AS9102 Form 3 · GD&T

The whole frame.
Datums and all.

A GD&T callout only means something as a whole - the control, the tolerance, the modifier, the datums, in order. Mavlon reads every feature control frame complete, writes it to the Form 3, and assigns the inspection method.

First drawing free · complete datum references · inspection method filled.

On the drawing
⌀0.1 ⓂABC
On the Form 3

Position, ⌀0.1 at MMC, to datums A–B–C in order · inspection method: CMM.

A position callout without its datums
is not a characteristic. It's a guess.

The single most common reason a Form 3 comes back from review is GD&T captured halfway: the symbol and the value, but the datum references dropped, or out of order, or the material-condition modifier lost. A position tolerance to A-B-C is a completely different requirement than the same value with no datums - and an auditor knows it.

OCR cannot hold a frame together; it reads characters left to right. Mavlon reads the frame the way the standard defines it - as one control with one meaning - so what lands on the form is the actual requirement, not its fragments.

Every control, read in full.

With datum references in order and material-condition modifiers intact - then matched to a sensible inspection method.

Position
Value, modifier, and the full datum reference frame in precedence order.
Profile
Surface and line profile, with datums and any all-around or between notation.
Runout & total runout
Circular and total runout to their datum axis, captured for indicator checks.
Concentricity & symmetry
Read with their datums, flagged where the requirement needs judgment.
Orientation
Perpendicularity, parallelism, angularity - each to its referenced datum.
Form
Flatness, straightness, circularity, cylindricity, with no datum needed.

The long version

GD&T on the AS9102 Form 3, and the two things that go wrong.

Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing is where a drawing says what it really means about a feature - not just how big, but how true, how located, how oriented relative to everything else. On a First Article Inspection, every one of those controls has to become a characteristic on the Form 3. Two things make that hard by hand.

One: the frame is a sentence, not a word

A feature control frame reads as a single statement: control type, then tolerance value, then an optional material-condition modifier such as MMC or LMC, then a datum reference frame in precedence order. Drop any part and the requirement changes. A position of ⌀0.1 to A-B-C is not the same as ⌀0.1 to A alone, and neither is the same at MMC versus regardless of feature size. Capturing the value but losing the datums - the classic OCR failure - produces a Form 3 that looks complete and is quietly wrong.

Two: the inspection-method column

AS9102 Form 3 has a column for how each characteristic will be measured, and on a hand-built form it is the column most often left blank or filled in at the end as an afterthought. A position or profile control usually calls for a CMM; runout for an indicator; a simple feature-of-size for a gauge or micrometer. Mavlon assigns a sensible inspection method to every characteristic so the column is populated, and leaves it editable - the suggestion is a starting point, not a lock.

What Mavlon writes to the form

For each feature control frame, Mavlon records the control type, the tolerance, the modifier, and every datum reference in order, as one characteristic - then assigns the inspection method and lets you review it. Position, profile, runout, the orientation and form controls, the material-condition modifiers: read as the standard defines them, not as a string of symbols. The frame stays whole, all the way to the report. See how a whole drawing gets ballooned →

100%
Datum references
captured, in order
0
Inspection-method
cells left blank
1
Characteristic per frame,
whole and reviewable

Put the whole frame on the form.

Upload a GD&T-heavy drawing and watch every feature control frame land on the Form 3 - datums in order, method assigned, yours to confirm.

First one is free. No card, no setup.

Questions, answered.

How are GD&T callouts recorded on a Form 3?
Each feature control frame becomes a numbered characteristic. The control type, the tolerance value, any material-condition modifier, and every datum reference are captured together - because a GD&T callout only means something as a whole. Mavlon writes all of it and lets you review each one.
Does it capture datum references?
In full and in order. A position callout with datums A, B, C is recorded with all three and their precedence - not just the symbol and value. Incomplete datum capture is one of the most common reasons a hand-built or OCR-built Form 3 fails review.
What inspection method does it assign?
A sensible default based on the characteristic type - a CMM for position and profile, an indicator for runout, gauges where appropriate. The method fills the Form 3 column so it is not left blank, and it stays editable.
Which GD&T controls does it read?
Position, profile of a surface and a line, circular and total runout, flatness, straightness, circularity, cylindricity, perpendicularity, parallelism, angularity, concentricity, and symmetry - including MMC and LMC modifiers.