Tolerances and Fits

Deviations from the exact dimensions are inavoidable due to the nature
of manufacturing processes. These deviations must not be so large that
the part is useless. Designer specifies upper and lower limits to the
dimensions
Tolerance is the difference between the maximum and
minimum size limits of a part:

d  d max  d min
dmin

dmax Too tight tolerance  High manufacturing cost

d Too large tolerance Part may not function as expected

Dr. Serkan Dağ

Fits

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Tolerances
Application, Process Tolerance (m)

Slip blocks, reference gages 1-2

High quality gages, plus gages 2-3

Good quality gages, gap gages 3-5

Fits produced by lapping 4-10

Ball bearings, Diamond or fine boring, fine grinding 5-12
Grinding, fine honing 6-20

High quality turning, broaching 12-35

Center lathe turning and boring, reaming 14-50

Horizontal or vertical boring machine 30-80

Milling, slotting, planing, metal rolling or extrusion 50-100

Drilling, rough turning and boring, precision tubing 70-140

Light press work, tube drawing 120-240

Press work, tube rolling 150-500
Die casting or molding, rubber moulding 250-1000

Stamping 400-1400
Sand casting, flame cutting 500-2000

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Basic Systems for Fit Specification

In order to standardize dimensioning of fits, two basic systems are used

1) Basic Hole System (BHS)

Minimum hole diameter is taken as the basis. Lower deviation for the
hole is equal to zero. Dmax is prescribed according to the specified
tolerance.
2) Basic Shaft System (BSS)
Maximum shaft diameter is taken as the basis. Upper deviation for the
Shaft is equal to zero. dmin is prescribed according to the specified
tolerance.

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Basic Systems for Fit Specification
tolerance zone

Fund. Dev.
BHS BSS

Fund. Dev.
tolerance zone
basic size
hole
hole basic size

shaft
shaft
tolerance zone
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 International Tolerance Grade Numbers

• In order to establish a preferred fit we need

1) The magnitude of the tolerance zone for the shaft and the hole
2) Fundamental deviation for the shaft (in BHS)
Fundamental deviation for the hole (in BSS)
• International tolerance grade numbers (IT numbers) designate groups of
tolerances such that tolerances for a particular IT number have the same
relative level of accuracy but vary depending on the basic size.
• The magnitude of the tolerance zone is the variation in part size. The
tolerance zones are specified in international tolerance grade numbers
called IT numbers.
• These numbers range from IT0 to IT16. The smaller grade numbers specify
a smaller tolerance zone.
• IT numbers are given in Tables A-11 and A-13 in the textbook.

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 International Tolerance Grade Numbers

Application,Process Tolerance (m) IT Grade

Slip blocks, reference gages 1-2 1
High quality gages, plus gages 2-3 2
Good quality gages, gap gages 3-5 3
Fits produced by lapping 4-10 4
Ball bearings, Diomand or fine boring, fine grinding 5-12 5
Grinding, fine honing 6-20 6
High quality turning, broaching 12-35 7
Center lathe turning and boring, reaming 14-50 8
Horizontal or vertical boring machine 30-80 9

Milling, slotting, planing, metal rolling or extrusion 50-100 10

Drilling, rough turning and boring, precision tubing 70-140 11
Light press work, tube drawing 120-240 12
Press work, tube rolling 150-500 13
Die casting or molding, rubber moulding 250-1000 14
Stamping 400-1400 15
Sand casting, flame cutting 500-2000 16
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 International Tolerance Grade Numbers

Example: A shaft of nominal diameter 25 mm is going to be

manufactured.
IT grade is required to be IT7. Determine the tolerance on the shaft.
Use Table A-11 (tolerance grades, metric series)
Basic size  18-30 (Consider the 1st appearance)
Ts  d  d max  d min  0.021 mm

• Tables can be used for both shafts and the holes.

• Tolerance on a shaft or a hole can be calculated by using
the formulas provided by ISO.

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Tolerance Designation (ISO R286)

Tolerance on a shaft or a hole can also be calculated by using the formulas

provided by ISO.
T  K i
where,
T is the tolerance (in m)
i  0.453 D  0.001D (unit tolerance, in m)

D  D1 D2 (D1 and D2 are the nominal sizes marking the beginning and
the end of a range of sizes, in mm)

K  101.6   ITn  IT 6 

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 International Tolerance Grade Numbers

Example: Consider the previous example (D = 25 mm and IT grade of

IT7) and calculate the tolerance on the shaft using the formulas given in
ISO standards.
i  0.453 D  0.001D
Note: When the nominal sized marking the beginning and end of a range of
sizes are not available, nominal size can be directly used to calculate i.

i = 1.341 m
K  101.6   7 6   16
Ts  K  i  21.45 m  0.021 mm

Same result is obtained using Table A-11

Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Fit Types

There are three types of fits

a) Clearence Fits b) Interference Fits c) Transition Fits
Clearence Fits
The mating parts have such upper and lower limits that a clearence always
results when the mating parts are assembled.

hole d max  25.95 mm

Cmin Ts  0.02 mm
d min  25.93 mm

Dmax  26.03 mm
Th  0.03 mm
Dmin  26.00 mm
shaft
Allowance of the fit corresponds to maximum material condition (Cmin).
Allowance can be calculated by considering tightest fit.
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Fit Types

There are three types of fits

a) Clearence Fits b) Interference Fits c) Transition Fits
Interference Fits
The mating parts have such limits that the lowest shaft diameter is larger than the
largest hole diameter.

d max  25.04 mm
shaft Ts  0.02 mm
hole d min  25.02 mm
I max Dmax  25.01 mm
Th  0.01 mm
Dmin  25.00 mm

Allowance of the fit corresponds to maximum material condition (Imax).

