Charles,
I'll share that I use a Krautkramer USN 50. This machine is getting some age on it now, purchased sometime in the early 90's. Although many newer versions of this machine are out, this continues to do a good job for us. The shop that calibrates it each year for it's annual check-up, says it holds very true and never needs adjusting. I still hear of machines that are older than ours that are still in service and still doing a great job. Good name brands are worth the extra cost in my opinion. The newer machines have much better resolution and if you plan to have this person outside an LCD screen is a nice option to consider. My old USN 50 is very hard to read (the screen) in full sunlight, I have to shade the screen to make it out.
Hope this will help you with your descision,
John Wright
The answer to the annual calibration checks is dependent upon the code you are working to. Been way too many years to answer what is required by anything but AWS D1.1 since that is all the work I do now. D1.1 spells out the checks that are required at every use, 8 hours and 40 hours. In my opinion, if you perform and document them, I see no need to send your machine to anyone else unless your machine is not operating correctly when you do the checks. My experience at the calibration lab I used to manage was that several companies would send me their machine once a year, usually without cables or transducers and want me to "calibrate" their machine for them. I performed the D1.1 dB verification at their request, but that was it. I always wondered who did the rest. If they did, I wondered why they sent me the flaw detector to do just the dB verification. Since I have been doing UT, I hear people "send their machine out once a year" and have never understood why. Yes, the checks take a few hours to perform, document and file away, but since it usually must be done much more often than annually, I can't justify the cost of sending the unit out to someone else.
Charles, responding to your inquiry, what equipment is your potential UT II used to using? Get him to recommend the equipment he is used to using or would like to use. Get the Level III involved also. Older equipment is readily available and less expensive, but I would also have to believe a liability if things start going wrong with the hardware as it may not be supported by the manufacturer anymore. When my management approached me with the need to put my UT hat back on after a decade of rust, I gave them the "cheap" option or, the newer equipment that cost more option. They chose to invest in current generation equipment of my choice (within reason). I chose the Panametrics Epoch 4 (on the web I found a demonstrator model used only by the sales rep at a good price) and feel I made a good choice. I also got the full compliment of calibration blocks (as mentioned above). I did not tell them they could get by with less so blocks were part of original equipment purchase. You will also need wedges for 45°, 60° and 70°. You will need a longitudinal transducer for scanning for laminations as well as the required shear wave transducer. A backup cable would be wise also.
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