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Basic pitch diameter and three-wire measurement for 60° threads (Unified inch and ISO metric), with worked examples.
Basic pitch diameter
Examples: 1/4-20 → 0.2500 − 0.0325 = 0.2175". M10 × 1.5 → 10 − 0.974 = 9.026 mm. These are basic sizes; the class of fit (2A/2B, 6g/6H and so on) sets the tolerance band below or above them.
Measuring over three wires
The best wire touches the flanks right at the pitch line:
Example, 1/4-20 at basic pitch diameter: W = 0.0289", so M = 0.2175 + 0.0866 − 0.0433 = 0.2608". Use the actual wire size you have in the formula, not the nominal best size.
Thread standards in the app
- Unified inch: UNC, UNF, UNEF, UNS, UNJ, UNM and special UN threads
- ISO metric M profile
- ACME and Stub ACME
- Pipe: NPT and BSPP
- British Whitworth
- STI (helical insert) threads
Each gives major, pitch and minor diameter limits for internal and external threads, plus G76 lathe threading and G84 rigid tapping helpers.
Full limits for every class. Look up any thread with its tolerance class, or enter a special thread and get its limits.
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