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Fit Types

There are three types of fits

a) Clearence Fits b) Interference Fits c) Transition Fits
Transition Fits
Either a clearance or an interference may result depending on the exact value
of the dimensions of the machined shaft and hole within the specified tolerance
zones
d max  25.04 mm
shaft Ts  0.02 mm
hole d min  25.02 mm
I max Dmax  25.03 mm
Th  0.03 mm
Dmin  25.00 mm

Allowance of the fit corresponds to maximum material condition (Imax).

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Fundamental Deviation

tolerance zone

Tolerance zones for the hole and the

Fund. Dev. shaft are prescribed by IT numbers. Note
BHS that we also need the fundamental
deviation for the shaft to completely
specify the fit. ISO standard uses tolerance
position letters with capital letters for the
holes and lowercase letters for the shafts.

• Letters are combined with tolerance grades to establish a preferred fit.

• Specification for the holes: H7, D8, J6
• Specification for the shafts: h6, b8, k7

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 Specification for the Fits

tolerance zone

Fund. Dev. 25 H7/g6

BHS basic size IT grade
fund. dev. for the shaft
for the hole fund. dev.
IT grade for the shaft
for the hole

• H…/(a-z)…  BHS (fund. dev. for the hole is zero)

• (A-Z)…/h…  BSS (fund. dev. for the shaft is zero)
• Letters I, L, O, Q, W, i, l, o, q, w are not used.
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Specification for the Fits, Example.

34 H11/c11
+ H11 Basic Size (Datum)
Th
fund. dev. (BHS)
Ts
-
c11
What are the max. and min. limits for the hole and the shaft for the given fit spec.?
Table A-12 (Fund. devs. for shafts (BHS)).
D  34 mm, for c,  F  0.12 mm.
D  34 mm, IT11, T  0.16 mm. (Table A-11)
Dmin  34 mm. d max  34  0.12  33.88 mm.
Dmax  34.16 mm. d min  34  0.12  0.16  33.72 mm.
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Specification for the Fits

In Basic Shaft System (BSS), fund. dev. of the shaft is given by h and
it is equal to zero. (Upper limit of the shaft is on datum line).

+ B
Datum Line
(A-Z)…/h…, Ex: B8/h8
- h shaft

+ H Datum Line
H…/h…, snug fit.

- h shaft

Note: Fund. dev. table for BSS is not given in the textbook.
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Fundamental Deviations (Letter Specification)
+ BHS: H…/(a-g)… (negative) BSS: (A-G)…/h… (positive)
A H…/(j-k)… (depends on size) (J-K)…/h… (depends on size)
H…/(m-z)… (positive) (M-Z)…/h… (negative) z y
x
BC u v
DE t
F p rs
G
H mn
F basic size F

F k
JK F j
MN gh
PR e f
ST cd
UV b
HOLE
XY Z SHAFT
a

- Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Tolerance on the Fit
Tolerance on the fit is defined as the sum of the tolerance on the hole and
tolerance on the shaft.

T f  Th  Ts   Dmax  Dmin    d max  d min 

clearence interference

Imin Imax
Cmin Cmax

T f  Cmax  Cmin T f  I max  I min

Cmax
transition Imax

T f  I max  Cmax
Dr. Serkan Dağ
 Example

For a nominal diameter of 25 mm and for a fit specification of H7/j5

determine the following:

a) Type of the tolerancing system

b) Tolerance on the hole
c) Tolerance on the shaft
d) Upper and lower limits of the hole (Dmax, Dmin)
e) Upper and lower limits of the shaft (dmax, dmin)
f) Type of the fit
g) Tolerance on the fit
h) Allowance

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Example

a) H7/j5  Basic Hole System

b) D = 25 mm, from the given table:
 21 m  5 m
H7  j5 
0 m - 4 m

+ H7 nominal size

j5
-
Th  21 m

c) Ts  9 m

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Example
d) Dmin  0, (Basic Hole System)
Dmax  25  0.021  25.021 mm
e) d min  25  0.004  24.996 mm
d max  25  0.005  25.005 mm
f) Interference fit.
g) Tolerance on the fit:
T f  Th  Ts  21  9  30 m
or, I max  5 m, Cmax  21  4  25 m.
T f  I max  Cmax  30 m.

h) Allowance = Imax= 5 m.

Dr. Serkan Dağ

 Fits, Interference and Clearence Values

In the second table, interference and clearence values for commonly used
fits are given.
For example, consider G7/h6, D = 20 mm.
From the table we read:
Cmax  41 m
clearence fit.
Cmin  7 m
 28 m 0 m
G7  h6 
 7 m  13 m

Cmin G7
Cmax
h6
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 Fits, Interference and Clearence Values

Consider H7/m6, D = 20 mm.

From the table we read:
Cmax  13 m
interference fit.
I max  21 m

 21 m  21m
H7  m6 
0  8 m

H7 m6 nominal size

Dr. Serkan Dağ