In this episode of the Machine Tech Video Blog, I hang out in my garage and talk about autocollimators optical instruments capable of measuring tiny angles of less than an arcsecond. I walk through the design of a simple autocollimator. And I use a fun little optics discovery kit to demonstrate some basic concepts in geometric optics. To purchase the kit for your own use, do an eBay search for "Optical Concave Convex Lens Prism Set Physical Optical Kit Laboratory Equipment".

For further reading on this topic, check out "Metrology with Autocollimators" by K. J. Hume. It's a fantastic book, albeit hard to find.

Production Notes: A big thanks to my students and everyone on YouTube and Instagram who encouraged me to start making long format videos again! The last year has been pretty rough, but I'm really excited to be creating content again. I am trying to streamline my production process so I can put out videos more quickly. I am also switching up the presentation style a little bit to be more casual and conversational. I hope you enjoy it! By the way, autocollimators are a technology related to the ultraprecision lathe I have been wanting to build for a while. Air bearings are another related technology, and I have restarted work on the videos for that series as well.

Juicy jams by Sun Hop Fat "Yègellé Tezeta": http://www.sunhopfat.com/

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For more about Laney College, check out the website: http://laney.edu/machine_technology/​

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