Or is it the elbow?
How can I tell if it is the shoulder, elbow or wrist which is most out of calibration?
I am attempting to write with a crayon (rios + ssc-32 +L6) and the effector bobs around, well to be precise Y axis varies from +3 to -1. Pointers to documentation would be welcomed, or should I create and publish a procedure?
Are you thinking the servo(s) are out of calibration, mechnical play or the geometry of your arm doesn’t match the software?
Are you using RIOS? What servos are you using?
The proper terminology is, 0-base rotate, 1-shoulder, 2-elbow, 3-wrist, 4-gripper, 5-wrist rotate (if used). The only way to fix the calibration is to do the calibration. It’s not a difficult task. You simply set the min and max positions for each servo. If you are having trouble with this please refer to the manual for RIOS and tell us what step is causing problems. The level of the help you receive here is praportional to the details you provide in your help request. 
What are the recommendations for calibrations without using RIOS?
Are the RIOS calibration saved somewhere so they can be read by an external program (like C++)?
Calibrating the SSC-32 for servos is done with the servo offset command. Send the servo 1.5mS pulses and see how far off the output shaft is from centered. Then move it to a position where the servo is perfectly centered. subtract this mount from the 1.5mS and that is the servo offset. Then send the SSC-32 the Position Offset command using this correction value. Then this offset value is automatically applied to the output pulse for the channel the servo is connected to. For example…
If the correction value for servo 1 is 1.45ms then 1.45 - 1.50 = -.05
So the position offset command would look like this #1 po-05
After sending that command the servo will be perfectly centered when commanded to 1.5mS like this #1 p1500.
RIOS currently does a two point calibration. You set the min and max positions and the software does the corrections for you. This information is in a file you name when you save the calibration. The file is a standard text file. The next release will be a 3 point calibration, min, max and center. Hope this helps…
Thanks a lot for your answer Jim!
Does this mean that the offset is actually STORED in the hardware?
If not, I suppose my C program will have to look in this calibration file each time I move the arm.
No, it’s not stored on the SSC-32.
And yes, you would have to load a configuration of some kind, everytime you turn it on.