PLASTIMO COMPASSES: 40 YEARS ON THE RIGHT COURSE
 For
ultimate quality, Plastimo selects the best components in order to ensure that your
compass is a highly dependable instrument which will provide years of reliable service.
- Sapphire bearings are at the heart of every Plastimo compass. Their hardness
is a guarantee of the long life and precision of your compass.
- All Plastimo compasses feature an anti-vibration system, which ensures minimal
contact between the pivot and the sapphire cup; the "Vibration absorber" device
damps spinning caused by high-speed pounding and vibration
- A compass is a meticulously engineered instrument: all the "precious" components
are produced by Swiss clock-makers, famous worldwide for their legendary precision.
- The soft Viton® diaphragm or the semi-soft ultra-sound welded diaphragm
is fully waterproof and has an extreme expansion and retraction capacity: it
compensates for fluctuations in fluid volume caused by the differences in temperature
and atmospheric pressure.
- All plastic components -more specifically the material used for the dome-
are carefully selected to withstand shocks, UV-rays and harsh marine environment.
- The crystal transparency of the dome and the exceptional magnifying index
of the fluid contribute to the perfect legibility of the card.
To be allowed on your boat, a Plastimo compass must pass challenging quality
control tests
Needless to say, all Plastimo compasses comply with the regulation… but Plastimo's
stringent requirements are even more demanding: at every stage of production, each
compass is tracked, checked and thoroughly inspected, so that quality is never a
coincidence.
- Accelerated ageing tests, carried out in Plastimo laboratories, guarantee
that the dome and all other components are totally impervious to UV rays.
- Vibration tests used to simulate the vibrations generated by rough sea and
high-speed: the card must remain absolutely stable, whatever the vibration frequency.
While the regulation requires tests from 7 to 40 Hz, Plastimo challenges its
compasses to tests between 5 and 100 Hz.
- Temperature tests: Plastimo compasses are tested in heated and refrigerated
cabinets from +60° to -20°C (+140° to -4°F). Even in these extreme temperatures,
the compass must not leak or develop bubbles.
- Stability tests: when the card is deflected (40° or 90°), it must return
to its original position and settle within a predetermined time (called the
"half-period").
- Precision and accuracy are tested on each cardinal point. After a 95° deflection,
the card must return to its original position, within a 1° maximum allowance.
- Packaging protection: in order to guarantee optimum protection during transport,
we regularly drop test Plastimo packaged compasses from a 1 metre height to
a hard surface.
- Final quality tests: assembled, packaged and ready for shipment, Plastimo
compasses are once again inspected with a statistical sampling.
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Boat Outfitting
