Autocollimator

INTRODUCTION
Autocollimators are used to detect small misalignments. If a
parallel beam of light is projected from the collimating lens and if a plane reflector R is set up
normal to the direction of the beam, light will be reflected back along the same path and light
will be brought back to focus exactly at the position of the light source.

If the reflector is tilted through a small angle (Theta) the parallel beam will be reflected
through twice the angle (2?) and would be brought to focus in the same plane as the light source
but to one side of it. The image will not coincide but there will be a distance equal to focal
length times the angle of reflection (2f??) where f is the focal length of the collimating lens.
The distance between the reflector and the lens has no effect on the separation between the
source and the image. For high sensitivity, a long focal length is required. Although the distance
of the reflector does not effect the reading, if it is moved too far back, reflected rays will miss
the lens completely and no image will be formed.

PRODUCT RANGE AND SPECIFICATION

The Autocollimator is a single instrument combining the functions of a collimator and

a telescope. It detects small angular displacements of a mirror by means of its own collimated
light. The two reticles are positioned in the focal plane of the corrected objective lens, so that
the emerging beam is parallel. This usual configuration is known as infinity setting, i.e the
autocollimators are focused at infinity. When moving the reticles out of the focal plane of the
objective lens, the autocollimator can be focused at finite distances, and the beam becomes
divergent (producing a virtual image) or convergent (real image). This results in a focusing
autocollimator. The shape of the beam -convergent or divergent-depend on the direction in
which the reticles are moved.
1|Page Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, PESCE Mandya
Autocollimator

CONSTRUCTION

The main components of a standard autocollimator i.e. focused at infinity are:

• Tube mounted objective lens
• Beam splitter mount which contains two reticles
• Eyepiece
• Illumination device

The illuminated reticle projected over the beam splitter towards the lens is known as
collimator reticle. The second reticle placed in the focus of the eyepiece is the eyepiece reticle.
The beam splitter mount together with the eyepiece and the illumination device form a main
unit called: Autocollimator Head. A focusing autocollimator (finite distance setting) is
similarly built. The autocollimator head containing the two reticles is now mounted on a draw
out tube for focusing adjustment.

Figure: Principle of Autocollimator

OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Autocollimation is an optical technique of projecting an illuminated reticle to infinity

and receiving the reticle image after reflection on a flat mirror. The reflected image is brought
to the focus of the objective lens in which the eyepiece reticle is located. Thus the reflected
image of the collimator (illuminated) reticle and the eyepiece reticle can be simultaneously
observed.

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Autocollimator

When the collimated beam falls on a mirror which is perpendicular to beam axis, the light is
reflected along the same path. Between the reflected image and the eyepiece reticle which are
seen superimposed, no displacement occurs.
If the reflector is tilted by an angle α the reflected beam is deflected by twice that angle i.e. 2α.
The reflected image is now laterally displaced with respect to the eyepiece reticle.
The amount of this displacement „d“ is a function of the focal length of the autocollimator and
the tilt angle of the reflector: d=2αf. (α in radians).

The tilt angle can be ascertained with the formula: where „f“ is the effective focal length EFL
of the autocollimator. Since the „f“ is a constant of the autocollimator, the eyepiece reticle can
be graduated in angle units and the tilt angle can be directly read off.

TYPES OF AUTOCOLLIMATORS

Visual Autocollimators
Taylor Hobson has a range of visual dual axis autocollimators which use a graticule in
the eyepiece viewing system, with or without micrometers.
The TA60 Minidekkor uses a two axis graticule for general measuring duties in
workshop and toolroom. The standard minidekkor is provided with a dark field graticule which
allows clear images to be obtained from low reflectivity surfaces such as unsilverred glass and
from surfaces as small as 3mm in diameter.
The VA900 Microptic Dual Axis Autocollimator allows measurement of the two axes
using a combination of the instruments two axes graticule and single micrometer and is
provided as standard with a dark field graticule.
The TA51 MIcroptic Dual Axis Autocollimator is supplied as standard with a light field
graticule and has two micrometers, one in each axis of measurement. The micrometer is used
to move the eyepiece graticule across the field of view until it coincides with the reflected target
graticule image. The angular displacement of the reflector canthen be read directly from the
micrometer scale.

Digital Autocollimators
Using the latest CCD technology the new Ultra Dual Axis Autocollimator offers high
accuracy and stability over a range of applications. This wide range autocollimator comes with
a laser sighting aid for simple setup and a tablet PC with integrated software for measurement,
calculation and analysis of a range of features.

