What’s on the Tolerance and Fit poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Tolerance is the permitted deviation between the drawn dimension and the built one. Fit is achieved by designing joints large enough to absorb the deviations that will actually occur.
- In-situ concrete moves more than factory steel.
- Deviations accumulate along a run of components.
- The joint, not the component, absorbs the error.
- A 10 mm shadow gap hides 10 mm of deviation.
- Flush junctions between trades expose every error.
- Set out from one datum, not from the last piece.
- Absorbed by — the joint
- Worst detail — flush, no gap
- A shadow gap is a tolerance device before it is an aesthetic one, which is why it app…
Educational reference. Permitted deviations are set by product standards and by the specification, and vary widely.
Questions about the Tolerance and Fit poster
- What’s on the Tolerance and Fit poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Tolerance is the permitted deviation between the drawn dimension and the built one. Fit is achieved by designing joints large enough to absorb the deviations that will actually occur. In-situ concrete moves more than factory steel.; Deviations accumulate along a run of components.; The joint, not the component, absorbs the error.; A 10 mm shadow gap hides 10 mm of deviation.; Flush junctions between trades expose every error.; Set out from one datum, not from the last piece.; Absorbed by — the joint; Worst detail — flush, no gap; A shadow gap is a tolerance device before it is an aesthetic one, which is why it app…. Educational reference. Permitted deviations are set by product standards and by the specification, and vary widely.
- Who is the Tolerance and Fit poster for?
- Tolerance and Fit belongs to the Architecture section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning construction technology can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Tolerance and Fit poster?
- Use it when a detail has no gap in it. A drawing with no tolerance cannot be built. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Tolerance and Fit belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Tolerance and Fit?
- The Envelope, The Cavity Wall and Cladding Systems sit alongside Tolerance and Fit in the Architecture section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.The EnvelopeThe Cavity WallCladding Systems
- Is the Tolerance and Fit poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Tolerance and Fit downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Architecture section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Tolerance and Fit poster print at?
- Tolerance and Fit is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Tolerance and Fit loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Tolerance and Fit on the same wall.
Browse every Architecture poster, or start from the full catalogue.