Automotive Part Flatness

The Importance of Automotive Part Flatness

Welcome to Northern Industrial Manufacturing’s “Automotive Parts University”! In these quick-read, online articles we educate clients, customers, and anyone who loves all-things-automotive on the ins-and-outs of automotive parts manufacturing.

“Flatness” is a characteristic of an automotive part that is defined as having a true horizontal surface, without a slope, tilt or curve. In this article the automotive parts manufacturing experts at NIM explain the importance of “flatness” as it relates to automotive parts.

What Is GD&T?

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is a symbolic language used in creating engineering drawings and models to define the allowable “tolerances” or “geometrical product specifications” (GPS) of a part’s form, orientation, location and run-out.

What is Automotive Part Flatness?

In G D & T, flatness is how flat a part is relative to a datum. It is a geometric condition that apply to tools, instruments, work pieces and parts. Flatness is when there is no curve or slope and the plane where highest “point” on the surface is parallel to the datum or even the surface itself.

The flatness of a part determines how well the part will perform depending on its purpose and intended motion. If the purpose of the part involves full contact with a flat surface and it is really flat, the part will be able to make full contact with the surface. If the part is meant to slide or push on another surface and it is really flat, the part will perform well on its motion.

Measurement of Automotive Part Flatness

The units of measurement for flatness is usually in inches (English) and millimeters (S.I.). The flatness of a part is usually measured with a height gauge that can be run across the surface. For this to work with accuracy, the height gauge and the surface of the part needs to be parallel. If necessary, the surface of the part and the height will also have to be parallel to the table surface. That won’t always be the case though as some parts will have angled sides, such as ax blades, so they’ll need a wedge to hold the measured surface parallel.

Importance of Automotive Part Flatness

Evaluation of flatness for parts is really important, especially for high quality precision metal shims. Because these precision shims will likely be in tight space between parts in a shaft, it would be important that the precision shim is flat on both sides so it doesn’t push on either one of the parts. It’s also important for each and every shim to be flat as well, so they can stack up together when they’re placed in a shaft.

In conclusion, the flatness of a part is significant as it impacts its performance in its purpose.

Automotive Part Manufacturing | Michigan

Northern Industrial Manufacturing is your turnkey partner for even the most challenging projects. Our experts understand which options work best for your specific material and surface finish requirements, and offer the most advanced technologies to meet the needs of your unique project.

We will bring your parts to market on time – with assistance from prototype to volume production – quickly, affordably and efficiently as possible.