Geometrical position tolerance assignment in reverse engineering

Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing constitutes the dominant approach for design and manufacture of mechanical parts that control inevitable dimensional and geometric deviations within appropriate limits. Position tolerance is a critical geometric tolerance very frequently used in industry. Its designation requires size data in conjunction with appropriate datums and location coordinates for the position. In reverse engineering, where typically relevant engineering information does not exist, conventional, human-based, trial and error approach for the allocation of positional tolerances requires much effort and time and offers no guarantee for the generation of the best results. This is mainly due to the large number of possible data combinations and the applicable relationships that have to be developed and processed. A methodology that aims towards the systematic solution of this problem in reasonable computing time and provides realistic and industry approved results is presented, demonstrated and discussed in the paper.

Keywords

• Reverse engineering,
• Tolerancing,
• Geometric tolerances,
• Position tolerance