Application Options

The Application Options dialog window allows you to modify the user application options and to view the system application options.

These settings control the number of decimal places that are displayed for basic dimensionannotations. These settings have no effect on toleranced dimensions. Note that GD&T Advisor is limited to operating with basic dimensions as follows:

• When required for to define the size of a tapered feature. For example, for a tapered shaft defined with the 'One Gage Size' scheme, the gage size for the feature is defined at a basic offset from a reference plane.

• For datums derived from targets, the locations of the targets must be defined with basic locating dimensions that reference a fully constrained datum reference frame. GD&T Advisor creates driven dimension annotations representing these basic dimensions automatically.

GD&T Advisor does not require (or create) basic locating dimensions related to geometric tolerances that are applied to the features in the model.

When you define a feature in GD&T Advisor that requires size, offset, or angle dimensions, those dimensions must already exist in the CAD model as either parametric dimensions or dimension annotation elements. The tolerances for those dimensions are based on the properties for the referenced CAD dimensions.

The default geometric tolerance value that you specify applies to all geometric tolerances created in GD&T Advisor. You can specify '?' for the default value, in which case you must explicitly specify a value for each geometric tolerance that you add to the model.

The default value for the Tolerance Zone MCM (material condition modifier) applies to all geometric tolerances for which a tolerance zone material condition modifier is applicable. You can specify '?' for the default value, in which case you must explicitly specify the material condition modifier for all applicable geometric tolerances.

You can specify the maximum tolerance range allowable for size, offset, and angle dimensions and the maximum allowable tolerance value for geometric tolerances. When specifying the tolerances for a feature, if you specify a tolerance value that exceeds the maximum allowable GD&T Advisor will show a 'Value exceeds the maximum allowable' message in the Advisor Tree.

Keep in mind that the maximum value applies to the (tolerance range)/2 for dimension tolerances. For example, if you specify that a Maximum Value of 0.5 for size tolerances, you will see the 'tolerance exceeds maximum allowable value' message if you specify a tolerance of ±0.6 for a diameter dimension, but not if you specify a tolerance of ±0.3.

The system applications options are under the control of the application administrator and cannot be changed from within the GD&T Advisor application. However, the system option settings can be viewed in this window.

Setting the System Application Options describes how the system application options can be set by the application administrator.

Some companies have guidelines that restrict the use of certain geometric characteristic symbols. For example, in ASME Y14.5-2009 symmetry and concentricity are frequently misused and are generally not required for most GD&T applications. Thus symmetry and concentricity are forbidden, or at least strongly discouraged, at many companies that use that tolerancing standard.

The geometric characteristic symbols that have been selected on the Restricted GCSs tab of System Options have been identified as restricted by your system administrator. These geometric characteristic symbols will be filtered from the Geometric Characteristic Symbol Selector in GD&T Advisor (see Geometric Control Properties for more information). Thus GD&T Advisor does not allow you to apply restricted GCSs to your design model.

GD&T Advisor runs a large number of tests on the model. If a test fails, a message appears in the Advisor Tree indicating the existence of the failed condition. In some cases, the tests do not represent absolute rules that are clearly defined in the selected tolerancing standard but check the model for conditions that may be problematic nonetheless. These tests evaluate the model based on parameters that whose values are set by your system administrator.

The table below shows the parameters that are under system administrator control along with the advisor test message that those parameters affect. The help pages for those advisor messages provide detailed information for how those parameters are used in the tests.

The format of the annotations for hole notes may be customized by the application administrator. Multi-surface holes can be categorized as one of the following types:

• Blind Drilled Hole — A drilled hole with optional counterbore, countersink and/or thread.

• Through Drilled Hole — A through hole with optional counterbore, countersink and/or thread.

Selecting one of these options will display a sample hole note that shows how the hole note annotations will appear in the CAD model for that hole type.

A list of administrator-defined notes is shown here. When you click on an item in the list, the note text is displayed. These notes may be placed in the model from the Edit Part Properties window.

Parameter	Advisor Test
PRT_PrimDFSize	The primary datum feature may be too small for this part
DRF_TransAngle	Angle between datum features is too small or too large
DRF_RotAngle	Angle between datum feature and constrained rotation axis is large
FOS_OverlapFraction	Insufficient opposing region on feature of size
TGT_NormAngle	The targets do not define a stable plane