Machinery Alignment

The Autocollimator/Telescope can be used for checking the accuracy of machine slides. To check the slides, mount a mirror to the machine table. The mirror is facing in the direction of travel. The autocollimator is aligned to the mirror, and the table is then moved either continuously or in discrete steps. Any error in the movement of the table shows up as the reticle image moving.

Machinery Alignment Diagram

Checking the parallelism of two tracks requires creating a second line of sight. This is accomplished with a Hollow periscope (LTHP™) incorporating a beamsplitter. This application would use telescope mode and the cooperative target.

Machinery Alignment Diagram 2

Another measurement for which the autocollimator can be used is checking surface plate flatness. This is done as a series of measurements moving a mounted mirror across the surface plate. Typically the mounted mirror is moved along the edges and center of the surface plate, along the length and across the width as well as along the diagonals. The tilt from these 8 scans are then plotted to depict the surface flatness.

Surface Place Diagram

The eight scan paths across a surface plate to check for flatness.