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No manual entry between the MIC TRAC and your calibration software, GageMaker and MicroRidge show you how at IMTS 2026 (Booth 134612)
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Every gage sent out for calibration is a gage that’s unavailable, often for a week or more, while it sits in an outside lab’s queue. GageMaker’s MIC TRAC 3000 and MIC TRAC 4000 exist to eliminate that downtime. By bringing calibration in-house, quality departments can regain control of their own recall interval and stop paying a per-event fee for a recurring process. What an in-house calibration program doesn’t automatically fix is documenting the outcome of the calibration. Too often, a MIC TRAC’s DRO output stops at the print button, and someone still has to key the value into IndySoft, CERTIFI, or whatever calibration management system runs the rest of the QMS, and that manual transcription step becomes the nonconformance nobody catches until an auditor asks who transposed 0.0012″ as 0.0021″.
At IMTS 2026 (September 14–19, McCormick Place, Chicago), GageMaker is joining MicroRidge at Booth #134612 to show both halves of that story: why bringing calibration in-house with a MIC TRAC system pays for itself, and how MicroRidge’s wireless data collection keeps that in-house data flowing straight into whatever software your lab already runs with no manual entry step in between.
GageMaker’s MIC TRAC line covers the calibration bench end-to-end.
MIC TRAC 3000 is the gage-setting and part-measurement workhorse: sets or zeros hand-held gages, presets indicator-style gages, and measures parts. If features NIST-traceable accuracies from ±.0001″ to ±.0004″, depending on base unit range (12″ to 48″), and a standard resolution of .00005″. The optional Force-Lok feature holds a constant measurement force across operators, which matters directly for Gauge R&R performance on a shared calibration bench.
MIC TRAC 4000 is the premier in-house calibration platform: ring and plug gage inspection, a broader hand-held gage range, and tighter tolerances, ±.00005″ accuracy and .00001″ resolution on 1.00″ of travel across dual precision optical scales. It ships with CERTIFI, GageMaker’s calibration software, which adds a report writer and gage recall database on top of the digital readout function.
Both systems are exactly the kind of calibration infrastructure that IATF 16949, AS9100D, and 21 CFR Part 820 shops are running today. The gap isn’t measurement accuracy, It’s what happens to the reading after the DRO displays it.
A MIC TRAC DRO can send a reading over RS-232. That’s not new. What’s historically required to get that reading into a calibration management system is a serial cable run from the bench to a PC, or an operator reading the display and typing the value by hand.
Neither is a great answer for a working cal lab. A hardwired serial cable ties the DRO to a fixed PC location and adds another cable to manage around the bench. The RS-232 data also require specific programs that can pull data from a Com Port. Manual entry is worse: it’s a documented data integrity risk under ISO 9001 Clause 7.1.5, and it’s the exact failure mode auditors are trained to probe for in an IATF 16949 or AS9100D measurement systems review, because transcription error doesn’t show up as a trend until it’s already cost you a nonconformance.
MicroRidge’s MobileCollect RS-232 Remote is a USB-powered wireless transmitter that connects directly to the MIC TRAC DRO’s RS-232 output and transmits the reading wirelessly to a MobileCollect Base Receiver, which delivers it to whatever software is running on the connected computer. Because it reads straight off the DRO, it closes both gaps at once: no cable and no manual data entry for a shop reading straight off the display..
If the DRO’s RS-232 output isn’t active yet, it’s a menu setting, not a hardware change. On the DRO, enter INSTALLATION SETUP (passcode required) and select INTERFACE SETTINGS. Set the SERIAL PORT field to RS-232, then set BAUD RATE to 9600. On the following screen, set DATA BITS to 8, STOP BITS to 1, and PARITY to NONE, giving you 9600-N-8-1, a standard configuration the RS-232 Remote can match reliably during setup.
In a live deployment we supported this year, a calibration service provider integrating a MIC TRAC 3000 into IndySoft (their web-based calibration management platform) confirmed the pattern end to end:
{STX}{CR}{LF}, entered once into the Extended Setup Program and persistent on the unit from then on. Full walkthrough: RS-232 Remote – Configuring Read Switch Triggering.The same RS-232 Remote and Base architecture applies to a MIC TRAC 4000 running on comparable DRO electronics; the specific trigger command will depend on your unit’s configuration, and we’ll confirm and configure it as part of setup.
“Any software” isn’t a marketing line here, it’s a function of which Base Receiver sits between the RS-232 Remote and your computer:
Base | Output | Range | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
Wedge Base EVO | Keyboard Wedge or Serial (hardware slider) | 140 ft | Fixed cal bench into IndySoft, CERTIFI, Excel, or any application that accepts keyboard input; includes read switch input for foot/hand switch triggering |
RS-232 Base EVO | USB Serial + DB9 RS-232, simultaneous | 140 ft | PLC- or SCADA-integrated labs, RS-232-to-Ethernet networked systems, or dual-destination routing to two systems at once |
MicroBase EVO USB-C | Keyboard Wedge or Serial (software-selected) | 100 ft | Mobile or tablet-based calibration audits, roving inspection stations |
MicroBase EVO USB-A | Keyboard Wedge or Serial (software-selected) | 100 ft | Mobile or tablet-based calibration audits, roving inspection stations |
Match the base to how your downstream system actually accepts data. If your calibration management software accepts keyboard input, keyboard wedge output types the reading directly into the field, whether that’s IndySoft, CERTIFI, a web-based platform, or a spreadsheet. If it reads a COM port instead, USB Serial delivers the same data over a virtual port with no keyboard emulation involved. And if the downstream system needs native RS-232, a PLC, a DCS, or an RS-232-to-Ethernet converter that requires actual RS-232 signal levels rather than USB-emulated serial, the RS-232 Base EVO’s DB9 port covers that.
Automated wireless data collection eliminates manual transcription as a process step, which is the direct answer to the data integrity clauses your quality system already has to satisfy: ISO 9001 Clause 7.1.5, IATF 16949, AS9100D, and 21 CFR Part 820 Section 820.72. When a reading moves from the MIC TRAC DRO to your calibration management system without a manual entry step in between, you’ve removed operator-to-operator transcription variations and error as a nonconformance source, not just made data entry faster.
The same clauses apply to the calibration itself, not just the data transfer after it. ISO 9001 Clause 7.1.5.2 requires confirming the calibration status and traceability of your measuring equipment. Running that calibration in-house on a MIC TRAC system, with NIST-traceable results, and a recall interval set from your own gage history keeps that confirmation under your control instead of depending on an outside lab. Wireless data collection extends that same control to where the reading goes after the calibration is done.
GageMaker’s MIC TRAC 4000 will be running live at the MicroRidge Booth (#134612) throughout IMTS 2026, September 14–19 at McCormick Place, transmitting calibration data wirelessly in real time. Still sending gages out for calibration? See what an in-house MIC TRAC system does to your turnaround time and cost per calibration. Already running one and keying results in by hand? Stop by, we’ll show you exactly what changes.