Gauge Block Stack Builder

Gauge blocks (also spelled gage blocks): the stack builder uses two documented common set compositions: an 81-piece inch set (0.1001–0.1009, 0.101–0.149, 0.050–0.950, and 1–4 in) and an 88-piece metric 1 mm-base set (1.0005, 1.001–1.009, 1.01–1.49, 0.5–9.5, and 10–100 mm). The search is exhaustive: it always finds an exact combination when one exists, with the fewest blocks (ties go to larger blocks, as a machinist would pick), and otherwise returns the nearest height the set can build. Wear blocks, when enabled, add a sacrificial block at each end of the stack and the search builds the remainder. Verify the contents and calibrated deviations of your actual set before precision inspection. For precision inspection, use the calibrated deviations for your actual blocks rather than nominal sizes alone.

Sine bars: stack height = roll-centre length × sin(angle). In reverse, angle = asin(stack height ÷ roll-centre length). The calculator also finds a real block combination near the theoretical height and reports the angle that combination actually produces, in degrees-minutes-seconds and decimal degrees, with the error in arc-seconds. The same calculation works for a sine plate, sine vise or sine block: enter the distance between its roll centres. When the required height is thinner than the thinnest block, it uses the difference method: a stack under each roll, with the angle set by the difference between them.

Shop practice: keep blocks and reference surfaces clean, use as few blocks as practical, wring them correctly, and allow precision equipment to stabilize thermally. Sine-bar setups become increasingly sensitive to height error at steep angles; above 45° the calculator also works out the complementary-angle setup (90° − θ, measured from the part's adjacent face), which is far less sensitive to stack error.