Important issues in tolerance design of mechanical assemblies. Part 2: Tolerance synthesis

Abstract

Tolerance design has become a very sensitive and important issue in product and process development because of increasing demand for quality products and the growing requirements for automation in manufacturing. It is an interactive process between design and manufacturing decision making. A systematic approach to tolerance design involves repeated computation following two alternate approaches, tolerance analysis and tolerance synthesis. A detailed discussion on tolerance analysis has been presented in Part 1 of this paper. The focus of this part of the paper is on tolerance synthesis, i.e. the allocation of assembly tolerance among the individual dimensions. A brief discussion on the relevant background terminology has been presented. Details of research carried out and theories developed over the decades on different aspects of tolerance synthesis have been discussed.