6.

SINE BAR
THEORY

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Sine bar is a precision instrument always used along with slip gauges as a device for the
measurement of angle or angle setting very precisely. They are used to:
• Measure angle very accurately.
• Locate the work piece to given angle with very high precision.

• Sine bars are made from high carbon, high chromium, and corrosion resistant steel.
• The surfaces are highly hardened, ground, lapped and stabilized.
• In sine bar, two cylinders of equal diameter is attached at the ends with its axes
mutually parallel to each other.
• Two cylinders are also equal distance from the upper surface of the sine bar. The
upper surface has high degree of flatness up to 0.001 mm for 100 mm length and is
perfectly parallel to the axis joining the centres of the two cylinders.

• Mostly the distance between the axes of two cylinders of same diameter is fixed at a
distance L and is called as the length of the bar. The sine bar is specified with this
distance. So L is the centre to centre distance between the two cylinders which is
generally 100mm, 200mm or 300mm and so on.
• The working surfaces of the rollers are finished to 0.2μm Ra value.
• The cylindrical holes are provided to reduce the weight of the sine bar and also to
facilitate handling.
• The sine bar by itself is not a complete measuring instrument. Accessories such as a
surface plate, slip gauges, etc are needed to accomplish the measurement process.

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WORKING PRINCIPLE OF SINE BAR

The working of sine bar is based on trigonometry principle. To measure the angle of the specimen,
one roller of the sine bar is placed on the surface plate and another one roller is placed over the
surface of slip gauges. Now, ‘h’ be the height of the slip gauges and ‘L’ be the distance between
roller canters, then the angle is calculated as

ACCURACY REQUIREMENTS OF SINE BAR

The accuracy of sine bar depends on the following constructional features:

• The rollers must have equal diameter and equal cylinder.
• The rollers should be placed parallel to each other and also to upper face.
• The accurate center to center of rollers must be known.
• The top surface of the bar must be flat with high degree of accuracy.

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USE OF SINE BAR

Sine bars are used for:

• Locating any work to a given angle.
• To check unknown angle.
• Measurement of unknown angles for heavier components

LOCATING ANY WORK TO A GIVEN ANGLE

To set at a given angle ‘θ’, first ‘h’ of the slip gauge is calculated by the formula Sin θ =h/L.
After calculating the height ‘h’, the required height ‘h’ is made by suitable slip gauge
combinations. After this, one of the roller is placed on the surface plate and other one is
placed on the top of the slip gauges combination as shown in above figure.

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TO CHECK UNKNOWN ANGLE

Before checking the unknown angle of the specimen, the angle of the given specimen is found
approximately by bevel protector. Then the sine bar is set at angle of θ and clamped on the
angle plate. Now the work piece is placed on the sine bar and the dial indicator is set at one
end of the work and it’s moved across the work piece and deviations are noted. Slip gauge is
adjusted so that the dial indicator reads zero throughout the work piece.

MEASUREMENT OF UNKNOWN ANGLES FOR HEAVIER COMPONENTS

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 • For heavy components, the sine bar is mounted on the work piece at inverted position
(i.e. the rollers are placed in such a way that the rollers should face upward).
• The heights of the rollers are measured on the Vernier height gauge.
• The dial test indicator is mounted on the Vernier height gauges to ensure constant
measuring pressure.
• Now, the sine angle is calculated as the difference between two Vernier height gauge
readings divided by center distance of sine bar rollers.

LIMITATIONS OF SINE BARS

• Sine bars are fairly reliable for angles less than 15 0.

• It is physically difficult to hold in position.
• Slight errors in sine bar cause larger angular error.
• The size of parts to be inspected by sine bar is limited.

SOURCES OF ERROR IN SINE BAR

The different sources of errors are listed below:

• Error in distance between roller centers

• Error in slip gauge combination.
• Error in equality of size of rollers and cylindricity.
• Error in flatness of the upper surface of sine bar
• Error in parallelism of roller axes with each other.

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