SECTION 13

USING STANDARDS DATA AND

INFORMATION
(References to Standards appear throughout the HANDBOOK)
Standards are needed in metalworking manufacturing to estab-
lish dimensional and physical property limits for parts that are to
be interchangeable. Standards make it possible for parts such as
nuts, screws, bolts, splines, gears, etc., to be manufactured at dif-
ferent times and places with the assurance that they will meet
assembly requirements. Standards are also needed for tools such as
twist drills, reamers, milling cutters, etc., so that only a given num-
ber of sizes need be made available to cover a given range and to
ensure adequate performance. Also, performance standards often
are established to make sure that machines and equipment will sat-
isfy their application requirements.
A standard may be established by a company on a limited basis
for its own use. An industry may find that a standard is needed, and
its member companies working through their trade association
come to an agreement as to what requirements should be included.
Sometimes, industry standards sponsored by a trade association or
an engineering society become acceptable by a wide range of con-
sumers, manufacturers, and government agencies as national stan-
dards and are made available through a national agency such as the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI). More and more
countries are coming to find that standards should be universal and
are working to this end through the International Standards Orga-
nization (ISO).
In the United States and some other English-speaking countries,
there are two systems of measurement in use: the inch system and
the metric system. As a result, standards for, say, bolts, nuts, and
screws have been developed for both inch and metric dimensions
as will be found in Machinery’s Handbook. However, an increas-
ing number of multinational corporations and their local suppliers
111
112 STANDARDS IN INDUSTRY

are finding it prohibitively expensive to operate with two systems

of measurements and standards. Thus, in order to use available
expertise in one plant location, a machine may be designed in an
“inch” nation only to be produced later in a “metric” country or
vice versa. This situation generates additional costs in the conver-
sion of drawings, substitution of equivalent standard steel sizes
and fasteners, and conversion of testing and material specifica-
tions, etc. Because of these problems, more and more standards are
being developed in the United States and throughout the world that
are based, wherever practicable, upon ISO standards.
In the Handbook, the user will find that a large number of both
inch and metric standards data and information are provided. It
should be noted that at the head of each table of standards data the
source is given in parentheses, such as (ANSI B18.3-1982). ANSI
indicates the American National Standards Institute; B18.3 is the
identifying number of the standard; and 1982 is the date the stan-
dard was published, or revised, and became effective.
Generally, new products are produced to the metric standards;
older products and replacement parts for them may require refer-
ence to older inch standards, and some products such as inch-unit
pipe threads are considered as standard for the near future because
of widespread use throughout the world.
Important Objectives of Standardization.—T h e p u r p o s e o f
standardization is to manufacture goods for less direct and indirect
costs and to provide finished products that meet the demands of the
marketplace. A more detailed description of the objectives could
be as follows:
Lower the production costs when the aim is to:
1) Facilitate and systematize the work of skilled designers;
2) Ensure optimum selection of materials, components, and semi-
finished products;
3) Reduce stocks of materials, semifinished products, and fin-
ished products;
4) Minimize the number of different products sold; and
5) Facilitate and reduce the cost of procurement of purchased
goods.
Meet the demands of the market place, when the objective is to:
 STANDARDS IN INDUSTRY 113

