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“Digital Tolerance,” by Associate Editor Jean Thilmany, includes quotes from Alex as an expert on the ASME Y14.41-2003 Standard on Digital Product Definition Data Practices. Alex served as chairman of the Y14.41 Committee and developed a course on Solid Model Tolerancing that is available as an onsite workshop through ETI.

Engineers and manufacturers can use the standard to communicate model tolerancing in an accepted way, Krulikowski said. “If one company shows model tolerances one way and another company another way, the user doesn’t know how to find them on the drawing, or how to interpret them and read them,” he said.

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In 1985, Alex Krulikowski began a small start up company that provided training and consulting in a little-known discipline called geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. Twenty-five years later, Effective Training Inc. has evolved into a corporation that provides GD&T training, products and services to organizations across the globe.

Alex and ETI would like to thank our clients for supporting us for the past 25 years. We look forward to providing you with GD&T products and services in the future. Please take advantage of our gift to you: 25% off selected products and services.

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The new ASME standard contains numerous changes that affect the specification and interpretation of geometric tolerancing. This course covers over sixty significant revisions, additions to, and deletions from the new standard. You’ll learn how the subject matter has been reorganized, and about new sections that have been created for profile, orientation, and form.

This online course can be purchased for 30, 60, or 90 day access.

For the month of June, we’re offering 20% off. Regular pricing starts at only $99 price for 30 days of course access. Register before June 30, 2010, to take advantage of this great offer.

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Ipad

More than a third of the respondents to our poll here and on Linkedin said they prefer the Ipad format for reading an electronically formatted textbook. Most agreed that the larger color screen would be better for reading the detailed charts and graphics that are usually a staple of the technological textbook. The second runner up is a PC or laptop, for the same reasons.

However, many people said they still prefer the old standby, paper.

Very few people thought the usual book readers would make the grade for textbook reading, and most even thought the PC or laptop would be too tiring for the eyes.

The verdict is still out regarding ETI’s plans for digitizing our new ISO reference guide and future textbooks. Thanks to all who helped out by answering our survey.

We’ve gone from print catalogs to the etinews.com website, which enjoys more than 10,000 visits per month. We’ve upgraded from post card marketing to email marketing. Our training has evolved from self-study workbooks to videos, computer-based, web-based, and live web training. Our instructor materials moved from power point slides to digital instructor kits. We’ve created digital forums, message boards and enewsletters.

All in all, we’ve enjoyed embracing the benefits of the digital age, while we’ve kept our company and products on the cutting edge.

It’s time to decide which e-format to use for our new reference guides and textbooks. Many of the new digital readers work well for novels, but not so well for textbooks with figures, graphics, and charts. If you already read ebooks, or if you’ve been planning to start, we’d like your opinion…

Until April 30, 2010, you can pre-order your copy of the ISO reference guide for only $71, a savings of $24 off the $95 introductory price. Estimated shipping date for the book is mid-May, 2010.

Act now to save money and receive a personally autographed copy of the book.

Alex Krulikowski’s ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Reference Guide

The four major benefits the reference guide provides to your company include:

Ease of Use
ISO standards are organized as single topic documents. This system often means that several ISO standards are required to obtain a complete understanding of a subject. For example, ISO 5458 is the standard on the position tolerance; however, ISO 1101 – Geometrical Tolerances, and ISO 5459 – Datum Specification are also required if one has any hope of understanding any position tolerance specification. In addition, some applications would require ISO 10578:1992 -  Projected Tolerance Zones, and ISO 10579-NR -  Non-rigid Parts to understand a position tolerance specification.

The ISO Reference Guide simplifies using ISO standards by collecting volumes of information into one book with clearly marked topics. Cross-referenced concepts, a glossary, a topical index, and hundreds of easy-to-understand tables and figures complete the explanation of ISO practices. This thorough guidebook explains basic ISO dimensioning concepts and conventions, geometrical tolerances, surface texture and imperfections, and even includes a symbol-by-symbol comparison of ASME Y14.5 and ISO specifications.

Time Savings
Alex and two other dimensional engineering experts spent over a year completing the research, comparison, and analysis of the ISO geometrical product specification (GPS) system. This collective effort, combined with Alex’s insights from his contributions to the ISO TC213 Committee, increased the ability to sort through seemingly conflicting or vague ISO requirements. In industry, this reference guide can save companies hundreds of hours searching for tolerancing information spread over dozens of ISO standards.

