News

Picture of an NCAT that wasn't cleaned by another service company 3 weeks prior.

5 Simple Questions to Ask Before You Choose a Service Company

When it comes to choosing a service company for your lab, knowing that they are capable of providing good results during calibrations can be the difference between full and limited production.  With so many options available, it’s important to understand what to look for when making your choice. This article will highlight the 5 key …

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Does Your NCAT Pass the Lift Test?

The lift test is a powerful tool that you can use to keep your NCAT’s burn time short. It can tell you if you have faulty components, and can even impact your results. Our technicians use this test to determine what they need to do when they start service, and often it’s the first thing …

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Your NCAT Basket Could Be Causing Your Long Burn Times

Many of you might remember when the square-designed NCAT baskets were the only baskets available. This was before the angled cornered baskets became the standard thanks to some clever marketing and adoption of the asphalt industry.  Well, in true Gordon Technical fashion, we have revisited the original design, and are surprised by the results. Warping …

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NCAT Heating Element

Your NCAT heating elements might not be working properly

You don’t need to know the inner workings of an NCAT ignition furnace to understand how it works. You fill a basket with material, you put that basket into the NCAT, you press start and 20-40 minutes later (hopefully) you pull out the aggregate with all the liquid burnt off. But what do you do …

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Rice setup with an AutoRice

The Instrotek AutoRice™ VS The Way It’s Always Been Done

There are two camps on how the Rice (or Maximum Specific Gravity) test needs to be done in order to be correct. One is team Autorice, who love that the unit performs the entire test automatically, and the Other is team “This is the way we’ve always done it”. “The way we’ve always done it” …

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Gordon NCAT Calibrations can produce results that look like this furnace

Gordon NCAT Calibration, the 1 thing you can do to save your NCAT

NCAT Calibration A Gordon NCAT Calibration is one of the most reliable calibrations you can get for your lab. It’s not because we think we’re the best at them ( Although we probably are), but because we go above and beyond when it comes to doing our homework. How the NCAT was made The NCAT …

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refurished NCAT

New Series, Old Series, Which NCAT Do I Have?

If you have ever called in for maintenance, you’ve been asked this question. Do you know which series you have? It’s your typical deer in a headlights situation. There’s always an audible silence before the caller ends up saying, “no” and “how can I find out”? Today, we are going to tell you the difference …

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1200 RiceVac full image straight on

Why You Destroy Your Vacuum Pump and 1 way to fix it.

The T209 rice test is the worst possible situation for a vacuum pump. By design, vacuum pumps need to be free of contaminants and never EVER allow water in. So what do we do? We put a container of water and hook it up in line with our pumps. Because we don’t have time to …

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Good NCAT Maintenance: The 10 Simple Commandments, Part 1

“NCAT maintenance”, Mike said matter of factly. “What?” I said because his statement came out of nowhere. “Do a blog on NCAT Maintenance, and call it something cool” Mike was looking at me expecting me to completely understand what was going on. “ Call it the 10 commandments of NCAT Maintenance or something like that.” …

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