1) Conform to regulations imposed by government and trade

organizations;
2) Stay within safety regulations set forth by governments; and
3) Facilitate interchangeability requirements with existing prod-
ucts.
Standardization Technique.—The two commonly used basic
principles for the preparation of a standard are:
1) Analytical standardization − Standard developed from scratch.
2) Conservative standardization − Standard based, so far as is
possible, on existing practice.
In practice, it appears that a standard cannot be prepared com-
pletely by one or the other of the two methods but emerges from a
compromise between the two. The goal of the standardization
technique, then, should be to utilize the basic material and the rules
and the aids available in such a way that a valid and practical com-
promise solution is reached.
The basic material could consist of such items as former com-
pany standards, vendor catalog data, national and international
standards, requirements of the company’s customers, and competi-
tor’s material. Increasingly important are the national and interna-
tional standards in existence on the subject; they should always
play an important part in any conservative standardization work.
For example, it would be foolish to create a new metric standard
without first considering some existing European metric standards.
Standards Information in the Handbook.—Among the many
kinds of material and data to be found in the Handbook, the user
will note that extensive coverage is given to standards of several
types: American National Standards, British Standards, ISO Stan-
dards, engineering society standards, trade association standards,
and, in certain instances, company product standards. Both inch
and metric system standards are given wherever appropriate. Inch
dimension standards sometimes are provided only for use during
transition to metric standards or to provide information for the
manufacture of replacement parts.
In selecting standards to be presented in the Handbook, the edi-
tors have chosen those standards most appropriate to the needs of
Handbook users. Text, illustrations, formulas, tables of data, and
114 STANDARDS IN INDUSTRY

examples have been arranged in the order best suitable for direct
and quick use. As an example of this type of presentation, the sec-
tion on bevel gearing, starting on Handbook page 2177, begins
with text material that provides the basis for understanding infor-
mation presented in the AGMA standards; the illustrations on
Handbook pages 2182 and 2183 provide visual definition of essen-
tial parts and dimensions of a bevel gear; the formulas on Hand-
book page 2171 show how to calculate dimensions of milled bevel
gears; the tables on starting on Handbook page 2185 give numbers
of formed cutters used to mill teeth in mating bevel gear and pinion
sets with shafts at right angles; and finally, the worked-out exam-
ples beginning on Handbook page 2187 give a step-by-step proce-
dure for selecting formed cutters for milling bevel gears. Also,
where combinations of tables and formulas are given, the formulas
have been arranged in the best sequence for computation with the
aid of a pocket calculator.

“Soft” Conversion of Inch to Metric Dimensions.—The dimen-

sions of certain products, when specified in inches, may be con-
verted to metric dimensions, or vice versa, by multiplying by the
appropriate conversion factor so that the parts can be fabricated
either to inch or to the equivalent metric dimensions and still be
fully interchangeable. Such a conversion is called a “soft” conver-
sion. An example of a “soft” conversion is available on Handbook
page 2394, which gives the inch dimensions of standard lockwash-
ers for ball bearings. The footnote to the table indicates that multi-
plication of the tabulated inch dimensions by 25.4 and rounding
the results to two decimal places will provide the equivalent metric
dimensions.

“Hard” Metric or Inch Standard Systems.—In a “hard” sys-

tem, those dimensions in the system that have been standardized
cannot be converted to another dimensional system that has been
standardized independently of the first system. As stated in the
footnote on page 2272 of the Handbook, “In a ‘hard’ system the
tools of production, such as hobs, do not bear a usable relation to
the tools in another system; i.e., a 10 diametral pitch hob calculates
to be equal to a 2.54 module hob in the metric module system, a
hob that does not exist in the metric standard.”
 EXERCISES 115

Interchangeability of Parts Made to Revised Standards.—

Where a standard has been revised, there may still remain some
degree of interchangeability between older parts and those made to
the new standard. As an example, starting on page 2263 of the
Handbook, there are two tables showing which of the internal and
external involute splines made to older standards will mate with
those made to newer standards.
PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR SECTION 13
(See Answers to Practice Exercises For Section 13 on page 231)
1) What is the breaking strength of a 6 × 7 fiber-core wire rope 1⁄4
inch in diameter if the rope material is mild plow steel?
2) What factor of safety should be applied to the rope in Exercise
1?
3) How many carbon steel balls of 1⁄4-inch diameter would weigh
1 lb? How would this information be obtained without the table?
4) For a 1-inch diameter of shaft, what size square key is appro-
priate?
5) Find the hole size needed for a 5⁄32 -inch standard cotter pin.
6) Find the limits of size for a 0.1250-inch diameter hardened and
ground dowel pin.
7) For a 3AM1-17 retaining ring (snap ring), what is the maxi-
mum allowable speed of rotation?
8) Find the hole size required for a type AB steel thread-forming
screw of number 6 size in 0.105-inch-thick stainless steel.