjustments, it can be difficult to
guarantee a balance is performing at optimal levels throughout the
entire workday due to changes in room temperature. Besides the lack
of certainty (how often to adjust), manually calibrating a balance
expends much time and effort, hindering speed and throughput,
especially in a retail environment.
Ensuring Accuracy
In recent years, OHAUS has developed technologies and adopted
standards to increase weighing accuracy and throughput. Customers
can purchase OHAUS balances that have built-in automatic or manual
calibration mechanisms. These balances have sensors, motors, and
weights built inside, and will calibrate automatically any time an
environmental change occurs (like a temperature change) which can
affect weighing accuracy. With automatic calibration, the balance
is always compliant to factory specifications, without the need for
a user to spend time manually adjusting the balance.
Another important way to ensure maximum accuracy is by using an
NTEP certified weighing instrument from OHAUS. NTEP (National Type
Evaluation Program) is a strict product certification standard
administered by the National Conference on Weights and Measures,
and is a process for the testing and evaluation ofweighing
equipment and critical components to ensure their compliance with
Handbook 44 requirements (Handbook 44 is a NIST publication that
spells out the various performance criteria a balance must meet to
become NTEP approved).
An OHAUS balance with an NTEP certification ensures that a given
model has undergone and met a rigorous series of performance
tests. Balances with this certification also provide superior
accuracy and repeatability (ability to reproduce the same results
over time) than a balance that has not received such an approval.
OHAUS recognizes the needs for increased accuracy and efficiency
for applications such as laboratory environments or jewelry bench
settings, and that's why most all of the balances OHAUS offers have
an internal calibration option as well as NTEP certified
versions.
Choosing a Balance
When its time to select a balance, the choice is clear. OHAUS has
been designing and producing weighing instruments for over 100
years and offers complete ranges of NTEP certified balances and
scales, with and without Automatic Internal calibration. Known
worldwide for accuracy and durability, OHAUS products are designed
with the features needed today and the flexibility to meet the
needs of tomorrow.
An OHAUS balance with an NTEP certification
ensures that a given model has undergone and
met a rigorous series of performance tests.