Areas Suitable for Location

When the workpiece is received from its basic or originating process in a rough cast or forged state, surface conditions create problems in maintaining adequate dimensional control in the machining operations which follow. A knowledge of how the workpiece originated aids the process engineer in determining the variations which he must control. The process engineer is interested in getting the best workpiece out of the process by maintaining control over those variations inherent in both the workpiece and the process. To this end, he must be concerned with selecting the surfaces most ideally suited for location.

Obviously, the primary locating surface on a casting or forging shall be a rough surface. Getting the work piece out of the rough in the shortest possible time aids in establishing control sooner in the operation sequence. Therefore, the first surface machined should be one that may qualify as best for location in subsequent operations. Such established surface are called to be geometrically, dimensionally, and mechanically qualified for locating the workpiece. These areas may only be determined from information provided by the part print.