Cost Savings
Most companies require multiple copies of their applicable standards. Even if a company could operate with one set of ISO standards for the engineers and designers in a technical center, one set for the machinist and inspectors in the plant, and one set for managers and senior staff to support sales negotiations and contract reviews, the cost could easily be more than $1000 US for each set of standards. Alex Krulikowski’s ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Reference Guide provides an accurate and easy-to-read explanation of these requirements for around $100 US.

Comprehensive Understanding of ISO GPS System
Alex Krulikowski’s ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Reference Guide is written with the influence of nearly 70 ISO geometrical product specification (GPS) standards. More than 20 ISO GPS standards are directly covered in the text, with dozens more cited throughout the book. This reference guide provides the user with a comprehensive understanding of the ISO GPS system and prepares the reader to better understand the text of the ISO standards themselves.

The session provides an introduction to the ASME Y14.41:2003 standard on digital product data definition data practices. It introduces the fundamental concepts, methods, and terms defined in the standard and includes examples of tolerances displayed on 3D annotated models. The workshop takes place on Friday, April 30, 2010, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

Alex served for six years as chairman of the Y14.41 Committee on Solid Model Dimensioning, and is an expert on digital data practices and solid model tolerancing. ETI teaches a one-day onsite workshop that focuses on the ASME Y14.41 Standard.

Could you please let us know what could be the outcome of these two controls? What are the measurement techniques to measure parallelism at RFS condition?

Thank you.

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Thank you for the illustration with your question. Under ASME Y14.5M-1994 or 2009, these controls are very different. In the first illustration, concentricity has been used to relate a large outside diameter to a datum axis. In the second illustration, a parallelism has been used to relate a large outside diameter to a datum axis.

Concentricity is a location control that places the cylindrical tolerance zone uniformly about the datum axis. Once established, the tolerance zone remains about the datum axis while median points of the large outer diameter are evaluated for placement in relation to the cylindrical tolerance zone. The median points must be inside the tolerance zone for the part to be acceptable.

Parallelism is an orientation control. This means it limits the angle of one feature to another. The parallelism control may only be indicated to limit deviations from a parallel state. In the second illustration, the cylindrical tolerance zone is established parallel to the datum axis, but may be located anywhere in space, so long as it remains parallel to the datum axis. The axis of the actual mating envelope of the toleranced outer diameter must be parallel enough to remain within the cylindrical boundary.

Measurement techniques are nearly as varied as measurement tools themselves. The key is to know what the specification requires and that your measurement technique meets those requirements.

One accepted practice for measuring concentricity to the datum axis would be to place the dial indicators with their probes opposite each other. The dial indicators need to be centered about the datum feature simulator (a chuck or collet to simulate the axis of the datum feature). The separation of the dial indicators should be sufficient to allow the parts to assemble into the datum feature simulator with some depression of the probes (actual linear distance depends upon the size of the diameter to be measured and the stroke length of the dial indicator’s probe).

As the part sits in this fixture, each median point is accessed for acceptability. Remember, each actual local size generates a median point, and that tithe concentricity specification applies to the entire length, width, and depth of the feature to which it is indicated. You will have thousand of median points to access, which is why inspection planning is necessary when using concentricity.

An accepted practice for measuring parallelism of an axis RFS to a datum axis is to use a CMM. A CMM (coordinate measuring machine) will need to probe a sufficient number of points at numerous cross sections along the length of the cylinder to accurately calculate the axis of the actual mating envelope using its algorithms. Not all CMMs use the same algorithms, so detecting more points is a safeguard against the anomalies between different CMM software programs. Once the axis of the AME is established, a datum axis must be simulated using the same practice on the datum feature. The axis of the actual mating envelope is the datum axis where RFS is specified with a datum reference. Then a reference cylinder with a diameter equal to the tolerance specified (0.2 for your illustration) is set parallel to the datum axis. This tolerance zone may be moved, but not reoriented, to fit the axis of the actual mating envelope of the toleranced feature inside the tolerance zone. There will be only one value in this measurement, so measurement planning is a lot less critical than in the example of concentricity.

Remember, these are just examples of how the geometric characteristics specified could be measured, other practices are acceptable, as long as they meet the specified requirements.

Design safely,

Michael Adcock
ETI Dimensional Engineering Mentor