| Parallelism vs. Flatness |
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One common area of confusion within GDT is between parallelism and flatness. With, parallelism, a reference is made to a datum plane, while flatness is independent of a datum. Figure PF1.1 shows a block on a surface plate whose three points of contact define the -A- datum plane. As specified, the opposite face of the block must lie within two planes which straddle a plane parallel to and 2.0 from -A- and .125 to either side of it. Figure PF1.1  Figure PF1.2 shows a flatness specification on the same surface. No datum plane is involved. A "best fit" plane (3 point contact) defines the mid-plane, and all surface points must lie between two planes which are parallel to this plane, and .125 to either side of it. Figure PF1.2  |
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