Calibration And Use Of Optical Straightedges In The Metrology Of Precision Machines

W. Tyler Estler

doi:10.1117/12.7973492

1 June 1985 Calibration And Use Of Optical Straightedges In The Metrology Of Precision Machines

W. Tyler Estler

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 24, Issue 3, 243372 (June 1985). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7973492

Abstract

We describe techniques used to measure straightness errors of precision machines. These measurements employ a dimensionally stable mechanical reference surface that is sampled with a laser interferometer-hence the term optical straightedge. The figure error of the reference surface and the straightness error motion of a coordinate measuring machine carriage in a horizontal plane are each measured with an estimated accuracy of 0.5 un. (13 nm) over 40 in. (1 m) of travel. When measuring straightness error in a vertical plane, the results are complicated by deformation of the reference surface by gravitational forces. We use a computational algorithm, based upon simple beam theory, to correct straightness data for this distortion. While inadequate for accuracies better than about 2 un. (50 nm), we believe that the algorithm, which may be tested using an uncalibrated straightedge, may be improved using finite-element calculations of gravitational sag.

Citation Download Citation

W. Tyler Estler "Calibration And Use Of Optical Straightedges In The Metrology Of Precision Machines," Optical Engineering 24(3), 243372 (1 June 1985). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7973492

Published: 1 June 1985

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