Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)

Wikipedia has one of the better summaries of GD&T requirements.  For specifics on medical device dimensioning requirements or to review your development projects, please contact our QA Manager at paul.gallimore@revzeroinc.com. 

Reproduced from Wikipedia 

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is a system for defining and communicating engineering tolerances. It uses a symbolic language on engineering drawings and computer-generated three-dimensional solid models that explicitly describes nominal geometry and its allowable variation. It tells the manufacturing staff and machines what degree of accuracy and precision is needed on each controlled feature of the part. GD&T is used to define the nominal (theoretically perfect) geometry of parts and assemblies, to define the allowable variation in form and possible size of individual features, and to define the allowable variation between features.

Dimensioning specifications define the nominal, as-modeled or as-intended geometry.  Tolerancing specifications define the allowable variation for the form and possibly the size of individual features, and the allowable variation in orientation and location between features.

There are several standards available worldwide that describe the symbols and define the rules used in GD&T. One such standard is American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) Y14.5-2009. This article is based on that standard, but other standards, such as those from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), may vary slightly. The
Y14.5 standard has the advantage of providing a fairly complete set of standards for GD&T in one document. The ISO standards, in comparison, typically only address a single topic
at a time. There are separate standards that provide the details for each of the major symbols and topics below (e.g. position, flatness, profile, etc.).

Link to full article (opens in new window)