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Autocollimator

Measurement of straightness error using Autocollimator

Aim: To measure straightness error of a line drawn on surface table using autocollimator.

Principle: If light radiating from a source is placed at the principal focus of a collimating lens,
it will be projected as a parallel beam as shown in Figure 1 (a).If this parallel beam now strikes
a plane reflector which is normal to the optical axis, it will be reflected back along its own path
and refocused at the source. If the plane reflector is now tilted through some small angle δ, the
reflected parallel beam will turn through 2δ, and the image will be formed at the focal plane,
but at distance 2fδ from the origin as shown in Figure 1(b).

Figure 1: Principle of auto-collimation.

An autocollimator make use of this principle for its working in combination with a reflecting
mirror unit. In this a target cross wire in the focal plane of collimating lens is illuminated and
their image is projected. If a mirror is interposed vertically to the optical axis the image of the
cross line is reproduced with in the focal plane of the objective. This image is observed through
the measuring ocular.

Figure 2: Optical system of an autocollimator:

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Autocollimator

1. Eyepiece,
2. 2,4 prisms,
3. 3. Beam splitter,
4. 5. crosswire
5. 6. lamp,
6. 7. 8 reflectors
7. 9. Objective lens ,
8. 10. Plane of setting image
If the mirror is inclined by a small angle, the reflected beam will change its relation to the optical axis
by twice the amount of inclination .The measurement of this shift, as obtained by the ocular,
corresponds directly to the change in the inclination of the mirror. For measuring the distance of the
image displacement on the graticule, an eye piece micrometer serves to adjust the position of the
graticule to establish coincidence of the cross wire image with the reference mark in angular units.
The measuring ocular contains minute scale of 0-16 divisions and a rotatable second scale with 0-60
divisions in 0.5 intervals as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Reading of the measuring ocular.

Applications: Autocollimator in combination with a plane reflector serves for measurement

of extremely small angles and deviation from planeness. They are employed economically for
a) Testing of the precision surface plates and machined surfaces for straightness and flatness.
b) Checking of alignment, parallelism and squreness of machine tool ways, spindles, and
carriages
c) Checking the precision indexing equipment such as dividing heads, rotary tables, dividing
circles
d) Calibration of angle gauges, v blocks and precision polygons

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Autocollimator

Measurement of Straightness: According to ISO1101, the straightness of a single tolerance

feature is deemed to be correct when the distance of its individual points from a superimposed
ideal geometric form is equal or less than the tolerance. The orientation of the ideal line shall
be so chosen that the maximum distance between it and the actual surface of the feature
concerned is least possible. In other words, the total maximum distance between the individual
points and an ideal line is the straightness error. The principle employed for measuring
straightness using autocollimator is illustrated in figure 4. The reflecting mirror is moved step
by step from its initial position at one end of the table to successive positions along the surface
line with a span equal to the distance between two longitudinal foots of the reflector (100 mm)
Any lack of straightness of the line along the table in the vertical plane, will cause the reflector
mirror to tilt slightly which will be measured by autocollimator.

Figure 4: Measurement of straightness using an autocollimator and reflecting mirror.

Procedure:
1) Position the reflector at the nearest position of the autocollimator till the reflected image of
the target cross line is near the center of the field of view of autocollimator eye piece
2) Move the reflector to the other end of the table and check that the reflected image is still
with in the range of measurement. This procedure will ensure that reflections at the
intermediate positions will be with in the field of view. A straight edge or scale should now be
set down on the bed to ensure that the reflector is stepped along it in a straight line.
3) Return the reflector carriage to the initial position to begin the series of reading. Take first
autocollimator reading and record it

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Autocollimator

4) Move the carriage to the second position and take another reading. Continue this until the
reflector is at the end.
5) Repeat the readings as the reflector is moved in the reverse direction, towards the
autocollimator. Take average of the forward and reverse readings at each position as the
measurement result. These represent the angular positions of the reflector, in seconds relative
to the optical axis of the auto collimator at each of its positions along the table.

