Calibration service on ebay - any good?

[rif]

I'm new to this, hence the beginners forum.

I have an old fluke 8060a and another one on the way.  I'm wondering 1) if this calibration is worth it (I'm an infrequent hobbyist)  and 2) is this an acceptable price ($25)?  Most of what I measure doesn't require uber accuracy.

CALIBRATION SERVICE for Fluke 8060A, 8062A, 8020A Series DVM's Traceable to NIST | eBay

[bitseeker]

Many old Flukes are spot on after decades. NIST calibration would be overkill, though $25 isn't a lot of money. Do you have a friend with a new or recently calibrated DMM or power supply that you could compare with? That'd be more than sufficient.

[MatthewEveritt]

Be aware that typically calibration means finding out how accurate your meter is, NOT adjusting it to be more accurate. Pretty much they just use your meter to measure their reference and tell you the reference value and your meters reading.

[retrolefty]

(I'm an infrequent hobbyist)

 A hobbyist should NEVER pay for such a small-return-on-value that a 'calibration, but not adjustment' service. You should just let your electronic hobby lead you to self reliance by /learning/buying/building your own local references, voltage standard, resistance, cap, etc. It's part of the learning journey in the hobby. And it doesn't need to cost much $ to fund your journey. Don't let the volt-nuts lead you believe otherwise.

[iaeen]

I'd pass. If you are worried about an instrument being out of spec, compare it with one you are confident in. No need to pay someone to do it for you.

Comparing readings is one of many reasons Dave recommends owning multiple meters.

[jeroen79]

The procedure for calibration adjustment is written in the manual so you can do it yourself:
http://assets.fluke.com/manuals/8060a_3vimeng0200.pdf

The question is: Against what do you want to calibrate it?

Having it calibrated against a NIST traceable standard is nice but only useful if you either want to have paperwork to avoid legal trouble or if your work is such that must be reproducable for others with different equipment.

For hobbyists it will be sufficient to compare your meters against each other and perhaps pick one to be the standard.
It's just a matter of hooking them all up to the same source and writing down the readings at various outputs.
Adjustment is a bit more work depending on the equipment and available documentation.

[rif]

Thanks for the quick responses,  you saved me $50!  You're all correct, I really don't care about NIST, just that they all give a reasonably correct and consistent reading.

At the end of the day, I'll have the 2 flukes and a couple of cheap meters, one of them new.  I'll just make sure the 2 flukes match each other and that they reasonably match the the one cheapo I "trust".

Here's my current cheap, but very likeable meter. Its the size of a few credit cards stacked up.

Amazon.com: Etekcity MSR-P600 Auto-Ranging Digital Multimeter, Volt Amp Ohm Meter, Red

[holo]

I acquired a Fluke 8060A a few years ago from a local business closing down, the case had yellowed significantly, it was filthy dirty and had a few soldering iron melt marks.  God knows how old it was but i'm pretty sure it hadn't been calibrated since the day it was made.
I didn't think much of it at the time but decided to compare it to a brand new Fluke 289 my work had just bought thinking the 8060A was likely to be way out of calibration.  Surprisingly the 8060A was still absolutely spot on, I couldn't believe it when both meters agreed within 1 or 2 counts on the least significant digit on various resistance, DC voltage and current ranges.
It cleaned up nicely and is actually more accurate than all of the pricier (£80) Tenma meters that work also purchased.
So in short no, I wouldn't bother, just check it against another meter if you can get hold of one and you may be pleasantly surprised.

[retiredcaps]

I have an old fluke 8060a and another one on the way.

Your current Fluke 8060A and the one on the way will likely need a complete capacitor replacement.  These old 8060A will leak or have already leaked from the bottom bung.  It won't be obvious by looking at them from the top.  You have to remove the cap completely and look at the bottom.

See

http://mrmodemhead.com/blog/ibm-8060aaa-fluke-8060a-refurbish/

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fluke-8060a-refurbish-questions/

If you want to know more about the 8060A and it's history (at least 2 to 4 hours of content), see

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/old-fluke-multimeters/

[shteii01]

There is another option.

Do you have local university that has engineering program?  They often have labs that are open part of the time.  And just anyone can walk in.  They are likely have power supplies that are of decent quality, of more recent manufacture and calibrated.  You can use them to check your meter.  The department website would have a list of the labs and open hours.  Post a link if you have such school locally.