Chapter 7.
Mechanical
Tolerance Stackup and Analysis
Quoc-Nguyen Banh, PhD
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Outline
• What is Tolerance stack-up
• Benefits
• Factors to be considered for loop diagram
• Steps in stack-up
• Examples with or without geometric
Tolerances
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Classification
• Tolerance stack-up of a part
• Tolerance stack-up of an assembly
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
• 1D, 2D or 3D stack-up
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Component of a Stack-up
o Normal link: (Ai , i = 1,2, … , n) independent
tolerance’s value
o Closing link: (A) tolerance’s value
depends on other links
A
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
• Increasing links: the bigger its value is the
larger closing link is.
• Decreasing links: the bigger its value is the
smaller closing link is.
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Example
A1 A2 AA33
A4A4
Increasing link Closing link
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
A1 AA2 2 A3A3
A4
Decreasing link Closing link
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Principles to form a Tolerance stack-up
• All the links must form a close loop
• Only one closing link in the loop
• There must be a “smallest” loop
A2 A2 A2
A1 A1 A3 A1 A3 A4
A5
A3
A4
Smallest loop
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Stack-up Analysis
o Identify GAP, Thickness, Fit needed to be calculated
o List the Dimensions those contributes in Gap,
Thickness, Fit
o Prepare a Loop Diagram
o Same direction tolerance on side and list Their
Tolerances
o Prepare stack-up table (beware of direction in loop)
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Loop diagram considerations
o Loop should be in one direction i.e. vertical,
horizontal, or angular
o Loop should be close
o While jumping from one component (in assembly)
o Axis aligned in case of threads
o Surface contact between components
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Example
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Assembly shift
• The amount that parts can move during assembly due to the clearance
between a hole and a fastener, a hole and a shaft, a width and a slot (like
a key and keyway) or between any external feature within an internal
feature
• It is a measure of how much parts can move relative to one another about
their locating features. 14
Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Example
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Assignment
Verify the assembly
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
Hint
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
The reversed problem
To design the components’ value when
knowing the closing link’s (gap) values
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Mechanical Measurement & Tolerance Q-N Banh, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
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