Even if you’re careful, the transducer will still wear. When it wears down to the point that the gage is having trouble making measurements, you can sometimes resurface it to extend its useful life.

Problems with worn transducers

When a transducer is pressed onto a rough surface, its delays will wear at a faster rate than the metal ring that surrounds them. As the transducer’s surface wears away, its efficiency will diminish because the couplant layer required to fill the gap between the transducer face and the object being measured becomes thicker. If the couplant layer becomes too thick, too little sound energy will be transmitted into the test object, and the transducer will appear to lose sensitivity. Another side effect is that your thickness gage may have difficulty performing a "Do ZERO". If either of these occur, it’s time to try resurfacing the transducer.

Resurfacing your transducer

Resurfacing can bring your transducer back to a ‘like new’ condition. The resurfacing process consists of abrading or "sanding" back the metal ring to a point where the entire contact surface of the transducer is flat. Just follow these 3 simple steps.

Visit Olympus-IMS.com to see all the steps to rehab your transducer.