GD&T Drawings and Symbols

Classification and Symbols of Geometric Tolerance Characteristics

The following is a list of symbols used for geometric tolerancing. “Single feature” under “Feature level” means features that are independent of datums (i.e. that do not require reference datum indication). A datum is a theoretical, ideal feature established to determine the orientation, location, and/or run-out. An associated feature is a feature related to a datum, and specifies the orientation tolerance, location tolerance, and/or run-out tolerance.

Feature level	Tolerance type	Geometrical characteristic	Symbol
Single feature	Form tolerance (Form deviation)	Straightness
		Flatness
		Roundness
		Cylindricity
		Profile tolerance of line
		Profile tolerance of plane
Associated feature (Requires datum feature)	Orientation tolerance	Parallelism
		Perpendicularity
		Angularity
	Location tolerance (Location deviation)	True position
		Coaxiality
		Concentricity
		Symmetry
		Profile tolerance of line
		Profile tolerance of plane
	Run-out tolerance (Run-out deviation)	Circular run-out
		Total run-out

Single feature
Form tolerance (Form deviation)
Straightness
Flatness
Roundness
Cylindricity
Profile tolerance of line
Profile tolerance of plane

Associated feature (Requires datum feature)
Orientation tolerance
Parallelism
Perpendicularity
Angularity
Location tolerance (Location deviation)
True position
Coaxiality
Concentricity
Symmetry
Profile tolerance of line
Profile tolerance of plane
Run-out Tolerance (Run-out Deviation)
Circular run-out
Total run-out

List of geometric tolerance symbols (Relevant standard: ISO 5459)

True Position Theory (Size Value in Rectangular Frame)

True position theory is the concept of indicating geometrical characteristics (true position, profile, and angularity) using theoretically exact dimensions (TED). The theoretically exact dimensions are written in rectangular frames while the tolerances concerning that position are written in feature control frames.

Specifying the Position

As shown in the drawing below, accurate positions cannot be indicated using size tolerance-based indication, because both the reference dimensions and the tolerances become the total sum of the size tolerance (accumulated tolerance). On the other hand, TED-based indication does not have tolerances, which means that no accumulated tolerance is produced.

Specifying the Tolerance Zone

To specify the tolerance zone, in true position theory, you use TED to accurately indicate the specification at the center of the tolerance value.
If the feature is a point, the tolerance zone is a circle, (a) or sphere, centering around that point. If the feature is a straight line, then the tolerance zone is between two parallel planes (b), each being precisely separated from that line by half the tolerance value. Alternatively, the tolerance zone can be a cylindrical tolerance zone (c) with that straight line as its central axis.