Does NIST calibrate miscellaneous dimensional quantities, such as, plating thickness, focal length of lenses, radius of curvature, and surface plates?
No. There are many things that we do not calibrate at NIST. The Engineering Metrology Group has fewer than a dozen people most of whom make measurements only part time. We cannot possibly measure every gage the country needs and limtations on space and equipment forces us to choose calibrations we think will do the most good for the most industries, which changes slowly over time in response to customer feedback. We send a response card with every calibration and attend professional meetings our customers attend to get a better feel for what we should be calibrating. So, if you do not see what you need in the NIST Special Publication 250, contact us immediately. If we have the equipment, we can sometimes do the calibration as a Special Test. If enough people contact us about performing certain calibrations, we can go up our chain of command and argue for the resources to add the calibration to our offerings. Look at the answer to the next question for more advice.
