c
 


 

Ô

ÚY Take roll
ÚY cecture on Measurements, Precision, Accuracy

À

ÚY Pro|Engineer lab3urawings can be maue to high uegree of accuracyͶ+/- 0.001͟
ÚY To prouuce parts of equivalent accuracy we must be able to measure accurately
ÚY Methous of measurement (length)
MY VulerͶuivisions to 1/32 inch or 1 mm. What is the best accuracy you can achieve?
ÿY When reporting uata taken using a ruler, how uo you represent the uatapoints?
ÚY
MY aliper
ÿY -igitalͶreauout shows measurements to 0.1 mm
ÿY DernierͶreauout shows measurements to 0.05 mmͶis it more accurate?
ÿY -ialͶgenerally reau to 0.1 mm
MY MicrometerͶmechanical
ÿY Veauing micrometersͶinch versus metric
MY Micrometer ʹlaser
MY ‰urface plates
MY  auge blocks
ÚY What causes inaccuracy in measurement?
MY The instrumentͶsources (quality, temperature, age or abuse)
MY The object being measureu (irregular shape, uirt, temperature)
MY The operator (parallax, poor technique, bau eyesight, fuuging)
MY Vanuom versus systematic error
MY Accuracy versus precision

Overcoming measurement error

MY Multiple measurements, averagingͶwhy?
MY ünuer what circumstances will multiple measurements improve accuracy?
MY ünuer what circumstances will multiple measurements not improve accuracy?
MY an making more measurements improve precision?

ÚY alculation of the mean

ÚY alculation of the variance


„
 





 

Vuler grauuateu in
mm on one siue,
32nus of an inch on
the other.

Measuring bar coue.

Heau is towaru the
left to align the zero
mark with the
beginning of the bar
coueͶkinu of.
Measuring bar coue. Heau is towaru right to reau length of coue as 3.1 cm = 31 mm.
Note that left enu of ruler now looks misaligneu uue to parallax error causeu by the
thickness of the ruler.
Digital caliper
measuring a Lego gear.
Note that measurement
will depend on the
rotation of the gear,
whether it is ͞flat͟ in
the caliper jaws, and
how tightly the caliper
squeezes the gear.

Vernier caliper
measuring the same
Lego gear. Note the
difference in
measurement between
this caliper and the
digital one.
Caliper used to measure inside diameter of small object. Reading is 3/8 inch since the ͞0͟ line on the
sliding jaw aligns exactly with the 3/8 inch line on the body of the caliper.
Same pen barrel, measured in millimeters. The zero on the slider is between 9mm and 10mm. Look
along the slider at the vernier scale and see that the 6.5 mark seems to line up with a mark on the body.
The reading is therefore 9.65 mm.
Battery measured in inches. The ͞0͟ line on the sliding jaw is between 1-3/4 and 1-13/16 inches. The
4/128 looks like it lines up with the 2.0͟ line on the body. The reading is therefore 1-3/4͟ + 4/128͟ = 1-
3/4 + 1/32 = 1-25/32͟. Perhaps easier in decimals, it would be 1.75͟ + 0.03125͟ = 1.781͟. How would
you round this number?

The vernier caliper can also be used as a

depth gauge. Note the tang on the end
of the slider that can be inserted into
blind holes like the pen cap.
 The depth appears to be
exactly 1-13/16͟. Not very
interesting.

This is at a
little bit of
an angle,
but clearly
the ͞0͟ line
of the
slider is
between
46mm and
47mm. It͛s
hard to see
with these
fat lines,
but the
vernier
lines for
3.0, 3.5
and 4.0 all
seem to
line up
pretty
well, so
choose the middle oneͶ3.5. Therefore the reading is 46.35 mm
Trauitional micrometers. Top = outsiue micrometer, center = insiue micrometer, bottom = uepth
„icrometer showing a measurement of 0.276 inch. This type micrometer is accurate to about 0.0005͟.
Note that the space between 0͟ and 0.1͟ is broken into 4 increments and the vernier (the turning part)
has 25 divisions. So each of the small lines between 0,1,2, etc. is 0.025͟, and each line on the vernier is
0.001͟. Here we have 0.2͟ + 3x0.025͟ + 0.001͟ = 0.276͟.

„etric micrometer showing a measurement of 5.78 mm. The lines above center are millimeters. Below
the centerline are 0.5mm divisions, and the vernier has 50 lines, making each line 0.01mm. So we have 5
mm + 0.5mm + 0.28mm = 5.78 mm. This micrometer is accurate to about 0.005 mm, since you could
͞eyeball͟ to about ½ of a vernier line.
Inch micrometer showing a reading of 0.154͟. The 0.05͟ line is just visible to the left of the vernierͶplus
you can see that the vernier is just about at 4, which is a low number. This tells you that you are slightly
over the 0.05͟ line, not slightly under it. The knurled lever can be used to lock the micrometer in
position.
Inch micrometer showing 0.169͟. The 0.15͟ line is visible, but not the 0.175 line. So we have 0.150͟ +
the 0.019͟ showing on the vernier.
Inch micrometer showing 0.286͟. The 0.275͟ line is visible to the left of the vernier, plus 0.011͟ on the
vernier itself = 0.286͟
Optical micrometer uses
CCD ͞camera͟ to measure
object size to within
2 x 10-6 m = 0.002 mm

Can take 2400

samples/second