Improved parallelism measurement using a laser interferometer

An improved manner of obtaining parallelism measurements of two straight bars in a plane is discussed. A comparison is made of the method of using dial indicators and a slider with that of using a laser interferometer, cable and pulley system, and microcomputer. Possible errors which system may generate and solutions to help minimize them are presented. The procedure presented will help to minimize errors due to the operator, such as reading between the lines on an indicator and hand-applied pressure. These methods allow improved parallelism resolution over the obtainable with an indicator.<
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