Articles related to reading engineering drawings and interpreting GD&T on the prints
Jason explains how to tell at a glance whether a drawing has inch or metric dimensions in this Question Line video.
"Why isn’t Maximum Material Condition always just the largest size the feature can be?” Jason answers our student's question and gives us a delicious way to remember the MMC state in this Question Line Video.
Is it possible to control multiple identical profiles by including a multiplier with the feature control frame? In the video below, Jason reviews a drawing with 2 irregularly shaped identical cutouts to answer this question.
In this question line video, we explain when to use the diameter symbol in a feature control frame. The examples below illustrate the unique tolerance zones shapes and sizes for position, perpendicularity, straightness, runout, and cylindricity controls.
Surface finish and flatness both limit the amount of variation in a surface – one at the micro level and one at the macro level. Is it permissible to call out both on the same surface?
In our video question line, our GD&T instructors answer questions submitted by our students. In this video, we answer the question, “Is the Virtual Condition the same as the Tolerance Zone?”
A chamfer is an edge feature commonly seen on part drawings, and consists of an angled cut on an internal or external edge of a part.
Fillets and rounds are both radial edge features, with fillets applied to internal edges and rounds applied to external edges.
“Break all sharp edges and remove all burrs,” is a common drawing note used to notify the manufacturer that the sharp edges and burrs produced by the manufacturing process must be removed from the part.
Knurling is a process used to create a pattern on the surface of a material by displacing or deforming the surface.
To understand the thread requirements on your drawing, you need to know common standard thread information. In this article, we will be discussing thread diameters, threads per inch and thread pitch.
Precision tops the list of priorities in CNC machining since being off by a few thousandths is enough to cause serious errors. While no machine yields a 100% accuracy rate, specific approaches have been undertaken to manufacture components efficiently and economically.
A keyed joint is used to ensure orientation or restrict rotational movement between parts, as in the case of joining a shaft with a coupling. We discuss how a keyed joint is made and inspected in this article.
In this article, we outline the basic process for adding GD&T to your drawing using SolidWorks. The accompanying video goes into full detail, walking through the entire process for an example drawing.
Some parts, such as those made of rubber or sheet metal, may fail inspection due to deformation from gravity if left in their "free state." This can be prevented by invoking a "restrained state."
Though many people refer to the GD&T Position symbol as "True Position," they are not the same thing. Read on to learn the difference between Position and True Position and how they work together to define the position of a feature.
We get a lot of questions from students asking why they would want to use Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) over coordinate dimensions. Some believe that using GD&T will result in tighter tolerances and increase...
What is a Datum Reference Frame? Datums are used in Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing drawings to create a reference system for inspecting a manufactured part. This reference system is called a Datum Reference Frame (DRF)....