General Tolerance: ISO 2768

General tolerance ISO 2768 does not specify where to use these tolerances. You should define tolerance class as per design requirements and manufacturing capability. For example, the manufacturer recommends ISO 2768-mk for sheet metal parts and ISO 2768-fh for machined components. In the above example, “m” and “k” have defined the tolerance class.

You can calculate the critical dimension tolerance using tolerance stack-up analysis. You can also use a tolerance stack-up calculator for this purpose.

It is not possible to define engineering tolerances against each dimension. Therefore engineers define general tolerances in engineering drawings to define the variation. ISO 2768 standard defines general tolerance for:

  • Linear Dimensions
  • Angular Dimension
  • External Radius and Chamfer height
  • Geometric tolerance such as straightness, flatness, perpendicularity, symmetry, and runout.

We suggest you read this article on go-no-go gauges.

General Tolerance : ISO 2768

Linear Dimensions
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
f
(fine)
m
(Medium)
c
(coarse)
v
(very coarse)
0.5 up to 3 ±0.05 ±0.1 ±0.2 -
3 up to 6 ±0.05 ±0.1 ±0.3 ±0.5
3 up to 30 ±0.1 ±0.2 ±0.5 ±1
30 up to 120 ±0.15 ±0.3 ±0.8 ±1.5
120 up to 400 ±0.2 ±0.5 ±1.2 ±2.5
400 up to 1000 ±0.3 ±0.8 ±2.0 ±4.0
1000 up to 2000 ±0.5 ±1.2 ±3.0 ±6.0
2000 up to 4000 - ±2.0 ±4.0 ±8.0
External Radius and Chamfer Heights
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
f
(fine)
m
(Medium)
c
(coarse)
v
(very coarse)
0.5 up to 3 ±0.2 ±0.2 ±0.4 ±0.4
over 3 up to 6 ±0.5 ±0.5 ±1.0 ±1.0
over 6 ±1.0 ±1.0 ±2.0 ±2.0
Angular Dimensions
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
f
(fine)
m
(Medium)
c
(coarse)
v
(very coarse)
up to 10 ±1° ±1° ±1°30' ±3°
over 10 up to 50 ±0°30' ±0°30' ±1° ±2°
over 50 up to 120 ±0°20' ±0°20' ±0°30' ±1°
over 120 up to 400 ±0°10' ±0°10' ±0°15' ±0°30'
over 400 ±0°50' ±0°50' ±0°10' ±0°20'
Straightness and Flatness
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
H K L
up to 10 0.02 0.05 0.1
over 10 up to 30 0.05 0.1 0.2
over 30 up to 100 0.1 0.2 0.4
over 100 up to 300 0.2 0.4 0.8
over 300 up to 1000 0.3 0.6 1.2
over 1000 up to 3000 0.4 0.8 1.6
Perpendicularity
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
H K L
up to 100 0.2 0.4 0.6
over 100 up to 300 0.3 0.6 1
over 300 up to 1000 0.4 0.8 1.5
over 1000 up to 3000 0.5 0.8 2
Symmetry
Nominal Length Range in mm Tolerance Class
H K L
up to 100 0.5 0.6 0.6
over 100 up to 300 0.5 0.6 1
over 300 up to 1000 0.5 0.8 1.5
over 1000 up to 3000 0.5 1 2
Runout
H K L
0.1 0.2 0.5

To sum up, Engineering tolerance is a critical part of product design. And ISO-2768 standard defines the values of general tolerance. Experts always recommend performing tolerance stack-up analysis before design finalization.

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Read this article for details on Limit Fit and Tolerance. 

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