TolAnalyst A new tool called TolAnalyst has been developed to allow a user to create a tolerance stack-up analysis of a measurement

between toleranced features of a collection of parts that have TolXpert dimensions applied. Background The following parts in this assembly are going to be analyzed:

This gap is to be measured and its tolerance stack-up analyzed.

Assembly 1. In the design assembly on the shop floor, the parts are assembled in the following order and manner:

Second part assembled

Last part assembled

First part assembled 2. The side parts will be first mated to the base by first bolting the first hole and then bolting the second hole. 3. Finally the side parts bottom face will be brought to contact the top face of the base part.

Individual Parts Notice that each part that will be involved in the tolerance analysis is already dimensioned and toleranced using the 3D DimXpert tools in context of part.

Procedure Note: At any point when defining a study, you can save your work by doing the following: Click on the OK icon Right click on the saved study to access the RMB menu option Edit Feature.

1. Open MainAssy.SLDASM

2. In the Feature Manager Design Tree area, select the DimXpertManager tab:

3. Click on the Add TolAnalyst Study icon.

4. You will be placed in the TolAnalyst study wizard to begin a new study. In the first step you have to create a measurement that will be analyzed for the tolerance stack-up. Select the two faces indicated below to create the measurement shown:

Note: You must click somewhere in the background instead of on a part face to properly locate the mesaurement location. 5. Hit the Next arrow to continue to the next step.

6. You are now placed into the Assembly Sequence page. You must select the components that will participate in the tolerance study in the order they will be assembled in manufacturing. This is important to the tolerance stack-up analysis as results will vary depending on the constraint sequence. First select the part indicated below:

Select this part first The first part selected will be defined as the base part. Notice that any parts connected to this first selected part become translucent to make them easier to select while all other parts become transparent.

7. Next select the following two blocks in the sequence that they will be assembled.

Select this part next

Select this part last

Notice that the parts form are sequenced in the order they are selected. Since all the parts needed to calculate a proper tolerance analysis have been selected the Next arrow can be selected to move to the next step. 8. Hit the Next arrow to continue to the next step. 9. You are now in the Assembly Constraints page. Now that the Assembly Sequence has been defined, the components must be constrained with each other to simulate how they will be each constrained/fastened to each other on the manufacturing floor. Notice that a number of possible constraints are offered to be selected. You can hover over each constraint name and the faces that would form that constraint are highlighted in the graphics area. These possible constraints are offered by features that logically can be paired to form a proper constraint. These constraints are the ones offered for the part selected in the property manager.

The constraints must be selected in the order they will be done on the manufacturing floor. This is important to the tolerance stack-up analysis as results will vary depending on the constraint sequence. Click on the 1 button of the following Simple Hole constraint

To select this constraint, a sequence number must be selected by the constraint description. This sequence number defines the order that constraint will be applied. In this case, the Simple Hole1 constraint is the primary constraint applied.

Select the other Simple Hole constraint as the secondary constraint.

 Select the Plane2 constraint as the tertiary constraint.

Notice that the constraints have been defined for this part:

10. Now select the next component in the assembly sequence to define the constraints for that component.

Select the following constraints in the indicated order: Primary: Simple Hole1 Secondary: Simple Hole2 Tertiary: Plane2 11. Hit the Next arrow to continue to the next step. 12. You are now placed into the Analysis Results page. In the Analysis Summary window, the tolerance stack-up results are shown:

Nominal: This is the distance measured if all dimensions of the components in the assembly were to their nominal values Min: This is the minimum distance produced when all tolerances are stacked up. In this specific example, the negative number means that there is an interference of 1mm. Max: This is the maximum distance in a worst case when all tolerances are stacked up. RSS Min and RSS Max: Root Sum Squares Minimum/Root Sum Squares Maximum . These are the minimum and maximum values calculated using a statistical formula to show the range of values that the measurement will have a greater likelihood of falling into. While the regular Min and Max values

show the true extreme calculations, the RSS Min and Max values predict the range that the measurement value has a greater chance of falling between. In the Min/Max Contributors window, the tolerances and dimensions that contribute to either the Minimum or Maximum tolerance value are shown in order of percentage contribution:

Contributors to the Maximum tolerance stack-up value This tolerance contributes to the Maximum value by 20.03%

Note: TolAnalyst allows you to see which tolerances have the greatest to least effect on the overall tolerance stack-up and it also gives you the opportunity to change them to see their effect on the final stack-up value. 13. Click on the third feature on the list, the Simple Hole4@Base-1. The corresponding tolerance will appear in the graphics area for reference.

14. To change this features tolerance, double-click on the tolerance below the name in the list. In this case double click on Diameter@Base-1.

A dimension tolerance window will appear showing the present tolerance type and value.

Change the value from 0.25mm to 0.15mm, effectively tightening up the tolerance. Hit OK to accept the new value. 15. Click on the Recalculate button Analysis Parameters window to recalculate the tolerance stack-up.

New values will be shown in the Analysis Summary window. Notice the values have changed due to the change in the individual tolerance.

Note: Because of the tighter tolerance at the Simple Hole4 feature, the overall stackup analysis Max and Min values are now less. Through the Export Results button, these results can exported in Excel, XML or HTML format.