A machine vision method for accurately measuring the diameters of cylindrical shafts is presented. Perspective projection and the geometrical features of cylindrical shafts are modeled in order to enable accurate measurement of shaft diameters. Some of the model parameters are determined using a shaft of known diameter. The camera model itself includes radial and tangential distortions terms. Experiments were used to measure the accuracy of the proposed method and the effect of the position of the camera relative to the shaft, as well as other factors.