Tolerance Stack-up Analysis By James D. Meadows ^hot^ Jun 2026

Plus/minus tolerances alone cannot account for bonus tolerances (from MMC) or the shifting axes of features. Boundary analysis, as taught by Meadows, provides the true maximum and minimum possible extents of a feature relative to a datum.

While the exact names are proprietary, Meadows shares a representative case in his training seminars: tolerance stack-up analysis by james d. meadows

: Specialized sections deal with non-linear stacks where parts may not be flat or parallel, requiring trigonometric functions to find fit conditions. as taught by Meadows

"The RSS method allows you to buy precision with math rather than money," Meadows explains. "It allows for broader tolerances on components, which lowers manufacturing costs, while still maintaining a high probability of assembly success." which lowers manufacturing costs