Computation: The method of tabulation of the result is shown in tabular

column shown in Table 1.The column 1 of the Table 1 gives the position of the plane reflector
at 100 mm intervals along the table. Column 2 gives the mean reading of autocollimator in the
reverse and forward direction to the nearest second. Column 3 gives the differences of each
reading from the first. In column 4 these differences are converted in to the corresponding
linear ‘rise or fall’ per 100 mm base.
1 second = 1/3600 x Π/180 x 100,000 µm = 0.5 µm. Add a 0 at the top of the column to
represent the height of the first feet of the base (regarded as datum).Column 5 gives the amount
by which the height of the support feet of the reflector above the datum line drawn through the
first position. That is values of column 5 is obtained by successively adding, algebraically,the
values in column 4.This is necessary because the individual heights obtained in column 4 are
the heights of the back feet of the support relative to the front feet in a given position and not
relative to the datum. The total rise in the surface of the table in reading 6 from the datum along
the line is 24µm.When these values are plotted the graph obtained is shown in Figure 5.In this
graph an ideal straight line is passed through the end points. In graph 7 which shows
straightness error, this line has been used as the axis. This total rise is proportioned over the 6
readings taken (i.e. increments of 24/6=4 µm. These values (6th column) are subtracted from
the values in the 5th column to give the errors (7th column) in the table from a straight line
joining the first and last points with in which the series of reading obtained. (i.e. .it is as though
a n ideal surface line were laid along the table’s vertical profile and touching the end points of
the test surface when they are in horizontal plane). The table surface is thus convex and concave
along its length relative to the datum line joining its end point. The raise or fall of the test
surfaces vertical profile relative to the ideal sightline would be the values in column 7. The
straightness error along the line is the maximum error – minimum error = (3 - (- 4) = 7µm.

7|Page Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, PESCE Mandya

Autocollimator

Table1: Computation of straightness error.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Position Autocollimator Difference Rise or fall Cumulative Adjustment to Error
mean reading from first over 100 rise or fall bring both
reading mm base ends to zero
length
mm Min Sec Seconds µm µm µm µm
0 0 0 0 0
0-100 8’ 30’’ 0 0 0 -4 -4
100-200 8’ 42’’ 12 6 6 -8 -2
200-300 8’ 36’’ 6 3 9 -12 -3
300-400 8’ 50’’ 20 10 19 -16 3
400-500 8’ 32’’ 2 1 20 -20 0
500-600 8’ 38’’ 8 4 24 -24 0

30

25

Cumulative rise
20
or fall in µm

15

10 Straightness error
Adjustment required
5

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Reflector position in mm

8|Page Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, PESCE Mandya

Autocollimator

Figure 6: Straightness error using end point method

Straightness error

Figure 7: Graph showing strightness error.

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Autocollimator

Applications in Optical Industry

 Testing of Parallelism With Collimator And Autocollimator
 Testing of Opaque Wedges and Plane Parallel Plates
 Testing of Transparent Wedges — Evaluation by Double Cross
 Testing of Transparent Wedges — Evaluation by Reference Mirror
 Testing of Transparent Wedges — Simultaneous Determination of Wedge Angle and
Refractive Index Testing of Transparent Wedges — Evaluation by Angular Deviation
 Testing of the 90_ angle of a 90_-Glass Prism in double pass
 Testing 45_ Angles of 90_-Glass Prism
 Testing of the 90_ angle of a 90_-Glass Prism in single pass
 Relative Measurement of Angular Error of Prisms
 Testing of Camera Objectives
 Radius Measurement of Concave Spherical Surfaces
 Radius Measurement of Convex Spherical Surfaces
 Measurement of Focal Length of Lenses and Optical Systems
 Measurement of the Back Focal of Lenses and Optical System
 Measurement of the Centration Error of Spherical Surfaces
 Measurement of Centration Error of Lenses in Transmission using Collimator and
Telescope
 Measurement of Centration Error of Lenses in Transmission using Autocollimator and
Mirror
 Flatness Testing of Rough Surfaces using Collimator and Telescope
 Flatness Testing of Reflecting Surfaces using an Autocollimator
 sting of Opaque Wedges and Double-Sided Mirrors

Applications in Mechanical Engineering

 Measurement of Parallelism of Two Surfaces

 Measurement of Perpendicularity of Two Surfaces.
 Parallel Setting of rolls
 Pitch and Yaw Measurement of Slides
 Measurement of Roll-Angle
 Straightness Measurement
 Flatness Measurement
 Squareness Measurement between a Vertical Spindle and a Machine Bed
 Parallelism Measurement of Cylindrical Bore Holes
 Testing of Accuracy of Rotary Tables and Index Tables

10 | P a g e Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, PESCE Mandya